A backhoe operator a few miles outside of Cleveland begins an ordinary day, not knowing he's about to make a mistake that will affect millions of people all over the world. "Dig, dig, dig," thinks the gas company employee as he whistles a merry tune. "OOPS! What was that? Hmm. Some wire." No. Not just any wire. It was a bundle of four OC-92 fiber optic cables that each carried 9.6 gigabits per second's worth of Internet traffic to and from all points in the US. Instantly, Internet traffic ground to a near-halt, crawling along at a rate 20 to 40 times slower than usual. East and West coast Internet traffic was quickly rerouted through Europe, slowing things down there, too. It took 12 hours to repair the damage. For half a day the entire Internet was crippled -- brought to its knees by one guy with a backhoe. I'm not kidding. This really happened, September 29th at noon and wasn't fixed until midnight.

So what's my point? The infrastructure of today's Internet is lame, and this is but one example. It represents a particularly thin thread for those of us who want to stream video over the Internet. What kind of tinkertoy is this that can be brought down by one errant backhoe operator in Cleveland? This sucks.

The problem with the infrastructure is all-pervasive, too. Weakness runs rampant from the backbone to the curb. There is simply not enough bandwidth. I, for example, have an ISDN line connected to our test facility here in the Midwest. Advertised at 128 kbps, I have rarely seen better than 100, and usually it's at around 70kbps. From time to time it seems to be working at nearly 100, and then suddenly something happens at the ISP, or is it the phone company, or who-knows-where? Then I'm down to speeds that are not even as fast as a good ole' 56K modem, for which I'd pay around $30 per month (phone line and ISP charges) compared to the $110 I pay now. Can I call and ask for support? Sure. But finger-pointing from the ISP to the phone company and back again is all I'll get. Why don't I upgrade to DSL or a cable connection? Nope. Not here. Not yet. Someday.

Then there's the problem of software. Today, I tried to download a digital projector for viewing certain 3D animated movies on the Web. Crash, crash, crash. Restart. Then I view a few other little trifles from another company. Jerky, crackly sound, and it's so unpleasant to look at I have to shut it down. Next, Netscape crashes for no apparent reason. After restarting, I take a look at some Real Media files. Ouch. How can anyone watch this junk? Let's be honest here: The technology of Webcasting, as it stands in October of 1999, is downright laughable.

As you've probably gathered by now, I'm not a cheerleader for the Webcast industry. In fact, I think this whole Rube Goldberg, crazy quilt setup is a terrible mess. It's a house of cards waiting for a slight breeze that will bring the whole thing crashing down. But there's hope. Funny thing is, the state of Webcasting today reminds me of the days when I first started writing about digital video back in 1993. Now that technology really sucked. The video looked just like streaming video looks now. Jerky, blocky, awful sound, and tiny, postage-stamp sized frames. Yuck. How could anybody use this crap?

Well, they didn't, much. But it was a start, and it had an enormous amount of potential. The early pioneers of digital video didn't give up. Nor will the early pioneers of Webcasting. But as it stands now, it's obvious that Webcasting is not ready for prime time, or any time, for that matter. Sure, broadband is on its way. Sure, some people have DSL and cable modems and can watch some fine-looking stuff. But as long as that backhoe operator in Cleveland and those finger-pointing ISPs and phone companies and errant software writers continue to feel their way toward the upcoming Web video revolution, we're all going to be gritting our teeth and wondering if this is worth the trouble.

But there is a bright side to this squalling infant of a medium. There's a lot of highly original content being developed, right now. Here's an unusual situation: Content is actually way ahead of its delivery mechanism. Check out our new "Stream of the Week" each Monday morning here on Digital Webcast, and you'll see that content creators are definitely holding up their end of the bargain. Meanwhile, we'll all look forward to the day when all these lovely ideas are done justice with Internet infrastructure that can deliver them to us in watchable form. Sure, this sucks. But let's keep an eye on this budding technology. It can only get better.

Charlie White has been writing about new media and digital video since it was the laughingstock of the television industry. A technology journalist and columnist for the past seven years, White is also an Emmy-winning Executive Producer, video editor and shot-calling PBS TV director. Talk back -- send him a note!

 

Other Columns:
Charlie White's Webcasting Predictions for 2000
RealNetworks: No Spying Without Permission by Charlie White
Fat Pipes Change Media World by Charlie White
Casting Our Net by Frank Moldstad