Voice-based wireless devices may have started out as new
and exciting technology but their success was partially due
to their ability to connect to the old dull technology of landline
telephones. Imagine what would have happened if early cellular
phones were only able to call other cellular phones. Who
would these early users have been able to call? Perhaps the
only other users would have been a very small and exclusive
club of executives with a habit of traveling in remote places. It’s
clear that cellular devices and service would not have been very
useful to mainstream society. (Unless you consider the value
generated by keeping the boss entertained while out in the
boondocks—useful for some, I’m sure.)
The CB radio is a good example of a device that is limited
to communicating only with other CB radios. CB’s are relatively
cheap to buy and free to talk on—no roaming or per
minute usage fees. But they don’t offer the best value because
you can’t reach everyone you wish to speak with, those you do
try to reach aren’t always on, and privacy doesn’t exist. This
points out the need for interconnections and the ability to convert
from one protocol or system to another.
It’s relatively easy to create concepts for cool new devices
and services but regardless of how cool and unique a device or
service, the value comes from the ability to connect and communicate
to others.
Metcalfe’s law is the theory that the value of the network
increases exponentially. If you double the size of the network
(let’s say from a network that serves 1,000 users to one that
reaches 2,000 users) you more than double the value—you
actually quadruple the value of the network.
Imagine if someone were to approach you and offer to
switch your Internet service to one that was half the cost. The
only difference would be that this cheaper service could only
reach half of your current network. Would you be willing to
switch? Most likely you would not.
This is why both the telephony system and the Internet
continue to grow in both users and value—the greater the size
of the network the greater the value.
Dr. Robert M. Metcalfe, inventor of Ethernet, founder of
3Com Corp. and columnist for Infoworld. Dr. Metcalfe together
with D.R.Boggs invented Ethernet back in 1973 while working
for Xerox Corporation in their Palo Alto Research Center
(PARC). PARC was also involved in the invention of the PC
and Graphical User interface; however, it was not the place
where these innovations were developed into successful commercial
products. Ethernet, the name for Local Area
Networking (LAN) technology turned PC’s into communication
tools by linking them together into a common network.
In 1979, Metcalfe left Xerox and founded 3Com Corp. (so
named for three words—computer, communication and compatibility)
for the purpose of promoting PC LAN’s and
Ethernet as the standard. Metcalfe was successful in bringing
together companies such as Digital Equipment, Intel and
Xerox and made Ethernet the most widely used LAN.
Metcalfe retired from 3Com in 1990 and embarked on a
career in journalism that led to his writing a weekly column on
networking, “From the Ether,” for Infoworld. It was in this
forum that he published “From the Ether: A network becomes
more valuable as it reaches more users;” Infoworld Magazine,
October 2, 1995. This article set forth the principles now
known as Metcalfe’s Law.
This law is very important to the growth and adoption of
wireless Internet. The premise that the network value grows by
the square of the size of the network does not discriminate by
device or access method. The number of network users can be
a combination of various access devices using various access
technologies, each with their own network speeds. The sheer
number of wireless Internet mobile devices forecasted to be in
use in the future creates the yet another source of network
growth and source of value for all users of the network. 178