interesting reading....
http://mail.internet2.edu:8080/guest/archives/qbone-arch-dt/log200205/msg00000.html
regards, /vicky
Edward B. Dreger wrote:
GC> Date: Sat, 29 May 2004 16:53:17 -0400 GC> From: Gordon Cook
GC> The point I am making in my report is NOT that the best GC> effort network has technology problems but rather that it has GC> ECONOMIC PROBLEMS. That it might support 2 or 3 players not GC> 2 or 3 HUNDRED.
Best effort is cheaper to provide. Cheaper sells. Is there enough of a market to sustain premium services? IP-based VPNs haven't replaced FR and PtP WAN links, but FR and PtP haven't thwarted IP-based VPNs.
GC> That until companies begin to go chapter seven and vanish, GC> the best effort net will be a black hole that burns up GC> capital because, for many players, the OPERATIONAL expense is GC> more than they get for bandwidth never mind cap-ex.
Definitely true about opex and capex... but I'm not convinced that QoS is the magic bullet that will make the marketplace big enough and profitable enough. I don't see service offerings fixing the woes of screwball pricing.
GC> best effort won't go away. many best effort players will.
If all best effort players provided QoS/guaranteed services, would the survival rate be significantly higher as a result?
GC> for the time being, best effort bandwidth prices as an GC> absolute commodity cannot sustain networks over the long GC> haul. A network that can deliver QoS the report hypothesizes GC> may be able to attract enough revenue to become profitable.
That's where I'm not convinced. Current IP delineates the lower reliability boundary and a benchmark price point. Premium services won't have a lower cost than best-effort, so they must sell for more. Would the incremental service improvements be high enough to draw customers away from cheap BE _and_ support "sufficient" margins?
First class hasn't stopped the cycle of airline bankruptcies and government bailouts. I don't see "first class data" as much different.
GC> How to to this my group is still discussing. We don't GC> pretend that QoS is easy or any kind of mature collection of GC> technologies, but increasingly it looks as though the GC> industry, if it is ever going to be self sustaining, really GC> needs to look at QoS services and solutions.
Perhaps, but only if the price is right. DSL sells better than Internet T1 lines, which sell better than end-to-end private lines and packet clouds. There's a reason for that.
Eddy -- EverQuick Internet - http://www.everquick.net/ A division of Brotsman & Dreger, Inc. - http://www.brotsman.com/ Bandwidth, consulting, e-commerce, hosting, and network building Phone: +1 785 865 5885 Lawrence and [inter]national Phone: +1 316 794 8922 Wichita _________________________________________________________________ DO NOT send mail to the following addresses : [EMAIL PROTECTED] -or- [EMAIL PROTECTED] -or- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sending mail to spambait addresses is a great way to get blocked.
