A business planning framework for WiMAX applications

Mobile networking refers to wireless technologies which provide communications between devices. Applications for mobile networking have a broad scope as they can be applied to many situations in either industrial or commercial sectors. The challenge for firms is to better match market-induced variability to the organizational issues and systems necessary for technological innovation. This chapter develops a business planning framework for mobile networking applications. This framework recognises the fluidity of the situation when trying to anticipate and model emerging wireless applications. The business planning framework outlined in this chapter is a generic model which can be used by companies to assess the business case for applications utilizing mobile networking technologies

The diffusion of IP telephony and vendors' commercialisation strategies

This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in the Journal of Information Technology. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available at the link below.The Internet telephony (IP telephony) has been presented as a technology that can replace existing fixed-line services and disrupt the telecommunications industry by offering new low-priced services. This study investigates the diffusion of IP telephony in Denmark by focusing on vendors’ commercialisation strategies. The theory of disruptive innovation is introduced to investigate vendors’ perceptions about IP telephony and explore their strategies that affect the diffusion process in the residential market. The analysis is based on interview data collected from the key market players. The study's findings suggest that IP telephony is treated as a sustaining innovation that goes beyond the typical voice transmission and enables provision of advanced services such as video telephony

The Impact of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) on Firm Location

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Indiana University, Geography, 2010Recent innovations in information and communications technologies (ICTs), particularly those related to the Internet, have fundamentally changed the environment in which businesses and regions compete around the globe. Despite widespread recognition of this change, several aspects of the manner in which ICTs have impacted business location and regional development remain unexplored. The papers that comprise this dissertation seek to provide some initial quantitative insights about ICTs, firm location, and regional development, to a literature that remains largely theoretical and speculative. The first paper explores the utility of short and mid-range broadband forecasts as potential tools for local economic development officials to flag problematic areas where broadband provision via traditional market mechanisms is doubtful. The piece finds short and mid-range spatial forecasts of broadband provision offer improved results over aspatial forecasts, which is especially important for ICT studies, given the historical lack of available data for use in empirical work. Forecasts can also be used by economic development officials to craft proactive rather than reactive intervention strategies to rollout broadband in unserved areas. The second paper examines similarities in the spatial distribution of broadband provision and firms in a variety of industries. Results indicate the relationship between the location of broadband and the location of firms varies by firm size and industry. This suggests firm size and industry membership are critical considerations when evaluating the impact of ICTs on firm location decisions. The third and final paper examines the challenges associated with benchmarking regional development given the pervasive and related technological and industrial changes in the U.S over the past thirty years. Findings suggest multivariate approaches for benchmarking regional development are preferred over univariate approaches given the demonstrated divergence in univariate indicators in recent years. In sum, these three studies provide important information regarding the measurement of regional competitiveness in the global information economy, as well as information about the spatial relationship between firm location and broadband provision; which is likely to be a critical locational consideration for firm in specific sectors of the U.S economy

Simulation support for internet-based energy services

The rapidly developing Internet broadband network offers new opportunities for deploying a range of energy, environment and health-related services for people in their homes and workplaces. Several of these services can be enabled or enhanced through the application of building simulation. This paper describes the infrastructure for e-services under test within a European research project and shows the potential for simulation support for these services

Broadband in rural and remote areas: the impact of Scottish policy initiatives

The ability to participate in the Internet-based economy that is emerging requires access to broadband. However, in many countries, 'digital divides' occur, with those in geographically remote and rural areas being particularly disadvantaged. Through focusing on rural and remote Scotland, the paper identifies three different categories of policy initiatives that have been adopted and their interaction with broader UK and industry wide developments. Whilst these initiatives have encouraged the adoption of broadband, it is argued that UK initiatives are creating a new series of challenges to the adoption of broadband

The Territorial Availability and Diffusion of Broadband in Finland: Lessons From Finnish Broadband Policy

Most countries dispose towards the development of the information society (IS). Due to increased political interest, there has also been a growing need to collect and compile IS statistics for informed decision-making. Thus, various indicators have been collected and different indices developed to measure IS, to monitor its development and to compare countries in terms of IS performance. Although there is no unambiguous definition of what IS is actually composed of, the availability and use of information and communications technology (ICT) is seen to be an established part of it. This article examines the case of one IS indicator: the measurement of the availability of broadband in Finland from the year 2001 to 2004. The focus is on the overall sensibility of the indicators approach, the evolution of territorial differences at different spatial scales, and the effectiveness of the broadband policy in Finland in years 2001-2004. The analysis shows that the indicators of the availability of broadband might be misleading for purposes of policy formulation and monitoring. The results also indicate that the Finnish broadband policy has resulted in regional differences and spatially uneven impacts in terms of availability. This article is an outgrowth of the ESPON project “Identification of Spatially Relevant aspects of the Information Societyâ€.

Forecasting E-Substitution and Mail Demand

Based on historical data from 1980 to 2004 the paper analyzes the main drivers of mail demand and the impact of e-substitution by using time-series techniques. We find strong evidence for e-substitution. In the second part of the paper we provide forecasts for future mail volumes.Regulation, Liberalization, Universal Service, Worksharing

Next Generation Access and Digital Divide: Opposite Sides of the Same Coin?

Geographical averaging of retail and wholesale prices could distort incentives for bypass entry in both the metropolitan and the high-cost areas. The two-instrument approach to universal service support, proposed in (Armstrong, 2001), could enhance efficiency, through competitive and technological neutrality. Alternatively, the industry support to high cost areas could be substituted by redistributive fiscal measures or public subsidies. Using evidence from Italy we suggest that tackling demographic, educational, and income inequalities is necessary, even in low cost areas, to support further broadband penetration. We estimate logistic regressions of Internet and broadband use at home, and show that a substantial increase of broadband penetration is possible in Italy only if specific platforms and applications are made available to older and less educated households. Therefore, a critical mass of services could help reaching the critical mass of users that make Next Generation Access Networks viable. --Infrastructural Digital divide,Cultural Digital Divide,Geographical crosssubsidies,Efficient bypass,Critical mass of services

A socio-technical approach to broadband diffusion by SMEs

Technological deterministic theories such as Diffusion of Innovations (DOIs) theory provide a useful view of the diffusion process of new technologies. However, the view provided is limited, as it mainly looks at the supply side of the diffusion process hence, the need for the ability to examine various sides that influence the diffusion of new technologies. The Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) provides an avenue to examine such views. In this paper, we examine the adoption of broadband by Small/Medium size Enterprises (SMEs) using a proposed framework that applies notions from SCOT. An initial application of the framework shows perception gaps among the social groups involved in the diffusion process of broadband. These gaps might explain the slow take up of broadband by SMEs in the UK