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Warning: This web at
toLearn.net/marketing/ is two years old, it's unattended, and the
links are rotting. However, in June 2000, the
server recorded over 10,000 page requests during more than 3,000 visitor sessions from dozens of
countries. Thus, I'm reluctant to take it down completely. Ricci Street | MBA 604 | marketing |
Why Is the Internet So Cheap?Internet Architecture The traditional voice network in use today is constructed based on a system of expensive digital and analog circuit switches that sit inside the network. At the ends of the network, we users have analog handsets to talk and listen with. From a technical architecture perspective, this network is smart inside and dumb at the ends. The Internet design is essentially the reverse. In the Internet, smart computers sit at the ends, linked together by a system of dedicated circuits and inexpensive packet switches. Internet Services In contrast to a telephone call, in which the expectation is that the network will transmit each user's voice within tenths or hundredths of a second, the Internet's services have more relaxed response requirements. At busy times, mail can take minutes or even hours to deliver. File transfers take place at whatever speed is available on the network and are not infrequently "timed out" if congestion is severe. Considered from the network design point of view, voice constitutes a premium service, because once initiated, a telephone call must be provided in real time so as to prevent users from experiencing perceptible delay in their conversations. Internet service, in contrast, is tolerant of delay, which permits the network to achieve greater overall utilization and efficiency. Internet Economics The major Internet attributes of efficient design, new technology, deferred services, wholesale purchasing, and low-overhead management have resulted in a cost structure that is generally an order of magnitude less than the current tariffs levied by the regulated carriers for equivalent commercial services. Michael M. Roberts,
Vice-president, Educom
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