Winning the Hardware-Software Game

Using Game Theory to Optimize the Pace of New Technology Adoption

Innovators of new technology systems requiring users to combine both hardware and software components often face delays in adoption of their new systems.  Users will not buy the hardware until enough software or content is available, while at the same time software providers will not provide content until enough users have adopted the new system.  This book examines the dynamics of this adoption process and provides methods for optimizing the pace of adoption of new technology systems.     Read more...

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Blog A Note on My Previous Net Neutrality Blog Post
Tuesday, 20 April 2010 08:04

A Note on My Previous Net Neutrality Blog Post

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I recently published a blog entry on the Net Neutrality Game.  However, I just found out that there is a critical aspect of the net neutrality issue that I failed to understand, namely that involving deep packet inspection (DPI).  Using DPI methods, Internet providers have the capabilities of detecting not only the size of files passing through their lines, but also the content as well.  Clearly, there is a world of difference between managing flows of traffic based solely on file size, and managing flows of files based on the type and content of the files. 

Since my previous blog post failed to account for DPI, it missed a significant aspect of the Game.  I am now working on better understanding the implications of DPI and incorporating them into my model of the Net Neutrality Game.  A future blog post will present this analysis.

Fortunately, this does not mean my previous analysis of the Net Neutrality Game was a complete waste of time. (!)  On the contrary.  The Heart of the Matter is still the issue of how to allocate scarce bandwidth across users and content. If we want to decide whether or not net neutrality is a good idea, we need to understand what the potential alternatives are that address the issue of how to allocate scarce bandwidth capacity and how their outcomes compare to that associated with net neutrality.  The alternatives include

  1. Net Neutrality -- that is allocation of bandwidth based purely on a first-come, first-served basis = per-user based Internet access fees.
  2. Allocation of bandwidth based on priority of service or file size = per-usage or other "quality" based Internet access fees.
  3. Allocation of bandwidth based on other factors available through the use of DPI.

The game discussed in my previous blog entry compares the outcomes under the first two alternatives.  My next blog entry will examine the third scenario and see how that compares with the others.

This confirms my previous notion that no knowledge is ever wasted!!

:)

Read 695 times Last modified on Tuesday, 04 May 2010 08:42

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