Hardware and Network issues in e-commerce
Hardware and Network issues in e-commerce Introduction This review will discuss the issues and outline some future developments related to the three most prominent forms of network technology, broadband, m-commerce and wireless broadband. What is broadband? A good definition of broadband is: "Broadband refers to any communication technology that permits clients to play streaming video and audio files at acceptable speeds - generally anything above 100 Kbps" (Laudon and Traver, 2002). Typically, broadband is characterised by very high upload and download speeds and most interestingly it is an 'always-on' technology as opposed to narrowband where the user has to 'dial-up' to the server every time they begin a new session on the internet, whereas with broadband the user simply has to click on the internet icon on their desktop and they are instantly linked to home page of their choice. Types of broadband There are many types of broadband access available to the internet user. The most commonly used type of broadband connections made by the general consumer is via cable modem and DSL connections. Cable Modem is usually used by consumers who cannot get DSL connections in their area or who live in a cabled area and is characterised as a shared network service. Internet connection is 'piggybacked' on the television signal received by consumers who have cable television. It
