Five million Web pages and nothing's on

Ensuring that Internet users will say "cowabunga" every time they surf the Internet is the goal of more the than 30 companies that have established the Broadband Content Delivery Forum.

The group includes Nortel Networks, Telocity and AT&T Broadband as well as other service providers and Internet infrastructure providers. It hopes to identify open architectures that will allow the delivery of multimedia content via broadband networks and aims to improve the end user's experience by presenting him with personalized information.

"It is not just about PCs anymore. We understand what we can do is build a bridge to take us from where we are today to what the network will be tomorrow," said Anthony Alles, president of Nortel's IP Services business unit.

With that mission in mind, content providers, service providers and infrastructure experts plan to collaborate and create an Internet experience that is more than mere access.

The real value will come from personalized content, Alles said. "The Internet has to become a truly personalized broadband experience. We must build a new business case where the value comes from connecting subscribers to content," he said.

The America Online/Time Warner marriage was one of the biggest indicators that the true value of the Internet is no longer the infrastructure but its ability to bring new, rich content to technology-savvy consumers.

"We see broadband as fundamentally changing the way media and content is being delivered, said Benjamin Feinman, vice president and general manager of the broadband business unit at NBCi, NBC's integrated media arm launched in November. "As a forward-looking broadcaster that is progressive, we want to be involved in shaping standards for the next generation for our customers."

Because the personalization of content is at the forefront of the forum's mission, Nortel plans to propose its personal portal technology for Web-based advertisements and personal content tunnel technology at the first meeting May 25.

Those technologies will let service providers enable network log-ins and advertise personalized content and applications services. Hyperlinks from these then would trigger the personal content tunnels, which allow subscribers to connect directly from their desktops to local content servers over broadband connections. Personal content tunnels also will allow multiple customers to connect simultaneously across a single broadband access line to multiple service and content providers.

"We need to not deliver just broadband content but personalized broadband content. We have to go beyond alleviating the bottlenecks to deliver a personalized experienced," Alles said.

Currently, bandwidth bottlenecks make it difficult for ISPs to deliver broadband content. And whilecontent caching and content distribution helps improve connections between content providers and end users, the network is built fundamentally for narrowband, said Keerti Melkote, director of product management for Nortel's IP services business unit.

"Broadband content is different and is not about just text and graphics. [Broadband content] will need more than just requiring that the content gets to the end user," Melkote said. "The network will need to understand that the delivery requirements are different. If the business case is ultimately to deliver personalized content, the network has to be more intelligent to understand this."

NBCi is involved in the forum to drive the convergence of TV and the Internet, an idea that is gaining interest from some telcos (see story on page 32). The company believes that convergence will come with to the ability of the Internet infrastructure to support full-screen video and other emerging multimedia technologies. "We believe it will be important to not only get content and services down the last mile to the home but have network connectivity throughout the house," Feinman said. "There will be multiple devices across the home and work place, and we are fundamentally transforming the company, pushing narrowband content through the broadband prism."