Broadband fulfilling its promise

A new world of entertainment
On the campus of the University of Southern California, students and researchers are being exposed to broadband uses of another kind.

In a darkened lab, a high-definition video of a space shuttle launch fills a viewing screen. Its sounds shake the floor, rumbling from 10 speakers around the room, each with its own audio stream.

This IMAX-like experience shows the potential for broadband networks in ordinary homes -- in movies on demand, virtual reality games and even teleconferencing, said Isaac Maya, the director of Industry and Technology Transfer Programs at USC. The shuttle video and all 10 channels of audio -- four more than on most DVDs -- are streamed in real time from services in Georgia over a superfast Internet2 network.

"The vision is immersive presence," Maya said. "How do you get people in separate locations to feel each others' environments? It's not just video, it's not just audio, it's not just the Internet. You have to do them all."

This potential is part of what excites visionaries in entertainment and consumer markets. If high-speed Internet access becomes ubiquitous, entrepreneurs and media experts have said, the experience of home entertainment, sports, games, communication and anything else connected to the Internet will change radically.

"That's a really big economic driver coming down the line," Gary Bachula, vice president of the Internet2 project, said. "But it's a chicken-and-egg problem. You've got to get the technology deployed before these applications become reality."

Industry veterans say national broadband access will only lead to major changes in US society if connection speeds get exponentially faster than those typical of cable and DSL today. Otherwise, the most likely result will simply be better use of existing technologies, such as those for email, Web surfing and music downloading.

"We need 100mbps or more to the home before we see an impact," Mark Cuban, the former Yahoo executive who now owns the Dallas Mavericks and who runs high-definition cable channel HDNet, wrote in an email. "The cultural change certainly won't come from HDTV, but it will come from high-resolution applications into the home."

That type of connection looks less like science fiction with each day. At the recent Fast Net Futures industry show in Santa Clara, California, a pair of companies called Ikonos and Metalink demonstrated 100mbps downloads over a 1,000-foot telephone wire. Telecommunications carriers, meanwhile, say it has become nearly as cheap to wire a brand-new neighbourhood with high-speed fibre optic cables as it is to install slower copper wires for DSL.

Still, that vision remains far from reality in the United States, at least until companies start seeing economic motivation -- or consumers start demanding -- superfast broadband connections. Just ask the high-tech thinkers inside the adult entertainment industry, who are often the first to see profit potential and to act on any impending technology.

"We haven't put forth any efforts that require money," said Wicked Pictures director of new media Anne Petrie. Her company offers products for today's broadband subscribers, but has yet to address next generation services, she said. "At this point, we're basically circling the airport, waiting for the connectivity issues to be resolved."