If we build it, they will come

First there was the LAN. The local area network allowed two or more computers to connect to one another, and instantly increased the productivity of each machine by around 60%.

The MAN as its own entity never saw the fame it deserved, due to high cost of deploying networks over and under roads, through buildings, and ideally to a variety of business sectors.

Jason Norwood-Young, Technology editor, ITWeb

Since the first networks fed mainframes in a time when the PC was just a distant dream, the network was used to share computing loads across multiple mainframes. Not many institutes had more than one of the beasts, and so long-distance networking infrastructures started to develop.

This development spurred an alphabet-soup of networking acronyms, including WAN (wide area network), GAN (global area network), CAN (campus area network) and most recently PAN (personal area network). Somewhere between WANs and CANs, one networking topology has remained largely ignored - the MAN, or metropolitan area network.

The MAN is a citywide networking infrastructure, which has seen some implementations in government, retail stores, and similar city-based regional businesses. It usually is incorporated as a WAN edge network, although a CAN can often take its place. The MAN as its own entity never saw the fame it deserved, due to high cost of deploying networks over and under roads, through buildings, and ideally to a variety of business sectors. City regulation generally frowns on companies ripping up roads for their own nefarious ends, and running a network backbone under a competitor`s building opens a whole new can of worms.

Deploying applications on a MAN is equally complex, with the system usually required to meet the needs of vastly disparate businesses, even under the banner of a single company. If something is large enough to warrant a WAN, it is most likely quite diversified.

That was the past. Cities within cities are becoming more popular, with escalating crime, transport costs, and the need to utilise time to its utmost forcing people into laagers of townhouse complexes containing shops, entertainment and business, all in one ecosystem. Century City in Cape Town is one example of the new city concept. Once development is complete, a Century City resident need never leave the safe, cosy complex. Retail in the form of Canal Walk abounds, while Ratanga Junction and the bird sanctuary offers all the fun a Cape Townian can take. The new business parks that are being built in the enclosure will ensure that there is no possible reason to risk the great wide world. And it makes the perfect place for a working, city-wide, high-bandwidth network.

This is what they have done: The complex is wired with fibre, gigabit Ethernet, and enough bandwidth for the next 10 years. IP telephony, loyalty programmes, e-commerce, e-business, and other inventive services are all on offer for retailers, home-owners and businesses. The shared nature of the infrastructure provides the possibility of incredible benefit to the end-user - if two networked computers increase in productivity by 60%, then connecting 500 retailers can`t be wrong.

Century City`s design included the networking services and infrastructure from day one, with the architects planning to use technology that hadn`t been invented when they started the project. However, the concept of "If we build it, they will come" doesn`t always work. The Century City-based retailers still wait to see their profits, while they cover the cost of infrastructure that is still largely under-utilised.

A new spurt of technological innovation has spurred the invention of networking systems that will integrate with a typical building`s infrastructure, using electrical cables, phone lines, and other existing copper to wire them up for networking. The benefit of this is that profitable ecosystems can be selected for such investments, significantly reducing the project`s risk factor. The second option also has its drawbacks - bandwidth will be limited, and telephone and electrical cable was just not made to carry data. Some drilling and a lot of business interruption will occur, and users will have to re-learn a new paradigm.

Two projects similar to Century City are planned for Dubai: Dubai`s Internet City and the Dubai Multimedia City will give the new form of connected cities a place on the IT networking topology map. In countries where oil does not leak from the ground, however, perhaps converting existing environments into cities ready for the new century would be the wiser option.