Apple's successful iTunes service has proved that millions of Web users are prepared to pay for music downloads that were once free on file-sharing services like Napster. Recent reports show that more than 50 million tunes have been purchased through the service since its launch in April 2003.
The fundamental design of Web sites and services has also begun to change to meet the demands of a broadband audience, says David Greggains, vice-president of operations with the DSL Forum, an industry consortium that promotes high-speed DSL access. "With broadband, it's now possible to leaf through a virtual catalogue for the first time," he says. "Companies are now starting to realise that to differentiate themselves they have to offer these services and things like moving images, music and highly coloured sites."
Virtual catalogues for the first time
In addition, Greggain believes that businesses are changing the types of service they offer because of broadband access. "New broadband technologies like SDSL (symmetric DSL, which offers equally high upload and download speeds) let companies do completely new things, like online gaming and video on demand," he says. The DSL Forum has already seen these services dramatically increasing in popularity in countries such as Korea and Belgium, where higher-speed broadband services like SDSL are available.
In some cases, broadband has enabled entirely new businesses to flourish. ImperaData, for example, offers online backup and recovery to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) -- a service that would be impossible without high-speed access.
Online backup and recovery
But despite the benefits this apparent high-speed utopia has to offer, there are obstacles to broadband adoption that mean businesses can't forget about dial-up users just yet. Research released last week by the Institute of Directors revealed that almost half of Britain's chief executives feel the UK government isn't doing enough to support broadband adoption.
The research, conducted in association with ISP Tiscali, also showed that while 90 percent of chief executives believe broadband is a vital business issue, 78 percent felt that a lack of local broadband access is inhibiting British business. "Basically, the UK needs more coverage, more competition and more bandwidth options to realise the potential of broadband," says Jonathan Cummings, director of e-business at the IoD.
