Brunel University's Department of Information Systems and
Computing is to set up a Broadband Research Centre.
The main aim of the centre will be to carry out research into the
applications needed to boost broadband take-up in the UK, including
proposals to "hardwire" broadband access into newly constructed
housing.
The thinking behind the creation of the centre is that UK broadband
adoption could lag further behind that of other countries unless a
way is found to stimulate customer demand for innovative
applications, rather than just lowering prices.
Jyoti Choudrie, director of operations at the centre, said, "At the
moment, we are not doing ourselves any favours. There are critical
lessons to be learned from studying how other societies are
successfully sewing broadband into the fabric of everyday
life.
"Our research missions to South Korea and Hong Kong have
demonstrated the potential of hardwiring broadband access into new
housing developments. Across the Atlantic, broadband access is
becoming an 'inalienable right' for regional housing associations
in the state of Kentucky."
Last year, the department undertook a Department of Trade &
Industry-funded trip to Korea which found that 9.2 million Korean
households had broadband connections by June 2002 and that its
government has set a target of 20mbps to the home by 2005.
These figures were revealed in the same week that e-commerce
minister Stephen Timms announced the UK's one millionth broadband
connection - a figure passed by Korea in April 2000.