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ordains that the total bandwidth of communications systems will triple every year for the next 25 years." |
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Rich Karlgaard, publisher of Forbes magazine, tells us that new advances in fiber optics now make it possible to "zapin one second6 trillion bits of information down a fiber strand the width of a human hair." |
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Not to be out-thought, Bill Gates, in PC Magazine on October 11, 1994 said: "We'll have infinite bandwidth in a decade's time." |
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These are smart guys, so it is not surprising that the growth in bandwidth is proceeding nicely, just as they predicted. But what if they had been wrong? |
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If we were still tied to a 14.4k modem, dialed over an analog line, the Internet would be functionally useless. Quotes would never be "real time," and all of those stockbrokers at Merrill could go back to big lunches and even bigger bonus checks. There would be no Sixth Market . . . yet. |
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However, just as processors were getting fast enough to handle increased bandwidth, here it came! Could that have been a coincidence, or do these techno-geeks really know what they're doing? |
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The second requirement for the Sixth Market has been met. |
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Think back just 24 months. Processors were too slow, bandwidth was too narrow, and the Internet was a real hassle of busy signals, lockups, and lost connections. Was it reasonable to expect millions of people to put their hard-earned money at risk by trading securities over the thing? No way! |
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So what has happened to turn it all around? Faster processors and direct, high-speed, broad bandwidth connections have made a huge difference. But the Internet has gotten more stable and more useful even for the person still using the 28.8k modem and the P-90 processor. |
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Give credit to the ISPs (Internet service providers). They have mastered many arts: redundancy, recovery, network reliability, and network security. Now they measure downtime in microseconds instead of in hours. |
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User surveys show a truly remarkable increase in consumer confidence, and it has been well earned. People are no longer afraid to use their credit cards on the Web, and they are no longer afraid to make a stock trade. |
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