IBZL
Encyclopedia
IBZL - infinite bandwidth
zero latency
- is a thought experiment
that asks: what will happen when bandwidth (for connecting to the Internet
for example) is so great, and latency so small, that it no longer matters? What will be the applications and services that become widespread?. The IBZL programme was started by the Open University
and Manchester Digital
in the UK.
(NGA) broadband is promoted strongly by policy makers as underpinning future economic growth. There is however a lack of examples of the ways that NGA will be used or of the sort of innovations that may come about as a result of widespread access to NGA. A parallel can be drawn with the advent of first generation broadband which arguably created the conditions for the success of innovations such as Wikipedia
, Youtube
and Facebook
, but the most innovative aspects of these - open source knowledge, video sharing and always-on social networking - were not foreseen.
The IBZL programme has used a process (Imagine/ Triple Task Method
) to explore the potentially novel applications of NGA and provide some ideas as to the key components of the future inter-networked landscape.
There have been two IBZL workshops held in Manchester
, UK in May and October 2010. They were organized jointly by the Open University Faculty of Mathematics, Computing and Technology and Manchester Digital
, a trade association of creative and digital companies in Manchester and the North West of England. They brought together invited public sector, private sector and academic participants, to imagine a digital future.
‘Always on social space’ - virtual spaces in which the connection is always on/perpetual, supporting the kind of occasional, informal, spontaneous, real-time social encounters (‘collisions’) that happen when people are co-located, between people living and working remotely. This would not only allow a new level of remote working and collaboration but also the sense of living in proximity with friends and relations could transform the lives of older people who need to stay longer in their homes as the population ages.
‘Intelligent matchmaking’ – bringing suppliers and consumers together optimally for business, social and educational interactions. Behind this would be a thorough analysis of organizations, products and people, made possible next generation networks, in order to synthesize high quality informational and other connections.
‘Real artisans in a virtual world’ - the networked production of artefacts by artisans in multiple locations. Next generation technology could support real-time collaborative generation of product ideas followed by the process of design, development and distributed fabrication. This could turn the conventional trading pattern on its head with artisans in the developing world crafting products for “3D printing” in the developed world, effectively re-engineering (or at least, challenging) current craft value chains.
Peer-to-peer processor time-sharing - projects like SETI@home use the spare processor capacity of millions of personal computers to process batches of number-crunching tasks, co-ordinated among volunteers by a central ‘master’ application. Next generation networks could allow real time peer-to-peer sharing so that when an application needs additional capacity for processor-heavy tasks like video rendering it could have access to effectively limitless extra computing power.
Latency mapping - the evolution of next generation networks will be uneven, resulting in a ‘geography of latency’ and the disruption of ‘simultaneous time’. The kinds of networked application that are feasible between two network locations will be a function of a range of factors including spatial distribution, network infrastructure and the network of relationships between service providers. Latency maps would be an enabling tool to identify the kinds of applications possible within/between, technical/geographic, or commercial spaces.
Bandwidth (computing)
In computer networking and computer science, bandwidth, network bandwidth, data bandwidth, or digital bandwidth is a measure of available or consumed data communication resources expressed in bits/second or multiples of it .Note that in textbooks on wireless communications, modem data transmission,...
zero latency
Latency (engineering)
Latency is a measure of time delay experienced in a system, the precise definition of which depends on the system and the time being measured. Latencies may have different meaning in different contexts.-Packet-switched networks:...
- is a thought experiment
Thought experiment
A thought experiment or Gedankenexperiment considers some hypothesis, theory, or principle for the purpose of thinking through its consequences...
that asks: what will happen when bandwidth (for connecting to the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
for example) is so great, and latency so small, that it no longer matters? What will be the applications and services that become widespread?. The IBZL programme was started by the Open University
Open University
The Open University is a distance learning and research university founded by Royal Charter in the United Kingdom...
and Manchester Digital
Manchester Digital
Manchester Digital is an association of people and organisations working with digital media and digital technology based in and around Manchester, UK. It acts as a trade association and collaboration network...
in the UK.
Background
Next Generation AccessNext generation access
Next-generation access is term used by British Telecommunications describing a significant upgrade to the telecommunication access network replacing some or all of the copper cable with optical fibre...
(NGA) broadband is promoted strongly by policy makers as underpinning future economic growth. There is however a lack of examples of the ways that NGA will be used or of the sort of innovations that may come about as a result of widespread access to NGA. A parallel can be drawn with the advent of first generation broadband which arguably created the conditions for the success of innovations such as Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
, Youtube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
and Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
, but the most innovative aspects of these - open source knowledge, video sharing and always-on social networking - were not foreseen.
The IBZL programme has used a process (Imagine/ Triple Task Method
Triple Task Method
-Triple Task methodology:The research approach was originally developed by Simon G. Bell and Stephen P. Morse . The approach was first used by the authors in the European Union Seventh Framework Programme under the grant agreement n° 217207: POINT project .-Background:Triple Task or TT is a...
