100MB, 10GB, 2 TB? Where Does It End?

 

Bandwidth, speed, RAM, CPU’s, storage, backup, video, mobile, wireless…..bluetooth……crazy isn’t it?

We have evolved so quickly with our technology that the communications industry is in full acceleration mode.  A mere 20 years or so ago, dial-up internet was being born.  The US Postal Service was delivering free disks to us offering programs like “150 Hours Free” of dial-up internet from companies like Delphi, AOL, Prodigy, Earthlink, Ziplink, UUNET, NetZero, and Juno. 

Only a few years ago, DSL was the new trend for businesses and homeowners.  DSL provided a major upgrade over the 9600 “Baud” or “Bd” available on dial-up modems.  DSL is still available today and can reach speeds of 7MB or faster.

To jump forward, T1.5, DS-3, OC1, OC3, coax, FIOS, fiber, Ethernet over copper “EoC”, and Ethernet over Coax provide loads of bandwidth options in today’s market.  The need for bandwidth is growing so quickly, cellular technology, once thought of as the answer to our needs, is having a hard time keeping up.  With the onset of 3G, 4G, now 5G devices, cell network providers are struggling to meeting the needs of cellular users.  Many cell providers are currently deploying “hot-spots” where they provide a land based bandwidth option to off load some of the traffic on their cellular network.  

Remember these types of ads?

To utilize all this bandwidth come new devices.  No longer do we buy the “10MB computer for $5999”.  Now we have laptops with 1TB hard drives and 5GB of RAM, tablets, smartphones, iPads, iTouchs, Droids, Kindles, and even desktops.

While the improvement in peripheral equipment has been incredible, this has led to a need for even more powerful back office processing…..namely the onset of the “Cloud” technology.  The advantage of the “Cloud provides IT departments the capability to maintain enterprise level processing equipment with little or no CAPEX expenses.  The Cloud providers are in the business of providing state-of-the art equipment and security to private companies. With the click of a mouse, a company's IT Director can increase servers, add RAM, double storage space and many more conveniences.

Today’s cloud providers maintain secure, state-of-the-art data centers across the United States and provide inherent redundancy for your data.  It’s nearly impossible to keep up with the advances in technology and bandwidth today.  For a private company, technology is quickly passing by the capabilities of the average IT staff.  The cost of constantly upgrading in-house equipment, increasing bandwidth, staffing, security, power, backup, etc is heading beyond the reasonable expectations for any company but those in the Fortune 100. 

So where are we heading?  I’m guessing we’ve all got some great ideas and some good speculation?  I’d enjoying hearing your thought and having my readers participate in the discussion…..any comments, thoughts?

If you’re looking for direction or advice on your networking or processing needs, please drop me an email at dave@davehanron.com or reach out to me via Twitter @DaveHanron and I’ll be happy to help.

Capturing the Mobile Consumer…..Where Do I Start?

Today, there are more than 311 million people living in the United States and according to the CTIA Wireless Association, there are more than 300 million active subscription plans to some form of wireless service.

A wireless service subscription can be many different types. There are the wireless internet cards you can buy for your laptop, which gives complete mobile access to the internet from your laptop anywhere your carrier has an available network.

There are monthly plans you can purchase to obtain wireless access to public “hot spots” like coffee shops, diners, airports, etc. I have found these to be of limited value as the “hot spot” must be using the network you have enrolled in or else it is useless.

We are seeing a tremendous expansion of the mobile web seen on today’s cell phones. Most cell phone today come with a browser which allow you to access the internet with the add-on purchase of a data plan from your carrier.

Next we get to the “Smart Phones”. Today’s hot phone is the iPhone 5. Android, Window 7 phones, and yesterday’s favorite, Blackberry, all make smart phones which give access to the internet via the various carriers’ wireless data networks at speeds up to 4G. (4G stands for “4th Generation” of cellular standards for those of you who are wondering).

And let’s not forget tablets. Apple developed the iPad and launched the product in April 2010. The product sold 3+ million units within the first 80 days to market. Since then, we’ve seen similar products produced by companies like Blackberry, Sony, HTC, Dell, and many more. We are smack dab in the middle of the wireless revolution.

With the birth of the smartphone and tablets, a new channel of marketing has evolved to present product offers to wireless subscribers. Today’s consumers start their day at the kitchen table reading the paper online, continue to check email and stocks on their smartphone on the commute to the office, take their tablets to lunch to review the latest version of their presentation or check on tonight’s big game, then finish the day on their laptop again reading “tweets” on Twitter or posting to their Facebook accounts.

Sounds like a lot of wireless? It definitely is. But if a company manages their advertising budgets properly, they can take advantage of it. According to a recent US Census Bureau report more than 48% of total US retail sales were made online.

I strongly suggest to those business development professional that now is the time to embrace wireless, not run from it due to budgetary restraints. Direct some of your marketing budget towards starting a wireless marketing campaign. If you do nothing else, at the bare minimum, make sure your company has a mobile web friendly landing page. There’s nothing better to show off your business than having a professionally developed mobile page pop up for the consumers searching your product line.

I enjoy hearing back from my readers so please share any ideas you may have for marketing plans and any success you may have already had with your programs……