The first network manager I worked for, a little over 20 years ago, explained to me that there are two kinds of developers:
- Considerate, nice people who care about the smooth running of his network
- X-windows developers
X-windows was notorious because the developers went about creating an environment ideally suited to their users needs – and they went about it without compromise. An example of this uncompromising approach was the mouse pointer – as it tracked its way across the screen, it was generated by the server hosting the applications regardless of where it was, regardless of whether the server was your machine or in Hong Kong, New York, or at the end of a dial-up connection. X-windows was a network hog.
Two decades later, the principal remains but the analogy has moved on – today network managers cite the BBC’s iPlayer rather than X-windows – but without this pressure from developers, who after all are closer to people’s needs than most network engineers, networks wouldn’t evolve. And networks that don’t evolve don’t require R&D budgets or upgrade paths – without X-windows and the iPlayer, network managers would have very limited budgets.
It this unwritten symbiosis that has made networking the hidden third partner in Moore’s Law. Its well recognised that an elastic cycle between chip manufacturers and software developers continually refreshed demand, but networking has long been a partner in this cycle. And since the advent of broadband, its come of age as a full partner in the cycle – but that comes with responsibilities.
The growing availability of broadband created the platform for Skype and YouTube. This created momentum which is now overshooting – the elasticity in the cycle which keeps everyone busy. The BBC’s iPlayer in HD and the increasing demands of gaming networks like Xbox Live are creating demand for more and better bandwidth. The developers have fulfilled their responsibility in creating demand for future broadband; its now the turn of the network operators to rise to the challenge.
And if they don’t? If the cycle gets broken? Simple – developers will look for other challenges or markets which are able to invest, local demand for broadband will plateau and interest will wane. The developer community is a lot more fluid and mobile than telecoms networks, and it will find places which are able to nourish it.
The biggest risk to the UK isn’t the lack of broadband investment in itself but the impact a sterile and sluggish infrastructure will have on the creative industries. We need to boast of our X-developer mindset not punish it for being unreasonable.
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