) to explore the potentially novel applications of NGA and provide some ideas as to the key components of the future inter-networked landscape.
Next Generation Access (NGA)
While there is no universally agreed definition of what qualifies a network to be considered ‘next generation’, three elements are usually considered essential:- NGA will provide a significant increase in the transmission speeds available to the domestic or small-business end-user. The speeds cited vary widely from 25 Mbps (e.g. What is Digital Region? 2009) to over 200 Mbps. The ‘Digital BritainDigital BritainThe Digital Britain report was a policy document published in 2009, which outlined the United Kingdom Government's strategic vision for ensuring that the country is at the leading edge of the global digital economy....
’ report refers to ‘next generation service up to’ 40 Mbps, and more recently UK ministers have referred to 50 Mbps and faster. To put this in context, in early 2010, Google (Google, 2010) announced a plan for experimental community networks operating at 100 Gbps. - In contrast with currently widespread ADSL technologies, it is generally assumed that NGA will offer a step-change in upload as well as download speeds, reflecting the demands of increasingly user-generated content. For some, NGA bandwidth should be symmetrical, though others have a more relaxed view (e.g. OFCOMOfcomOfcom is the government-approved regulatory authority for the broadcasting and telecommunications industries in the United Kingdom. Ofcom was initially established by the Office of Communications Act 2002. It received its full authority from the Communications Act 2003...
2009). - NGA is widely taken to offer improved ‘quality of service’ (QoS). QoS here is taken to mean not only service reliability and availability, but also indicators of network performance including latency (the time taken for data packets to travel from source to destination), jitter (the variation in latency among data packets) and data loss (the loss of data packets due to network congestion). Latency, jitter and data loss are important aspects of the usability of applications such as internet telephony or video, in addition to ‘raw’ bandwidth.
IBZL as a way to develop NGA
The Infinite Bandwidth, Zero Latency (IBZL) initiative was designed as a contribution to innovation by identifying new applications that will be made possible by NGA as it evolves and that may contribute to the continuing development of innovative digital industries. 'Infinite bandwidth' and 'zero latency' are not meant literally; they are a shorthand for networks where bandwidth and latency cease to be limiting factors. IBZL addresses a gap in policy and strategic thought, where relatively little attention has been given to what kinds of novel application are made feasible by networks which are relatively free of speed and latency capacity constraints. The IBZL process is intended as a means to explore and speculate on potential future technologies. To facilitate the process the Imagine methodology was adapted and applied as a form of future workshop for deep reflection on possible scenarios (numerous examples of this kind of work exist, but see for example: List 2006)There have been two IBZL workshops held in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, UK in May and October 2010. They were organized jointly by the Open University Faculty of Mathematics, Computing and Technology and Manchester Digital
Manchester Digital
Manchester Digital is an association of people and organisations working with digital media and digital technology based in and around Manchester, UK. It acts as a trade association and collaboration network...
, a trade association of creative and digital companies in Manchester and the North West of England. They brought together invited public sector, private sector and academic participants, to imagine a digital future.
IBZL outcomes
The workshops produced ideas that will be further developed. Five of these are briefly summarised below.‘Always on social space’ - virtual spaces in which the connection is always on/perpetual, supporting the kind of occasional, informal, spontaneous, real-time social encounters (‘collisions’) that happen when people are co-located, between people living and working remotely. This would not only allow a new level of remote working and collaboration but also the sense of living in proximity with friends and relations could transform the lives of older people who need to stay longer in their homes as the population ages.
‘Intelligent matchmaking’ – bringing suppliers and consumers together optimally for business, social and educational interactions. Behind this would be a thorough analysis of organizations, products and people, made possible next generation networks, in order to synthesize high quality informational and other connections.
‘Real artisans in a virtual world’ - the networked production of artefacts by artisans in multiple locations. Next generation technology could support real-time collaborative generation of product ideas followed by the process of design, development and distributed fabrication. This could turn the conventional trading pattern on its head with artisans in the developing world crafting products for “3D printing” in the developed world, effectively re-engineering (or at least, challenging) current craft value chains.
Peer-to-peer processor time-sharing - projects like SETI@home use the spare processor capacity of millions of personal computers to process batches of number-crunching tasks, co-ordinated among volunteers by a central ‘master’ application. Next generation networks could allow real time peer-to-peer sharing so that when an application needs additional capacity for processor-heavy tasks like video rendering it could have access to effectively limitless extra computing power.
Latency mapping - the evolution of next generation networks will be uneven, resulting in a ‘geography of latency’ and the disruption of ‘simultaneous time’. The kinds of networked application that are feasible between two network locations will be a function of a range of factors including spatial distribution, network infrastructure and the network of relationships between service providers. Latency maps would be an enabling tool to identify the kinds of applications possible within/between, technical/geographic, or commercial spaces.