I'll presume most people on this are familiar with the NGI initiative - basically trying to get "next generation internet" established in NZ.
I was recently discussing some issues with the people behind this over email. I suggested that I might invite comments from the CS forum crowd, as representatives of smaller players who might benefit from access to high-end networking.
If you have any points of view on the NGI, how access should be provided, etc., the person to email is: Debra Sturm [EMAIL PROTECTED]
In particular, it'd be good for smaller players to point out issues that they might have with it compared to large players. It'd be good if they were posted on this forum too.
Just to start this off --
I've pointed out that some small players might want the occasional download of a large item which the NGI would make possible but might still find they couldn't justify the cost of a full-time connection, esp. if the start-up/connection/subscription costs are high. The NGI folk would like to know if there are others who might fall into this situation.
I like this think of this as a variant on the 90/10 rule, probably more like 99/1 (or more) in this case. In most of our use of the 'net, we really don't need fast connections -- although it *is* nice :-) Once in a while we need a large document/set of files and then the high bandwidth becomes essential.
For example, the complete gene sequence data is > 9Gb compressed, so currently I get this off-line - via some sucking up to local institutions and businesses ;-) Even getting subsets of this data on-line, e.g. the human genome, is out of the question. Likewise updates to large software items can be a nuisance (eg. Red Hat Linux).
Ideally market forces and a volume rate would take care of this, but assuming that installation & subscription costs are high... how do you ensure small players can benefit from the NGI? Ensure that gov't "sponsored" sites (e.g. universities) have facilities to download to DVD-ROM or CD-ROM for "on-call" users? ISPs providing a similar service?
At the risk of looking ignorant, is there a service like this already...? (New business opportunity for anyone here...?) Users provide URLs for files via browser form, etc. Charge basic rate per 100Mb + postage, etc., billed to credit card with files delivered by mail/courier, etc. Or do you think the market would be too small? Its fun about thinking anyway...
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