Always-on network services: Why bother?

For many, the advantages of always-on (AO) are still not clear. The concept of AO can be difficult to understand and distinguish from traditional netw ork connections. How important is the ability to be AO compared to other ne twork characteristics? What will be the quality of the service (speed, avai lability and reliability) and which services will take full advantage of AO ? Is it important to be able to control the information flow? What will be the business model. for AO services: would it be cheaper or more expensive than other networks? What are the security and privacy concerns, and are th ere any social consequences such as less face-to-face contact and user isol ation? This paper presents a definition of the always-on (AO) concept and describe s the work done to capture the expected user's attitudes and behaviour towa rds AO. This wilt include a review of the initial testing of the AO concept through a number of focus groups. There will also be a resume of the usage scenarios which illustrate the possibilities for desirable AO services, an d the results from a number of AO user trials wilt also be presented. These user trials were carried out in the five partner European countries and pr ovide a snapshot of different AO scenarios across Europe. The paper will al so survey possible AO applications and services, reviewing AO network acces s technologies and identifying the technical and operational requirements f or AO services. This work described in this paper was completed within a collaborative EURE SCOM project between British Telecommunications, Telenor, CSELT, Telefonica , Telia Research, and Helsinki University of Technology.