BROADBAND: 10 content apps that will drive broadband in 2004

Yes, how boring. But the fact remains that faster Internet access is one of the most compelling reasons to switch to broadband. All but the largest consumer portals are adding richer Flash elements to their homepages these days. Some popular sites can take 30 seconds to a minute to fully render over a dial-up connection. “A lot of webmasters are developing their pages specifically for broadband these days, poo-pooing the dial-up user entirely,” said Bob Escalle, a board member for the DSL Forum representing Texas Instruments. “The more splash and flash built into these pages, the more a broadband connection becomes vital to viewing them.”
 

Digital cameras are everywhere, and digital camcorders are certainly not rare in people's living rooms. The digitization of most of our day-to-day media is creating enormous demands over the Internet, as people finally have a convenient and cheap way to share it. Sending an album of 24 500-kilobyte photographs takes bandwidth, however, and even the smallest digital home movie would clog any dial-up connection for hours. Faced with the ability to generate more personal content than just e-mail, consumers will need broadband to move that content back and forth.
 

The age of Napster and other free peer-to-peer trading services appears to be over. The recording industry is cracking down with lawsuits on music pirates, opening the door for paid music services to compete. Apple's iTunes online service proved that money could be made from selling digital music for 99 cents per song. Other portals are following that model, and carriers are quickly signing partnership deals, hoping to capture a piece of the revenue. “Music is simply going to dominate as far as entertainment services goes,” said Paul Symczak, director of business development for Verizon Online.
 

It's not the sexiest application in the world, but network storage is increasingly important. The aforementioned digital photography albums and home videos have to be stored somewhere, and until the average broadband jockey learns to set up a file server on his home network, that task will fall to network storage. Broadband ISPs are often offering close to a gig of free network storage space with any given DSL or cable modem connection. Even free portals are giving away fistfuls of megabytes for free. Getting at that data trove—and sharing it with others—simply requires faster connection speeds.
 

Multi-player games have attracted millions of subscribers, and with mainstream console-makers Sony and Microsoft bringing Playstation 2 and Xbox online, gaming is expanding into the mainstream. Carriers like Verizon are striking partnerships with gaming companies and optimizing networks for real-time and bandwidth-intensive content. “We're looking at hosting these games on our network or on peering locations nearby,” Symczak said. “That boost in performance can release the richness of the game much more than if you're playing across the Internet.” Expect several ISPs, MSOs and carriers to start launching their own or co-branding gaming portals next year.
 

Though the RBOCs may not consider this enhanced content, ISPs and MSOs do. In the cable sector, voice over IP is integrally tied to the cable modem through DOCSIS, and cable companies push it as a broadband service. “Cablevision is going to require you to be a modem subscriber to become a voice subscriber,” said Cynthia Brumfield, director of communications media analysis for Pike & Fischer. “You'll see a lot of people experimenting with voice over IP as they sign up for broadband.” And not just the cable companies—ISP EarthLink, for example, signed a deal with VoIP provider Vonage. Voice is very much tied to the idea of broadband.
 

The broadband pep squad has talked up feature-length paid video content for years, but the only sector that has made a dent is porn. Common wisdom says video won't become popular until home networking bridges the PC/TV gap. But BellSouth Director of Portal Management Tim Hill doesn't have use for common wisdom. “From my perspective, the PC is becoming more and more the center of home entertainment,” Hill said. People have become very accustomed to watching sports clips, movie trailers and music videos on PCs. Watching a full-length movie may not be so foreign after all.
 

Throw those crappy $11 webcams away. The standard digital camera or camcorder, paired with a PC via USB or Firewire, can transmit higher-resolution video over the Web. Consumers are just starting to take advantage of this new technology.
 

Telecommuting is a big driver for broadband growth. Numerous studies show that worker productivity increases substantially on broadband over dial-up, and every major carrier is offering remote access and broadband access solutions that key mobile workers directly and securely into corporate networks.
 

Whether focused on local sports teams, community information or local public access affiliates, regional information services are set to take advantage of the new broadband pipe. Expect carriers to get wise to the potential of customizing their portals for regional and community content: webcasting minor-league sporting events or the state football championship, partnerships with community access stations or even a Web-portal deal with the local newspaper.