BROADBAND

Broadband is often associated with a particular speed of set of services, but in reality the term broadband is like a moving target. Broadband is commonly used to describe recent Internet connections that are significantly faster than today's dial-up technologies, but it is not a specific speed or service. Recommendation I.113 of the ITU Standardization Sector defines broadband as transmission capacity that is faster than primary rate ISDN, at 1.5 or 2.0 megabits per second (Mbits/s). Else where, broadband is considered to correspond to transmission speeds equal to or greater than 256 kbits/s, and some operators even label basic rate ISDN (at 144 kbit/s) as a "type of broadband".

For India the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has recently recommended the following definition: An always on data connection that is able to support various interactive sevices, and has the capability of a minimum download speed of 256 kilobits per second. TRAI excepts to revise the definition in the futureHigh-speed data community can be provided by both wired connections and wireless connections.

Wired connections account for the vast majority (over 98%) of current connections-although wireless technologies are starting to grow quickly.Of the fixedline connections, digital subscriber line (DSL) and cable modem technologies are the most popular, according to the ITU. Until 2000, the majority of broadband users were using cable modems, and this is still the most popular form of access in North America.
But worldwide, ADSL now accounts for more than half the connections, being particularly popular in Asia and Western Europe. In DSL -ADSL is one of several versions of DSL- the ordinary copper pair that connects the plain old telephone at the subscriber premises can be used to carry data at high speeds.The best bet for carrying high-speed data is optical fibre. Once the capital investments is made in laying the fibre, recurent costs are negligible, but the initial investments could be large
For business, entertainment, e-governance, distance education, video-conferencing and a million other applications that still havn't reached the stage of a glint in the eye of their innovators.Cisco is famous for integrating its vendor base and procurement activity, as well as its marketing and internal operations into online operations