All the consumer confidence and legal support in the world won’t boost e-commerce if there’s no way to deliver electronic content to customers efficiently and quickly. The future of electronic delivery demands a dramatic evolution of the telecommunications infrastructure in the United States and across the globe. Today’s infrastructure was built to carry voice telephone traffic and has served well for the last 50 years. But, the information age is placing new demands on this system-demands that it cannot readily meet. Today’s slow transmission speeds and congestion are a legacy of an outdated system that must be modernized, lest consumers and businesses turn away because of the “world wide wait.”
High-speed constant connections to the Internet (broadband access) let users send and receive far larger volumes of information than traditional dial-up telephone lines allow. Broadband access can be provided through modified cable television lines, an enhanced telephone service called Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), satellite, fixed-wireless[5], and other means.
Broadband access is absolutely necessary in order to make the vision of new, exciting Internet-based services a reality. For example, highly anticipated interactive applications (whether online classrooms, business showrooms, or health clinics) cannot exist if users lack broadband access.
In the United States today, roughly 70 percent of American households have access to the Internet, according to NielsenNetRatings (http://www.nielsen-netratings.com/). But, fewer than 10 percent of U.S. households have broadband access.
Many other nations rival the United States in their level of Internet penetration. In Sweden, nearly 75 percent of citizens have access to the Internet, whereas the number in Canada is 58 percent. But globally, broadband access rates are even lower than in the United States.
Several factors conspire to stymie more extensive broadband deployment. There are financial challenges, changing market conditions, uncertain consumer preferences, and even cultural and societal trends. In this environment, policymakers must take the lead and encourage the provision of broadband to consumers and their homes over the so-called “last mile.”
There is also a need to ensure that individuals in all sectors and geographical locations enjoy the benefits of broadband access. Not surprisingly, early evidence suggests that, in the United States, the rate of broadband deployment in urban and high-income areas is outpacing deployment in rural and low-income areas.
The preceding disparity has raised concerns that the “digital divide” (the gap between information “haves” and “have-nots”) will increase. The digital divide is a major concern for companies who have worked individually to expand access to computer technologies in underserved areas. They recognize that a global e-commerce technology future depends on widespread access to new technologies, particularly by individuals who have thus far failed to share in many of the communications and productivity benefits that technology brings. For all these reasons, many e-commerce companies support policies to promote broadband deployment in a way that will enhance widespread access to technology and, in so doing, close the digital divide.
Deregulating and Making Telecommunication Markets Competitive
Genuine competition in all telecommunications markets will accelerate the deployment of advanced e-commerce technologies at reasonable prices. Competition in the long-distance market in the United States over the past decade has substantially reduced the cost of telecommunications services and steadily increased service quality and product innovation. This same model should be applied to local telephone markets in the United States and other countries. Competition will stimulate existing and new companies alike to deploy new equipment and software that is data friendly (packet-switched) and enable companies to tap into significant consumer demand for information-intense services.
Now, let’s look at another type of e-commerce technology: the tools that reside within the Internet environment itself. In other words, with the growth of the Internet, B2B procurement and other processes are being moved to the World Wide Web, for increased efficiency and reach. Procurement systems from different vendors use various protocols, and additional protocols are being defined by several industry consortia. As a consequence, suppliers are faced with the difficult task of supporting a large number of protocols in order to interoperate with various procurement systems and private marketplaces. In this part of the chapter, the connectivity requirements for suppliers and private marketplaces are outlined, and a description of how suppliers and marketplaces can interoperate with diverse procurement systems and electronic marketplaces is presented. A description of a simple connectivity that is based on punchout processes for fixed and contract-based pricing is presented first. Next, a description of how asynchronous processes, such as requests for quotes, auctions, and exchanges can be distributed for interoperability across suppliers and marketplaces, is also presented. Finally, this part of the chapter presents a description of the B2B/market-to-market (M2M) Protocol Exchange. This is a prototype that IBM has implemented, which maps between different, but analogous, protocols used in procurement systems and, thus, alleviates some of the interoperability difficulties.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Investing in a Technology Infrastructure
All the consumer confidence and legal support in the world won’t boost e-commerce if there’s no way to deliver electronic content to customers efficiently and quickly. The future of electronic delivery demands a dramatic evolution of the telecommunications infrastructure in the United States and across the globe. Today’s infrastructure was built to carry voice telephone traffic and has served well for the last 50 years. But, the information age is placing new demands on this system-demands that it cannot readily meet. Today’s slow transmission speeds and congestion are a legacy of an outdated system that must be modernized, lest consumers and businesses turn away because of the “world wide wait.”
