Technology Futures

I was told recently that the MSAP (Multimedia Services Access Point) was outdated and no longer needed. The MSAP is a public peering point that we pioneered in Blacksburg in 1999. It is still in operation today, and vastly improves network performance within the community.

The MSAP is just a network data exchange point, which is old as the Internet. But what was new and different about what we did in Blacksburg was the concept that communities and regions needed to provide public peering points--for a whole variety of reasons, most related to lower costs for bandwidth and greatly improved quality of service for things like voice and video services.

But another reason is to make sure private interests don't have monopoly control over the network, as illustrated perfectly in this item.

Briefly put, two major backbone Internet providers (Cogent and Level 3) are squabbling and Level 3 has stopped allowing Cogent's traffic to cross its network. This means, in some cases, that you cannot send IP traffic from here to there. Sites lose traffic, businesses are affected, and performance is degraded. And businesses in affected communities can't do a thing about it.

Public peering points like MSAPs and RNAPs (Regional Network Access Points) won't stop the squabbles, but they can help mitigate the effects, and give communities and regions some control over their destiny.

Put another way, imagine if all roads out of your community were private toll roads that could be shut down at any time by a private company? Would that be good for business? Would it be good for the community? Would it help attract business and industry?

The answer, of course, is an emphatic no. But that is exactly the situation we have today with the Internet. As the Internet becomes more and more important to commerce, governance, and daily life, communities and regions cannot keep ignoring these issues.

USA Today reports that IP TV is booming, just as I have been saying. IP TV shows have been attracting audiences of half a million people, which many cable TV channels would kill to have. And advertisers are pouring billions into the new medium--they love it because their ads can be much more narrowly focused for specific audiences, and someone interested can click right through to the advertiser's site. This means the advertisers get real time data while the show is actually being watched; that's something TV can't do.

What does this mean for communities? It means that entertainment and economic development are converging, in the sense that it may be difficult to justify broadband investments built on a narrow base of business users, but if everyone in the community wants broadband to watch TV, the dollars are there to support a community digital road system. When World Wresting Entertainment can put on WWEHeat and attract 500,000 viewers without any advertising, the debate about broadband is over. It's here, and the broad base of users is ready for it.

The Region 2000 Technology Council, which serves Lynchburg, Virginia and the surrounding area, is really beginning to make a difference. A year ago, they found that too many people in the area still did not understand the value of broadband, in part because they had never had a chance to try it.

So the Tech Council rolled up its sleeves and went to work. They set of goal of getting 50 WiFi hotspots in the region in the next year, and started with the airport. A little more than a year later, the group has met its goal, and free WiFi is available for business and personal use throughout the Lynchburg area.

The effort has been good for the business owners that have made the small investment needed to create individual hotsports. Hotels, B&Bs, coffee shops, and other businesses are seeing increased traffic, according to an article in the Blue Ridge Business Journal (paper edition).

With movie attendance down this year, it has apparently forced the studios to think outside the box a bit. Universal Studios has been offering free previews of the movie Serenity to bloggers around the country. The idea is that the bloggers, will, um, blog about it, and create buzz.

It appears to be working. Serenity is a science fiction film based on an obscure cable TV show called Firefly that lasted only seven episodes. But tech-oriented Web sites and blogs are abuzz with discussions of the movie, most of them positive.

While the film will probably not be a monster hit, the strategy of consciously using the 'net in a new way to market a traditional product like a movie is a good thing.

I work mostly with small towns and cities on broadband and economic development issues, and one of the things that comes up over and over again is, basically, fear of the future. No one ever comes right out and says, "I'm afraid of the future." Instead, concerns are telegraphed in other ways, like "We've never done that before," or "Prove that it works and then we might try it." And of course, it is difficult to "prove" something works if it is new and untried.

Life does change. History is one long story of change, and I often think we simply don't study history enough. We all seem to long for some mtyhical "good old days" about thirty or forty years ago that did not really ever exist. Was life really better without community water and sewer systems? Was the community a better place without rec centers, libraries, and public parks?

And even newfangled inventions like cars, which have had a mixed history of positive and negative impacts have enabled lots of things families half a century ago were not able to do, like drive to the beach in half a day or less for a family vacation. Or visit relatives and friends more often.

The marketing of Serenity is an example of the new blending with the old in interesting ways, and hints at the kinds of opportunities the 'net offers for civic life and economic development.