Fibre: What does fast broadband mean for business?

Cloud computing will soon be so much a part of doing business that it’ll no longer need a name. A large factor in this evolution will be the increased productivity made possible by high-speed broadband.

Article written by Chris Bell.

When Kiwi Burt Munro visited Bonneville’s salt flats in 1966, hoping to beat the world speed record he set in 1962, he was unhappy with his top speed. He rebuilt his engine and the following year clocked up the fastest speed ever officially recorded on an Indian Scout bike; an ultra-fast 305.89 km/h.

New Zealand organisations can’t simply rebuild architecture and infrastructure when the network isn’t ultra-fast. But once the government, network providers and investors roll out high-speed broadband, vast improvements in both speed and productivity are inevitable.

The Economist sees high-speed broadband as essential infrastructure. In its November 2010 article 'Fair dinkum: the digital ambition', the paper wrote, “The technology that truly promises to end the tyranny of distance is high-speed broadband, a transformative technology whose productivity benefits we’re still only beginning to understand.”

While the Government’s decision on partners for its Ultra-fast Broadband initiative (UFB) is not yet finalised, many businesses already welcome the potential of nationwide access to high-speed broadband as a game-changer. In the TUANZ/Crown Fibre Holdings report, 'Ultra Fast Broadband In Business: Seizing the Opportunity', when asked “What is the likelihood that your business will connect to UFB within a year of it being available?”, 82 percent of respondents say they’re “likely to”, “highly likely to” or “definitely will” connect.

IDC New Zealand predicts a “10-year” build for fibre, and says upgrading network access will not, in itself, enable the delivery of high-speed broadband services. “The backhaul, core, and international transit networks must also be able to support high-speed traffic flows,” the analyst firm warns.

But IDC foresees longer-term business benefits in its 2011 predictions. “As the government pushes ahead with an evolving UFB programme, cloud initiatives begin to take hold, and smarter devices infiltrate professional and personal lives, all players in the ICT space will be faced with some level of transformation to their current operating environment.”

Telepresence is the killer app

Peter Macaulay, End User Practice Principal at research firm IDC New Zealand, says New Zealand businesses are ready for high-speed broadband. “The reality is that if you give people a set of tools they’ll use them. When you get faster broadband you can start doing more, and some of that doesn’t become apparent until you start using it.”

Peter Macaulay, IDC New Zealand

“The real killer app will be telepresence. This allows you to work from home and change the way you run meetings geographically.”

High-speed broadband and cloud adoption will refine the definition of business applications and shift the way we work, as businesses embrace technologies that allow their workers to be in other locations. “The real killer app will be the area of telepresence, high-quality videoconferencing capability,” says Macaulay. “This allows you to work from home and change the way you run meetings geographically.”

High-speed broadband is a key part of that shift, says Macaulay. “We’re already seeing the vast majority of organisations in major cities connected by fibre. The real impact is going to be out into the smaller centres, where fibre connections will enable better remote connectivity. It’s just going to take time.”

“The main point we’d make about fast connectivity through fibre is ‘bring it on’ – and the faster we can get it, the better.”

Munro’s offerings to the gods of speed made him a Kiwi legend. High-speed broadband promises to radically improve the speed of doing business. In its article, the Economist estimates the boost to gross domestic product from high-speed broadband rollout in Australia might be as much as 6 percent within a decade.

You can almost hear New Zealand businesses cheering Macaulay’s call to bring it on.

Chris Bell is an independent business and technology journalist, based in Auckland. In addition to being editor of MIS (Managing Information Strategies) New Zealand, for five-and-a-half years, Chris’ writing has appeared in MIS Australia, MIS Asia, iStart, Latitude and Unlimited. He has also worked as editor of PC World, CIO and Reseller News and as sub-editor of Unlimited.

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