High-speed constant connections to the Internet (broadband access) let users send and receive far larger volumes of information than traditional dial-up telephone lines allow. Broadband access can be provided through modified cable television lines, an enhanced telephone service called Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), satellite, fixed-wireless[5], and other means.
Broadband access is absolutely necessary in order to make the vision of new, exciting Internet-based services a reality. For example, highly anticipated interactive applications (whether online classrooms, business showrooms, or health clinics) cannot exist if users lack broadband access.
In the United States today, roughly 70 percent of American households have access to the Internet, according to NielsenNetRatings (http://www.nielsen-netratings.com/). But, fewer than 10 percent of U.S. households have broadband access.
Many other nations rival the United States in their level of Internet penetration. In Sweden, nearly 75 percent of citizens have access to the Internet, whereas the number in Canada is 58 percent. But globally, broadband access rates are even lower than in the United States.
Several factors conspire to stymie more extensive broadband deployment. There are financial challenges, changing market conditions, uncertain consumer preferences, and even cultural and societal trends. In this environment, policymakers must take the lead and encourage the provision of broadband to consumers and their homes over the so-called “last mile.”
There is also a need to ensure that individuals in all sectors and geographical locations enjoy the benefits of broadband access. Not surprisingly, early evidence suggests that, in the United States, the rate of broadband deployment in urban and high-income areas is outpacing deployment in rural and low-income areas.
The preceding disparity has raised concerns that the “digital divide” (the gap between information “haves” and “have-nots”) will increase. The digital divide is a major concern for companies who have worked individually to expand access to computer technologies in underserved areas. They recognize that a global e-commerce technology future depends on widespread access to new technologies, particularly by individuals who have thus far failed to share in many of the communications and productivity benefits that technology brings. For all these reasons, many e-commerce companies support policies to promote broadband deployment in a way that will enhance widespread access to technology and, in so doing, close the digital divide.
Deregulating and Making Telecommunication Markets Competitive
Genuine competition in all telecommunications markets will accelerate the deployment of advanced e-commerce technologies at reasonable prices. Competition in the long-distance market in the United States over the past decade has substantially reduced the cost of telecommunications services and steadily increased service quality and product innovation. This same model should be applied to local telephone markets in the United States and other countries. Competition will stimulate existing and new companies alike to deploy new equipment and software that is data friendly (packet-switched) and enable companies to tap into significant consumer demand for information-intense services.
Now, let’s look at another type of e-commerce technology: the tools that reside within the Internet environment itself. In other words, with the growth of the Internet, B2B procurement and other processes are being moved to the World Wide Web, for increased efficiency and reach. Procurement systems from different vendors use various protocols, and additional protocols are being defined by several industry consortia. As a consequence, suppliers are faced with the difficult task of supporting a large number of protocols in order to interoperate with various procurement systems and private marketplaces. In this part of the chapter, the connectivity requirements for suppliers and private marketplaces are outlined, and a description of how suppliers and marketplaces can interoperate with diverse procurement systems and electronic marketplaces is presented. A description of a simple connectivity that is based on punchout processes for fixed and contract-based pricing is presented first. Next, a description of how asynchronous processes, such as requests for quotes, auctions, and exchanges can be distributed for interoperability across suppliers and marketplaces, is also presented. Finally, this part of the chapter presents a description of the B2B/market-to-market (M2M) Protocol Exchange. This is a prototype that IBM has implemented, which maps between different, but analogous, protocols used in procurement systems and, thus, alleviates some of the interoperability difficulties.
