The Last Mile: Broadband and the Next Internet Revolution [Hardcover]

Jason Wolf (Author), Natalie Zee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 28, 2000

How big is broadband? Its implementation will affect all 201 million current Internet users. The Last Mile provides the business community with the first look at this next Internet revolution. Discussing the business impact, strengths, and weaknesses of broadband in non-technical terms, managers and executives will learn how to become major players in the new digital future.

From definition to implementation, The Last Mile clearly shows readers how broadband can impact their businesses for success. Here, professionals will learn: how this latest Internet buzzword actually works; the technology behind broadband; how it is likely to affect various other industries; its overall limitations and how to deal with them; and how to identify new opportunities in the market due to the evolution of broadband.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...broadband without the hype. ...bring[s] technology and business together in a down-to-earth style that everyone can understand." -- Jay Tannenbaum, Chief Creative Officer, Shockwave.com

"An in-depth view of the history and promise of the emerging broadband environment...allows readers to balance facts, strategy, and tactics." -- Jeff Dickey, Chief Strategy Officer, Advertising.com

"Guides readers through the complicated technical jargon with ease and lays a sold foundation for understanding and implementing this revolutionary medium." -- Business 2.0

"THE LAST MILE gives non-technical executives a roadmap for where the Web and their business are headed." -- Alex Sutton, Program Manager, Microsoft Corporation

"THE LAST MILE is a high-calibar book on this booming topic that covers everything we need to move forward." -- George A. Arriola, Product Manager, Internet Products Group, Adobe Systems Incorporated

From the Author

"Wake up and smell the bandwidth" Natalie and I work in a very fast-paced environment. Not only do we have to follow technology trends, but lack of early adoption could cost us a client or our jobs. Months ago we knew that Broadband was coming and we had to figure out everything about it quickly. The result of months of research, investigation and visiting companies and interviewing companies created The Last Mile. This book is for anyone working in any industry who needs to see how the Internet is going to radically change in the coming months and years ahead. Who are your real new customers, how do you reach them and what are they going to expect from you? There is a very easy to read technical section that covers all the buzz words and technologies that will help you understand how Broadband works. This knowledge will be your best defense in creating original and compelling Broadband content that your new customers will demand. Check out the book, we know you'll like it. - Jason & Natalie

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 200 pages
• Publisher: Mcgraw-Hill; 1st edition (July 28, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071363491
• ISBN-13: 978-0071363495
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,011,752 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simple, Nontechnical Introduction to Broadband Issues, September 10, 2000

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 109,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Last Mile: Broadband and the Next Internet Revolution (Hardcover)

This book is aimed at the business executive and small business owner with no current knowledge of broadband, and assumes no technical background in Internet technology. The book focuses on explaining the terminology of broadband, the trends involved, their business communications and product implications, and how Web-based businesses may be affected.

If you know what broadband is or have seen it in action with multimedia sites, you are beyond this book.

Broadband is simply a way of describing the ability to rapidly move screenfuls of data to and from an electronic device (such as your personal computer) more rapidly than you can blink. The result is to create something that can be a combination of interactive television, video phone, and multimedia experience rolled into new directions by using information to customize it for you. In essence, broadband eliminates many of the remaining limits to information technology coming into its full flowering for the average person.

If you work for a large company and are dealing with another large company in a computer application, the information is almost certainly traveling at broadband speeds. If you are at home on a dial-up connection, you are operating in the old mode. By 2002, it is estimated that 16 million consumer users will have broadband connections. The authors believe that telephone and power companies will be the winners over cable companies in creating this connection at home.

The main implication for businesses is that products and services for consumers will have to be greatly upgraded in content, interactivity, and use of information to match the potential of the technology in the next 5 to 10 years as the broadband connections become widely available at home. Since this process will be difficult to implement, many companies should begin now to make the transition. Your first experiments will probably not succeed.

The book is a light, easy read. The best parts are the wild-blue-yonder, what's-coming-next speculations. The authors seem to have a Stan Davis-type ability to conceptualize what does not yet exist in an interesting way. I especially enjoyed the humor in the list of 10 reasons to dread "smart" electronic appliances. For example, the one attached to your pillow may allow your boss to find out that you are late because you overslept.

If this is a new subject for you, be sure to read this book. If it is not, be sure to work on getting a lead on your competitors in preparing for broadband technology.

When you are done doing those things, then ask what other technologies are about to disrupt your business and find out more about them as well. For example, how will holography affect you?

May lots of health, happiness, peace and prosperity be yours!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Broadband Finally Makes More Sense, August 15, 2000

By 

Celiana Fuentes (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last Mile: Broadband and the Next Internet Revolution (Hardcover)

Though initially apprehensive about reading this book, I needed to for work and I am so happy I did. I was expecting the typically wordy, overly-technical writing that so many similar books suffer from, but THE LAST MILE was written in a language I could not only understand, but learn from. Broadband will soon be taking businesses by storm and I am now one step closer to taking part in all that it has to offer. By demystifying the unknown, I feel better equipped to move forward. This is a terrific book for anyone who wants to expand their realm of understanding and not get left behind in our new economy.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I want my money back, November 1, 2000

By 

"[e-mail]" (Ardmore, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last Mile: Broadband and the Next Internet Revolution (Hardcover)

The Last Mile was written by two former Shockwave employees, now with March First's interactive division. Let me start by stating that I consider March First one of the few interactive agencies that truly "get it." However, after reading The Last Mile, its obvious that someone at March First should start reviewing books before they go to press with their name attached. For starters, the writing in this book is extremely poor. For example, this excerpt regarding the complications involved with DSL installations; "The next day a real service guy showed up, wearing an open shirt with the gold chains and a serious leather tool belt that the customer said looked like the one he had bought because he just loved his job so much (huh?). The customer thought to himself "this is the man." He looked as if he was ready to start a fight with anyone that talked bad about DSL. This guy came in like Mr. Spock in the original Star Trek movie and rewired the warp drive engine. He rewired the setup and told the customer that he was ready to make the jump to light speed." The passage rambles on (including run on sentences, and grammatical errors) and concludes with; "He thought of some technical reason as to why this might be normal and forgot about it, until he asked his wife if she ever tried using both her DSL and Powerbook modem. "Yup, all the time," she said. For the love of God, he thought"

PLEASE - who is the target audience of this book? CEO's interested in understanding broadband capabilities and positioning their business for the broadband revolution don't want to read writing in the style of "Spot goes to the Park".

The Last Mile also (conveniently) features a case study on Shockwave.com - although I find the site entertaining, how this fits into helping CEOs to understand business applications based on broadband is beyond me. (It's also nice to see that the book gets kudos from the creative officer of Shockwave.com)

The book continuously repeats itself (obviously written by two different writers with no editor) and jumps around; confusing the reader as to what is the message of each chapter.

The Last Mile is mainly geared towards justifying the need for interactive designers (coincidentally the writers' are interactive designers) and using interactive elements such as video and flash animation because the bandwidth will be available.

When developing strategies around positioning businesses online, interactive elements should be only used if they make sense to the target audience and are necessary to help solve business problems; not simply because the technology is available. This is never mentioned in the book.

I was extremely disappointed with the unprofessional approach taken in writing (and editing) this book. The Last Mile book was painful to get through. I hope someone at March First is reading this. I want my money back.