Broadband Services: Business Models and Technologies for Community Networks

Description:

Access to the Internet is an increasing problem in many areas of the world.  As the popularity and usefulness of the Internet increases on a daily basis, lack of access to the technology is putting many groups at a disadvantage in terms of better education, better jobs and even in terms of higher levels of civic participation.  However, creating a network infrastructure to serve outlying communities and sectors of the population is not straight-forward. 

This book brings together all the aspects of the problem – technical, regulatory and economic - into one volume to provide a comprehensive resource.  It describes the latest technological advances that allow cost-effective network infrastructures to be built, and places them in the context of the applications and services that the infrastructure will deliver.  A section on business models and case studies from North American and Europe demonstrate that the solutions are economically and practically viable.

This book is essential for anyone looking to gain an understanding of the issues and technology surrounding the access debate.  It will be of particular relevance to network engineers/designers/planners at the incumbent operator companies charged with delivering broadband access to as yet unconnected regions.   Governments and regulatory bodies will also find this a useful guide to the problems that they may face.

 

 

Table of Contents:

Foreword.

About the Editors.

List of Contributors.

Acknowledgments.

1. Introduction (Imrich Chlamtac, Ashwin Gumaste and csaba A. Szabó).

PART ONE: APPLICATIONS AND SERVICES.

2. Broadband Home/Entertainment Services (Arieh Moller and  Roy Isacowitz).

3. Applications and Services to Meet Society-Related Needs (Csaba A. Szabo).

PART TWO: BUSINESS MODELS.

4. Key Legal and Regulatory Issues Affecting Community Broadband Projects in the United States (Sean Stokes and Jim Baller).

5. European Telecommunication Law and Community Networks (Giovanni Pascuzzi and Andrea Rossato).

6. Models for Public Sector Involvement in Regional and Local Broadband Projects (Gareth Hughes).

7. Customer Owned and Municipal Fiber Networks (Bill St. Arnaud).

 8. Towards Technologically and Competitively Neutral Fiber to the Home (FTTH) Infrastructure (Marvin Sirbu and Anupam Banerjee).

PART THREE: TECHNOLOGY. 

9. Backbone Optical Network Design for Community Networks (Ashwin Gumaste, Csaba A. Szab o and Imrich Chlamtac).

10. A Comparison of the Current State of DSL Technologies (Scott A. Valcourt).

11. Fiber in the Last Mile (Ashwin Gumaste,^, Nasir Ghani and Imrich Chlamtac).

12. Ethernet in the First Mile (Wael William Diab).

13. DOCSIS as a Foundation for Residential and Commercial Community Networking over Hybrid Fiber Coax (Steven Fulton, Chaitanya Godsay and Radim Bartoš).

14. Broadband Wireless Networks: a Roadmap to Emerging Trends and Standards (E. Baccarelli, M. Biagi, Raffaele Bruno, Marco Conti and Enrico Gregori).

PART FOUR: CASE STUDIES.

15. Community Networks in North America (Priya Shetty and Ashwin Gumaste).

16. European Broadband Initiatives with Public Participation (Csaba A. Szabó).

Index.