Opinion 2: Broadband Internet Access Not Broad Enough
I was humbled to accept. One of the core beliefs of Black Duck's business relates to the impact the Internet has had on software development at companies of all sizes.
The Internet has dramatically improved the software development process, but solutions are necessary to manage these improvements and challenges related to distributed software development. In addition, the committee felt my commentary would be informed given my past efforts to bring broadband Internet access to the town of Brookline.
Numerous issues directly and indirectly shape the growing divide between rising enterprises around the world that benefit from unimpeded Internet service, versus small businesses in the U.S. that fall victim to a dearth of infrastructure required to deploy broadband networks.
Bolstering Bandwith
The global software industry is moving toward a bandwidth-intensive software-as-a-service model. The biggest advantage of this model is that small businesses can save money, because they do not need their own IT infrastructure. Internet service inconsistencies across this nation impede the country's desire to be the lead advocate for software as a service.
Application developers at growing companies find that it is difficult and expensive to deliver the latest software and data updates via today's conventional Internet connections. In today's software industry, developers are able to gain an advantage over their competitors by having access to superior Internet connections and bandwidth speed. Almost everyone in the software development community now relies on acquiring code from various repositories across the Internet. When their Internet service impedes this process, developers are put at a serious disadvantage against competing entities.
Poor Internet capabilities in many suburban and rural areas make it difficult for American companies to support telecommuters. The FCC recently released its rankings measuring the quality of Inter-net access within individual countries through-out the globe. Fright-eningly, the U.S. ranked 15th on the list. By contrast, it is easier for people to telecommute in the Netherlands, Denmark and other countries. In the U.S, the overwhelming majority of telecommuters reside in major metropolitan areas. The lack of bandwidth networks in rural areas makes productive telecommuting nearly impossible.
Scores of countries around the world are continuing to invest billions in bolstering their infrastructures in hopes to further harness the power of the internet. The U.S. is in dire danger of rapidly falling behind. Ultimately, the health of our economy depends on the health of our Internet infrastructure.
WBJ Web Partners
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