Gigabit Applications and Services for Smart Communities

Abstract

The foundation of a smart and connected community is its advanced digital infrastructure. Kilobits of bandwidth to the home and smart business became available in the 1970s via dial-up. Two decades after that in the 1990s, megabits became available via cable modem. Another two decades introduced gigabit to the home and small business in the 2010s. Gigabit networking to the home and small business has created a gigabit frontier of new applications. Gigabit has changed the game for applications delivered to homes and small businesses in three fundamental ways: increased flow size, reduced response times, and ability to accommodate multiple segregated flows of differential Quality of Experience. Examples of US Ignite gigabit applications and services deployed within the 30 US Ignite Smart Gigabit Communities are discussed. The COVID-19 pandemic adds additional rationale for gigabit networking. Future applications for gigabit applications that may arrive later in the 2020s are discussed. Academics are beginning to experiment with terabit networking which appears to be on-schedule for deployment to homes and small businesses in the 2030s.