BROADBAND COMMUNITIES is the leading source of information on digital and broadband technologies for buildings and communities. Our editorial aims to accelerate the deployment of Fiber-To-The-Home and Fiber-To-The-Premises.
Issue link: https://bbcmag.epubxp.com/i/281446
2 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com | MARCH/APRIL 2014 EDITOR'S NOTE Broadband Communities (ISSN 0745-8711) (USPS 679-050) (Publication Mail Agreement #1271091) is published 7 times a year at a rate of $24 per year by Broadband Properties LLC, 1909 Avenue G, Rosenberg, TX 77471. Periodical postage paid at Rosenberg, TX, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to Broadband Communities, PO Box 303, Congers, NY 10920-9852. CANADA POST: Publications Mail Agreement #40612608. Canada Returns to be sent to Bleuchip International, PO Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2. Copyright © 2014 Broadband Properties LLC. All rights reserved. CEO & ED I TO R IAL D I R EC TO R Scott DeGarmo / scott@bbcmag.com PU B LISH ER Nancy McCain / nancym@bbcmag.com CO R P O R AT E E D I T O R , B B P L LC Steven S. Ross / steve@bbcmag.com E D I T O R Masha Zager / masha@bbcmag.com ADV ER T ISI N G SALE S A CCO U N T E X E C U T I V E Irene Prescott / irene@bbcmag.com O N L I N E N E W S E D I T O R Marianne Cotter / marianne@bbcmag.com D E SI G N & PR O D U C T I O N Karry Thomas CO N T R I B U T O R S Joe Bousquin David Daugherty, Korcett Holdings Inc. Joan Engebretson Richard Holtz, InfiniSys W. James MacNaughton, Esq. Henry Pye, RealPage Bryan Rader, Bandwidth Consulting LLC Robert L. Vogelsang, Broadband Communities Magazine B R OA D BA N D P R O P E R T I E S L LC CEO Scott DeGarmo V I CE PR E SI D EN T, B USI N E SS & O PER AT I O N S Nancy McCain CHAI R M AN O F T H E B OAR D Robert L. Vogelsang V I CE CHAI R M EN The Hon. Hilda Gay Legg Kyle Hollifield B USI N E SS & ED I TO R IAL O FFI CE B R OAD BAN D PR O PER T I E S LLC 19 0 9 Ave nu e G • R o s e n b e r g , Tx 77471 281. 3 42 .9 655 • Fa x 281. 3 42 .1158 w w w. b r o a d b a n d co m m u n i t i e s . co m masha@bbcmag.com T wo articles in this issue – the Metrics column, by David Daugherty, and Understanding Broadband Performance Factors, by Andrew Aferbach and Tom Asp – cover very similar terrain. So similar, in fact, that I wondered whether they should appear in the same issue of the magazine until it struck me that they represented an interesting example of convergence. Te authors are experienced consultants and network designers who, along with their colleagues, have contributed multiple articles to this magazine. In earlier articles, Daugherty and his colleagues at Korcett Holdings wrote about the importance of managed networks, and Aferbach and his colleagues at CTC wrote about the importance of ultra-high-speed networks. Yet in this issue, Daugherty says, essentially, "Network management isn't everything – speed is important, too," and Aferbach and Asp say, "Speed isn't everything – network management is important, too." Demanding environments (dense housing in one case, businesses with mission-critical applications in the other) require networks that are robust, reliable and ultra-fast in both directions. Te only way for network operators to meet all these goals is by taking fber all the way, or very close, to users. HOME-BASED WORK Here's another example of convergence on the same goal from multiple starting points. Te developer Kitson & Partners, imagining a new, futuristic community where people would love to live (see the article on Babcock Ranch), concluded that support for home-based businesses and telecommuting was critical to attracting residents. At the same time, citizens of Wake Forest, N.C. – a town founded nearly 200 years ago – joined a community initiative to improve local broadband so they could reduce the time spent commuting to their existing jobs in the Research Triangle. (See the Q&A; with Dan Holt, who founded the community initiative.) At a recent forum about rural broadband, an expert helping educate congressional stafers used her own successful home-based business as an example to show how broadband widens career choices. (See Why Rural Areas Need Broadband.) Approaching the same issue from the vantage point of economic development, Michael Curri of Strategic Networks Group (see Broadband Utilization Programs Can Yield Impressive ROI) concluded that teleworking is very important for opening up employment opportunities. Home businesses and telecommuters require broadband networks that are robust, reliable and ultra-fast in both directions. (Sound familiar?) So whether support for home-based work is desirable because it sells new homes, ofers residents additional life choices or flls municipal cofers with taxes, fber- based broadband is key. Another place where it's all converging? Te Broadband Communities Summit, held this year in Austin. Property owners, service providers and state and local leaders will fnd that, when it comes to broadband, they have more in common than they might have thought. v Convergence Demands for better broadband are converging on the same goals. BBC_Mar14.indd 2 3/14/14 2:43 PM