[A few weeks ago, Shahul hameed.M.S an analyst from Broadband Suppliers approached me, suggesting he write a piece about the Information Technology & Innoation Foundation (ITIF)  report on the need for speed. I happily obliged. My take? It's not all video after all]

Our personal computers are no more just desktop machines that are used for browsing the internet, playing movies and music and chatting.

Real time communication, more virtual appearances and meetings, the need for better quality video-on-demand services – all of these have has increased the global thirst for speed. While many developed nations still strive for a better service, the Asian counterparts – like Japan or South Korea – have already over headed and are ready to face the future of personal computing (and living), where just an internet connection will not do.

The Next Gen of Personal Computing

Here are some of the features of the next generation of personal computing:

1. Video streaming services like YouTube, Hulu and Netfix would offer more featured downloads, in high-end formats like HD and Blu-ray.
2. IPTV, HDTV and UHDV would offer unlimited number of channels using broadband networks.
3. Video conferencing and telepresence services will help us connect to anyone, anywhere in the world, and will allow us to work as if we are in the same location. This is known as real-time collaboration.
4. Simultaneous functionality of bandwidth-hungry applications, such as digital cameras, personal video recorders, smartphones, home video editing equipment, laptop computers, HDTVs, PDAs, home monitoring systems and other smart appliances would require at least 90 Mbps running in every household.
5. Online- and Cloud- based gaming will allows multiple users to compete in high definition graphics gaming from the comfort of their homes despite residing in different locations.
6. Virtual Sports will allow gamers and sports persons to compete with virtual competitors. Japan and South Korea has already added them to their national gaming lists.
7. Tele-consultations, Tele-pathology, Tele-surgery, Remote medical imaging and Grid computing would expand medical research and treatments.
8. Virtual classrooms, multi-campus collaboration, digital content repositories, data visualization and virtual laboratories will be the next generation educational systems.
9. Upload and download of Giga-pixel images, which allow for in-depth zooming of every minute data, needs even more accelerated speeds. Also web applications, like Google Maps or Google Earth, require trillions of bits to capture every square inch of earth in street-view resolution.

Street View on Google Maps Demo.

All these next generation computing and digital media cannot be established with the current availability and speed of broadband offered. As it clearly shows from the figure in the beginning of this post, even leading western countries, such as the UK and the US, fail to provide the bandwidth needed for next generation video-based services.

Technological innovations drive customers to require increasing speeds and greater capacity. Deployment of faster broadband connections will provide more positive benefits for business, education, entertainment and society. The future networks will impact the lives of the citizens on a daily basis and help them to operate virtually but with a real-time experience. And it should materialize as soon as possible, because the future of personal computing is already knocking on our doors.