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And the Winner Is…
DSL vs. high-speed cable: Which technology should be in your firm's future?
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Business New Haven
5/13/2002
By: Anne-Marie Brungard
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Once considered an expensive luxury, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) Internet and high-speed cable access services have become more integral to the daily operations of small businesses and is viewed as a highly valuable resource, even during tough economic times.
More than 90 percent of small businesses responding to a recent Yankee Group study reported that business gains resulting from increased productivity met or exceeded the monthly costs of such service. Sixty-five percent agreed that if forced to cut costs in a down economy, Internet access would be one of the last services eliminated.
In today's efficiency-driven culture, businesses are looking for every way to improve efficiency while improving the bottom line, essentially doing more with less.
Telecommunications companies are meeting demands for high-speed remote access to the Internet and corporate networks with the deployment of DSL technology. Both DSL and cable provide high-speed connections to the Internet and corporate intranets and offer virtually unlimited opportunities for “information on demand” while facilitating improved online shopping, video gaming and telecommuting experiences, to name a few.
It's also a service that you don't have to dial into. Just turn on your PC, open a browser, and you're ready to surf. Beyond Internet access, DSL also has the ability to carry additional phone lines and entertainment services using the same pair of wires.
Both high-speed cable and DSL offer rapid access to the Internet with speeds up to 2.3Mb/sec to and from the Internet, and the ability to transfer large documents quickly.
“This is particularly important for companies that move large amounts of data both upstream and downstream,” explains Bill Pankracij, DSL.net's director of corporate communications. So companies that must move large graphics files such as advertising agencies or publishing houses can benefit. In addition, broadband technologies provide easy and convenient access to streaming video, digital music and interactive games, improving a company's capacity for videoconferencing and much more.
All broadband services are distance-sensitive. Each town has a central office (or head/end cable) and one's distance from the central office impacts the amount of bandwidth. Those closer to the central location receive a stronger signal, while those further away may experience some signal dispersion.
With a dedicated Internet connection, DSL allows for a connection to multiple computers all leveraging the same telephone line. Both services are less expensive Internet connections than a T1 line.
Bernardo Rodriguez, fiscal administrative officer with Empower New Haven, says his organization made the decision to use DSL services after examining several factors, including “cost, ease of use and the company's overall communication needs.” Empower New Haven has a Web site that is mainly informational, but needed a service that could handle interoffice communication needs, including e-mail accounts.
Virtually every major telecom company in Europe, North America and the Pacific Rim has announced commercial DSL rollouts, and there is more news every week. Throughout these regions, most companies and individuals in major metropolitan areas will have access to the service soon if they don't already.
\drop cap\According to technology market analysts International Data Corp. (IDC) in a report published in February 2001, “The number of digital subscriber line (DSL) subscribers around the world will soar to 64 million in 2004.” The study notes that “The worldwide DSL user base rocketed by more than 440 percent during 1999.”
SBC SNET has invested millions of dollars in a major market expansion across Connecticut. Access is available to more than 980,000 (more than 72 percent) of the state's residents and businesses, and service availability will be expanded again later this year.
SBC has extended fiber-optic lines further into neighborhoods to connect newly deployed “neighborhood broadband gateways,” which house high-speed DSL capabilities.
According to Michael Belcourt, SBC's assistant director of data and broadband services, “We are adding new subscribers at a healthy rate. The market is very healthy.”
A recent SBC SNET customer survey indicated that even though there have been challenging financial times for many companies (and the economy in general), customers are still spending, they are using and even adding broadband services. SBC SNET currently serves less than 100,000 clients between its residential and business applications.
“The market is maturing,” says Belcourt. “People are ready to graduate from dial-up services, and looking for improved functionality, applications and services.” Apparently businesses have taken their time to fully view the lay of the land, especially with the dot.com fall-out (and technology stocks tension) at every turn.
When capital was more readily available, several technology companies carried heavy debt loads and worked from a “growth-at-all-costs standpoint,” points out Pankracij. Despite hitting rough financial sledding DSL.net has worked to remain true to its overall strategy to provide DSL services to small and mid-sized companies and eschewing the residential market.
The company had to hunker down on costs and recently closed on $30 million to $35 million in new financing. “The overall demand in Connecticut remains pretty strong for broadband technologies,” says Pankracij. “There has been strong demand, we are maintaining existing customers and [entertaining] new offerings.”
Comcast Cable is the third-largest cable operator in the U.S., with 15 years experience in the state, providing both cable television and high-speed Internet access. Comcast is a franchise cable operator and services Middlesex and New Haven counties.
A year ago Comcast introduced high-speed Internet services to New Haven, Hamden and West Haven. A multi-million-dollar upgrade is taking place in Middlesex in an effort to launch expanded services this summer.
Says Tom Coughlin, vice president and general manager for Comcast's Connecticut systems, “Our high-speed Internet service is geared towards residential, telecommuters and professional customers.”
Comcast has a product for small business called Comcast High-Speed Pro. The service includes additional IP addresses. Up to five computers can run on the service that offers Web site space for storage, Web-based e-mail service, and the advantage of developing a Virtual Private Network.
The service is targeted to small companies or companies with special telecommuting needs. Comcast has 75,000 cable customers in the New Haven area, including business and residential customers. Broadband services provided by cable companies have been criticized because they are not open to ISPs other than their own, creating a de facto monopoly.
DSL.net provides nationwide service and had 20,800 lines throughout Connecticut in 2001. It has developed a business model as both a Tier 1 Internet service provider and a reseller (a whole facilities provider).
Other business models rely heavily on the wholesaler for capacity or the wholesaler depends on the resellers. “From a customer's prospective, when one of the companies goes down, there is a great deal of consternation and confusion,” adds Pankracij.
DSL.net believes it has eliminated a problem with its one-stop approach. DSL is one of various media offered to companies based on their specific needs. Symmetric DSL offers the same speed when downloading and uploading information, compared to other companies that may offer asymmetric services where downloading information or large graphic files is much faster, but slower when uploading.
SBC, through its Internet service provider affiliates, is a broadband provider with more than 1.5 million DSL customers nationwide at the end of the first quarter in 2002. SBC SNET provides access to both residential and business customers.
“With online rebate programs for the modem there are virtually no start-up costs associated with activating the service,” explains Belcourt. “This levels the playing field for small businesses today.”
SBC SNET's business products are geared to meet the need of small to mid-sized companies. Customers are provided downstream connection speed from the serving central office of up to 1.5 mbps for standard SBC DSL service.
Despite these obvious advantages of DSL and high-speed cable, anybody who establishes a dial-up or “always-on” Internet connection incurs some security risk stemming from the duration of the network connection rather than the access method. A number of standard measures are available that users can apply to protect themselves:
- Turn off file and print sharing in Windows. Turn off the option that lets others look at files and use a printer.
- Set up strong passwords and Virus Scan software. Make sure that passwords contain at least eight characters and include lowercase and capital letters, numbers and special characters such as $@! if allowed by the operating system. Install software that will scan the system for computer viruses that may be received when sharing files with others. Update the virus scan software frequently.
- Consider a hardware firewall separate from the PC. Many hardware firewall solutions offered on the market today meet business needs.
- Install a software firewall to the PC. Many quality software firewall programs will effectively protect a PC from hacker attack. Several of these programs are free and others charge a nominal fee.
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