Editorial: Big Ideas to Chew On

ISPs are not implementing some interesting technologies. We recommend giving them a second look to see if they might fit in your operation.

by Alex Goldman ISP-Planet Managing Editor [November 21, 2007]

As many people go home for the Thanksgiving holiday, which is these days all about the family, ISPs will be at work, keeping the internet running. As people go home for the holiday or meet up with friends, communications remain open thanks to you. You may be missing out on turkey this weekend, and we cannot send any to you over IP, but we can provide some concepts that could be fodder for the mind and a spark for success.

So while you're working the routine, I'd like you to consider some ideas I find fascinating but which, I believe, have not received the consideration they deserve from the ISPs of North America and the world.

These are big picture ideas, maybe the sort of thing you don't usually think about while you're working, but well worth your time, I think.

And if you'd like to talk back about it and tell me I wasted your time or gave you a good idea, just click on the feedback link at the bottom of this page.

Anti-spam
Reflexion has a very interesting anti-spam system (see Reflexion 5.2) that includes disposable e-mail addresses and a powerful white list engine plus an optional challenge/response feature. Other systems also offer disposable e-mail addresses. The major free providers (Google, Yahoo, Hotmail) do not.

Wireless bandwidth
Most ISPs already know about gigabit radios, now available from BridgeWave, Proxim, and others. Prices vary, but are higher than Wi-Fi equipment, and so many have chosen not to use them. However, these products give you the opportunity to open accounts worth $500 per month or more. So take a look at The 1 Gbps Full Duplex Radio.

IPTV
If you're very very interested in IPTV, we've got a bunch of articles for you in the Technology: General section. Most of the services we've covered are in the development stage. Those that are actually offering service have niche offerings, ranging from porn to out of copyright stuff to content aimed at hobbies (but the Food Channel is big business on TV, so don't ignore the hobbies). If you had to read just one article, I'd recommend Single Malt Internet Television and if you have a large number of customers whose first language is not English (such as expat executives) or who are soccer fans, I'd recommend our article about Jump TV, IPTV Content Provider Seeks ISP Partners Worldwide.

VoIP
In 2004, Jeff Pulver asked ISPCON for applications that really take advantage of what VoIP can do. We've seen few. It's shocking how much can be done but how little is actually being done. One of the most knowledgeable people in this area is Tristan Degenhardt, who sold the company she co-founded to Digium and became its director of marketing. Even if you don't read our article, A Better Path to the SMB for Asterisk, at least check out the screen shot of a truly powerful VoIP-based application.

The cheapest upstream
When Dave Schaeffer, CEO and founder of Cogent, gave his keynote presentation at ISPCON, I was shocked to learn how few ISPs know that he's the cheapest provider of bandwidth. His competitors hate him. He sells 100 Mbps pipes for $1,000 per month which, yes, is $10 per Mbps. Read our writeup of the keynote, and you'll understand several other reasons why his competitors in the backbone business hate him.

Where we are
In the broadest sense, businesses need to look ahead. One of the best is delaware.net, which began the transition from residential dialup to business internet provider in 1999, shortly after ISP-Planet was founded (see 'Going Against the Grain' Proves a Winning Strategy). Here's where I think the ISP business is now Editorial: State of the ISP Industry.

What's going on where you are?

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