* Cisco CEO John Chambers is head bandwidth cheerleader
Cisco CEO John Chambers very often makes public calls for higher bandwidth in the nation’s network infrastructure. More bandwidth means router and switch upgrades, which means more money for Cisco, so obviously the man has a vested interest.
In yesterday’s financial analyst conference, Chambers reportedly smiled as he said that rich IP communications, while changing the way we all work and live, “really loads networks.” As certain types of communications, such as video, become more commonplace on the Internet, they of course will use a lot more bandwidth than text and graphics.
A few months ago, Chambers claimed that networked video increases productivity – “video on any device,” which of course means lots of devices on a network, wireless or wired, all capable of receiving (or sending) video. Earlier this year he called video “the killer app.” Having video capability, whether you use it or not, means having sufficient bandwidth in place, which means ensuring that your routers and switches have the right speeds and feeds.
In July, Chambers said the U.S. needs to change its definition of “broadband,” and urged that the country ensure that 100M to 1Gbps service is widely available in the next five to 10 years.
I have no problem with Chambers being the head cheerleader for bandwidth. Whether you watch videos online or not, there are plenty of others who do, and video is now an integral part of what the Internet is about. It makes sense that video could be used more often in a corporate setting as an effective means of communication.
You could argue that Chambers has a bias, and he does – but I think everyone realizes that and takes what he says in that context. And someone has to remind everyone that all this video has to have the proper infrastructure behind it.
