Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI
Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI

Project

The Way into the Gigabit Society. How Broadband Networks Enable Future Innovations. (Gigabit Society)

What are future requirements of broadband-Internet in the different application fields? How fast do future Internet connections have to be? Which innovations may become possible if abundant Internet capacity was available? The study “The way into the Gigabit Society” coordinated by IW Consult, Cologne and sponsored by the Vodafone Institut for Society and Communication came to the conclusion that only fiber-based networks will be able to meet the future requirements and demands for the digital society.

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We used four main network criteria (bandwidth, symmetry, latency and stability) and analysed six key application fields (consuming, mobility, energy, health, industry, and public administration) to identify future requirements of Internet infrastructures.

We used four main network criteria (bandwidth, symmetry, latency and stability) and analysed six key application fields (consuming, mobility, energy, health, industry, and public administration) to identify future requirements of Internet infrastructures. The result is that different application fields have different requirements: Not all applications fields need extremely small latency (for example in smart consuming) and there will even be future applications in the field of Industry 4.0 which will not need extremely high bandwidths. However, when looking more closely at the innovation potential of gigabit infrastructures we find that incremental increases of bandwidth are not sufficient. To the contrary: Only if abundant network capacities are available, exciting innovations and more dynamic developments will become possible. Thus, we recommend to align future network deployment plans to the needs of future top-broadband users which we have identified in this study.

Duration

January 2016 – June 2016 

Client

  • Vodafone, Institut für Gesellschaft und Kommunikation

Partners

  • Dr. Karl Lichtblau (IW Consult, Koordination) and Dr. Manfred Stadlbauer (Economica)