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TABLE 2 Additional Investment Needed to Carry
Additional Traffic (millions of dollars)
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+4 TB/day
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+12 TB/day
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+28 TB/day
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+60 TB/day
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Government Model
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34
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67
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123
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199
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NII Model
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250
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378
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518
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669
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As Table 2 shows, additional traffic can be carried through the
same wire centers that serve the government with little additional
investment. Additional capital is needed to expand toward a fuller
NII infrastructure that would require 5 times as many wire centers
to be covered as are covered in the government network. However,
the government network would still provide a significant jumping
off point for the complete network. For example, an NII network
serving all wire centers at 8 TB/day would require an investment of
$410 million in equipment ($160M for the first 4 TB/day through the
government wire centers plus $250M for the additional 4 TB/day
through the remaining wire centers). The government network would
have already caused 40 percent of that investment to be made.
The largest portion of the investment and monthly costs is in
the access areas of the network, the portion that is normally
provided by LECs. This reinforces the point made above in this
paper that the shared network concept must be extended all the way
to the user. It also points out the need for uniform standards for
interfaces and switching in all regions (a minimum requirement for
any open data network).
Conclusions
Three major conclusions can be drawn from the analysis presented
above:
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The infrastructure costs of a National Data
Network show a marked economy-of-scale effect at the volumes
represented by the federal government data communications
traffic.
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Significant economy-of-scale benefits can be
achieved by aggregating agency requirements onto a common
network.
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The infrastructure created to support federal
government requirements can significantly reduce the cost of
extending service to larger communities in the public interest.
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The savings resulting from the NDN approach are substantial
enough to justify the complexities of an aggregated procurement
(coordination of requirements, security, standards). Such a
procurement would have to be carefully structured to harness the
competitive forces necessary to motivate both local and
interexchange carriers to pass on the cost savings shown above
through lower prices. The end result would be a quantum step
forward for the government and the country on the road to the
information technology future.
Notes
1. Computer Science and Telecommunications
Board, National Research Council. 1994. Realizing the
Information Future: The Internet and Beyond. National Academy
Press, Washington, D.C.
2. Computer Science and Telecommunications
Board, National Research Council. 1994. Realizing the
Information Future: The Internet and Beyond. National Academy
Press, Washington, D.C.
