SubscribeLast week, Stop the Cap! considered the challenges America faced developing universal electric service — so much of that debate echos in today’s struggle to provide universal broadband service.
Although hindsight allows us to recognize the benefits universal electrification has brought Americans over the past 100 years, the transformational benefits from universal broadband are bit more mysterious because many applications haven’t even been envisioned yet.
IBM is a proponent of two revolutionary concepts universal broadband makes possible: The Internet of Things and The System of Systems. The company produced a video to consider the implications of improved connectivity and how that will impact our daily lives:
[flv width=”641″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/IBM – The Internet of Things.flv[/flv]
IBM Social Media produced this video explaining The Internet of Things, one of the concepts made possible with universal broadband. (5 minutes)
Now imagine the implications if the platform which makes this all possible remains in the hands of a broadband duopoly intent on securing big profits earned from high pricing, limits on service, and other cost-controlling measures. Transformational broadband — for the right price as long as you don’t use too much, brought to you by big cable and telephone companies.
FWIW, it sounds like the big deal with communications like this isn’t so much that communications need to be high-speed…the amount of data transmitted in all of the video’s examples is quite small on a per-sensor basis. However the conectivity had to be affordable and ubiquitous…so no dead zones.