Internet Trends: Peep into the future...

On the 15th of May 2008, I got a call from my Internet service provider saying they are upgrading my Internet connection which will deliver greater speeds and a larger download limit. I was receiving 512 kbps earlier, but from now on it will be anywhere between 1500 t0 20,000 kbps!! ...all this for no extra cost.Not very long ago, I was used to a fact of Internet speeds being in the double digit kbps measure.

Now, it's time to imagine what the future state of Internet would look like with developments like these.
My imagination is that in the next 20 years computing will hold far more capabilities than whats available on the current 2-4 Ghz processors from Intel, AMD and the like.The commercially available technology might even be 20 times the speeds of what's available now. With the advancements in computing technology, we can see a parallel advancement in networks as well. There will soon be a time when 50 to 100 Gbps speeds in broadband won't surprise people. What we can expect from networks of the future is beyond the current copper wires and Optical fibre lines used to transmit data. There would be new transmission technologies that would offer a balance between speeds and volumes through wired or unwired methods.

"So what's the next wave going to be?" This question is the most favourite of all for tech savvy people who always want the latest and the greatest of what the silicon world has to offer.

Here is a list of Internet trends and tools that were offered over the last 10 years that I could relate to:
- E mails
- Hosted Web sites
- eGroups
- Bulletin Boards/Discussion Forums
- Online Chat Tools
- Online Shopping
- Alumni Networking (alumni.net/ batchmates.com)
- Shoshkele (Floating web/browser Ad)
- Peer 2 Peer Sharing(Music/Videos/Photos)
- Online Voice Communications Tools (VoIP, Skype etc)
- Web Maps
- Blogs
- Wikis
- Social Networking(SixDegrees, Ryze, Orkut, FaceBook, MySpace, LinkedIn)
- RSS
- Social Bookmarking/Tagging
- Web Mashups (Google Mashup Editor, Yahoo Pipes, Microsoft PopFly)
The above list is not a comprehensive list but it serves as a reference point to think about how the Internet is shaping to be an indispensable element of our lives.


No matter how many tools and concepts come and go on the Internet, the most basic of them all- 'the eMail' is here to stay for a long time.


___________________________________________________________________________________