Finding the Killer Application — The Role of the Broadband Applications Laboratory

The world of the Internet is experiencing its next revolution — broadband access. It is recognised that fast Internet access alone is insufficient to drive broadband connectivity, and that, ultimately, compelling applications will create demand. But what will these compelling applications look like and how will one find them? This paper examines how a killer application will have to surpass a number of technological, economic and sociological issues in order to be a success, and how it is likely that the application presented to the user will comprise a number of sub-applications, potentially glued together using Web services as an enabling technology. The paper also outlines the Broadband Applications Laboratory (BAL) as a unique facility that can assist in the discovery, evaluation, development, test and rapid deployment of the killer application by providing a dedicated team and supporting infrastructure to take applications from inception through to launch. Finally the paper describes 'Software-To-Go', a trial of an applications-on-demand service that could just be one of the killer applications — not only does it fulfil many of the requirements of a killer application, but it also neatly encapsulates the capabilities of the BAL.