High-speed constant connections to the Internet (broadband access) let users send and receive far larger volumes of information than traditional dial-up telephone lines allow. Broadband access can be provided through modified cable television lines, an enhanced telephone service called Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), satellite, fixed-wireless[5], and other means.
Broadband access is absolutely necessary in order to make the vision of new, exciting Internet-based services a reality. For example, highly anticipated interactive applications (whether online classrooms, business showrooms, or health clinics) cannot exist if users lack broadband access.
In the United States today, roughly 70 percent of American households have access to the Internet, according to NielsenNetRatings (http://www.nielsen-netratings.com/). But, fewer than 10 percent of U.S. households have broadband access.
Many other nations rival the United States in their level of Internet penetration. In Sweden, nearly 75 percent of citizens have access to the Internet, whereas the number in Canada is 58 percent. But globally, broadband access rates are even lower than in the United States.
Several factors conspire to stymie more extensive broadband deployment. There are financial challenges, changing market conditions, uncertain consumer preferences, and even cultural and societal trends. In this environment, policymakers must take the lead and encourage the provision of broadband to consumers and their homes over the so-called “last mile.”
There is also a need to ensure that individuals in all sectors and geographical locations enjoy the benefits of broadband access. Not surprisingly, early evidence suggests that, in the United States, the rate of broadband deployment in urban and high-income areas is outpacing deployment in rural and low-income areas.
The preceding disparity has raised concerns that the “digital divide” (the gap between information “haves” and “have-nots”) will increase. The digital divide is a major concern for companies who have worked individually to expand access to computer technologies in underserved areas. They recognize that a global e-commerce technology future depends on widespread access to new technologies, particularly by individuals who have thus far failed to share in many of the communications and productivity benefits that technology brings. For all these reasons, many e-commerce companies support policies to promote broadband deployment in a way that will enhance widespread access to technology and, in so doing, close the digital divide.
Deregulating and Making Telecommunication Markets Competitive
Genuine competition in all telecommunications markets will accelerate the deployment of advanced e-commerce technologies at reasonable prices. Competition in the long-distance market in the United States over the past decade has substantially reduced the cost of telecommunications services and steadily increased service quality and product innovation. This same model should be applied to local telephone markets in the United States and other countries. Competition will stimulate existing and new companies alike to deploy new equipment and software that is data friendly (packet-switched) and enable companies to tap into significant consumer demand for information-intense services.
Now, let’s look at another type of e-commerce technology: the tools that reside within the Internet environment itself. In other words, with the growth of the Internet, B2B procurement and other processes are being moved to the World Wide Web, for increased efficiency and reach. Procurement systems from different vendors use various protocols, and additional protocols are being defined by several industry consortia. As a consequence, suppliers are faced with the difficult task of supporting a large number of protocols in order to interoperate with various procurement systems and private marketplaces. In this part of the chapter, the connectivity requirements for suppliers and private marketplaces are outlined, and a description of how suppliers and marketplaces can interoperate with diverse procurement systems and electronic marketplaces is presented. A description of a simple connectivity that is based on punchout processes for fixed and contract-based pricing is presented first. Next, a description of how asynchronous processes, such as requests for quotes, auctions, and exchanges can be distributed for interoperability across suppliers and marketplaces, is also presented. Finally, this part of the chapter presents a description of the B2B/market-to-market (M2M) Protocol Exchange. This is a prototype that IBM has implemented, which maps between different, but analogous, protocols used in procurement systems and, thus, alleviates some of the interoperability difficulties.
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