SOS: Finding your way through the broadband acronym jungle

The broadband bonanza can be an IT director's worst nightmare. Choosing the right access technology for a business is a decision not to be made hastily.

After all, if some analysts are to be believed, the growth of any business these days depends heavily on the speed of their data flow.

The technicalities of different broadband alternatives can be confusing. It's important to keep a clear perspective - how big is the business expected to grow within the next few years? Is rapid data transfer speed really essential to the services being offered? How much money should be invested?

Clive Longbottom, analyst at ecommerce consultancy Quocirca, argues: "Most companies will be doing business on the web within the next two or three years at the latest, therefore bandwidth access implementation is an important decision."

Trouble-free access is essential for dot-coms in particular. Longbottom adds: "Customers need to access the company's website effortlessly and that depends on the upstream speed. If a company opts for hosted services, you need less inhouse bandwidth as most of your data traffic is downstream - employees sending emails and browsing the internet. But it is important to have fast upstream access in place if the company decides to host its own servers."

There are several options available for fast downstream access. DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) - which has received considerable publicity thanks to the squabble between the potential DSL service providers and BT - is an alternative worth considering once the nationwide rollout of the asymmetric version (ADSL) has been completed.

Tim Johnson, editor of Access@Ovum, an internet access technology service at research house Ovum, believes ADSL is good for small to medium-sized businesses because of its speed and relatively low price.

"ADSL is more suitable for residential users and small businesses as they would mostly use it for downstream access, that's to say downloading from the internet, but having upstream speed requirements of much less than 2Mbps," Johnson explains.

Consulting firm Frost & Sullivan predicts the European market for DSL will continue to enjoy rapid growth. A recent survey predicted revenues will leap from $59.4m in 1999 to $2.27bn in 2006. It also estimates the rise in revenues through new DSL lines will jump from 166,500 in 1999 to 7.5 million in the same time period.

An alternative to ADSL is cable modem technology. Cable modems at the users' premises allow data transmission via the cable network - but the cable infrastructure was not designed with the corporate customer in mind.

Jill Finger, analyst at IDC, argues that DSL is more suitable to corporate use than cable modems. "DSL suits all types of users - large business, SME, residential - while cable modems are more for residential/soho (small office/home office) users."

She adds that cable operators are experienced at marketing to consumers but less so to the business sector. Finger claims the best target for these companies will be the SME market.

Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) is another option, which normally uses what is known as the Wireless Local Loop (WLL), which (as its name suggests) allows operators to offer a "last mile" system that does not use the copper or fibre-optic cables in the ground. The auction of the broadband radio spectrum required for these services to be offered is imminent in the UK.

Although WLL can be used in a 'one size fits all' way, operators offering it, such as Firstmark and Formus, are particularly targeting SMEs. However, Ovum's Johnson is sceptical of the technology's potential. "It remains to be seen whether this will be a widespread technology for businesses or a niche one," he says.

As with cellular mobile telephony, FWA allows a certain amount of workforce mobility and will provide constant communication links to and from the office - although black spots and interference can cause connections to be dropped.

At the same time, third generation mobile technology is still under intense scrutiny for its likely pricing and performance. Analysts don't believe its mature enough for full implementation right now.

Quocirca's Clive Longbottom says: "3G will be too expensive and too bandwidth limited for general use. One long distance wireless option could be satellite transfer, but it is mostly suitable for remote locations as densely populated areas don't allow the transmission of radio waves."

One of the most common forms of broadband access at the moment - and one that many large companies already have installed - is leased line. This is a private communications channel leased from a telco. Access is obtained through a high-speed modem installed on the private lines.

Optical fibre has a high tolerance to any kind of interference, and is very fast. But it's expensive.

Future broadband access possibilities are already under development. Trialls are taking place in some areas of Europe to allow data transmission over the electric power cables. Telecom aeroplanes are another possibility - these are planes that can hover over large cities, such as London, pointing a data packed laser beam at another building.

Digital data can be crammed into many natural and man-made elements. But it remains to be seen quite how the bulk of communication signals will be transferred across the globe in 50 years time. One thing is for sure - it's likely to do so at the speed of light. But then again, we will probably do, too.

Don't forget to tune into silicon.com's in-depth report: Broadband: Beyond ADSL (http://www.silicon.com/broadband ), which was launched earlier today. It explores the next-generation technologies available and their impact on business. Divided into three sections, Technology, Convergence and Business Implications, the report answers all your broadband questions and will help you make the right decisions.