Technology - August 2005

Connect Me to the Future

Broadband Supports Business Growth

by Ben Brimhall

Recent technology advances, coupled with the spread of broadband availability, have created opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses to enhance their operations and dramatically improve productivity. Today’s small businesses are no longer satisfied with electronic record-keeping; they’re looking for advanced solutions to assist and improve financial and inventory management, sales force automation, customer relationship management and voice communications, all with a close eye on security.

The unfortunate reality is that, in many respects, traditional communications infrastructure is not sufficient for growing businesses. Cable, DSL and T1 technologies have long been the staple for business broadband connectivity. However, as more and more businesses demand broadband, the limitations of cable and DSL’s slower upload speeds, confined service areas, unreliable or limited copper infrastructure, and T1’s greatest fault – that it maxes out at speeds of 1.544 Mb/second – become more apparent.

As the business appetite for Internet-based applications grows, the first hurdle to be overcome is the broadband provider’s upload capacity. Cable and DSL alike have limited upload speeds that can slow down a business. As companies move to Internet-based applications, with the business now acting as a provider of a network service rather than simply a browser of Internet data, slow upload speeds cripple a business’s ability to enhance its operations.

Broadband Service Can Grow Along With Your Business

Businesses need Internet services that can increase broadband connection as the business grows and application needs expand. For most growing businesses, the service provided by a T1 line is no longer sufficient. This is why companies and service-providers alike are looking to fiber and alternate technologies like broadband wireless to meet these demands. Local businesses need connections that can expand beyond 2, 5, and even 10 Mb/second, in a timeframe to match their technology adoption. This can be especially challenging, since fiber construction costs are very expensive and have a limited footprint or coverage area. Simply getting new fiber to a location can take months or even years to accomplish.

Recent advances in wireless broadband technologies have opened up opportunities for service providers to offer an alternative for last-mile connectivity, or service delivery components. Now, businesses are able to look at broadband wireless as a true alternative for primary or redundant Internet connectivity. Broadband wireless can now deliver the equivalent of cable, DSL or T1 speeds at similar or lower costs in areas either served or underserved by traditional providers.

Broadband wireless holds three key advantages over traditional services: 1) set-up and installation time: one to two days instead of weeks; 2) repair time – a few hours instead of a few days; and 3) delivering on-demand bandwidth at much higher speeds. These advantages make broadband wireless the technology of the future for business connectivity.

Companies will see major providers like AT&T, Covad, Verizon and others adopting broadband wireless as a last-mile component in their delivery of business services. In most major markets, competitive service providers are using this technology to deliver tomorrow’s communications infrastructure today. As a result, companies using broadband wireless are seeing their businesses expand through the implementation of Internet-based technologies. The broadband provider now becomes a partner in the rollout of business-transforming applications. With wireless, businesses now have the infrastructure in place to allow for dramatic business growth, unhampered by the inherent limitations of yesterday’s communications technologies.

Ben Brimhall
Ben Brimhall is the co-founder and CEO of Verde Communications, which delivers broadband services to the Las Vegas area.