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Internet is increasingly becoming a place where people can get together and exchange information. Indeed, its network structure is evolving at an astonishing rate in precisely this direction.
Below we make some preliminary remarks on the possible scenarios and developments that may arise in the future from such a versatile and multipurpose instrument as the web. Telecom Italia is keeping a close eye on these breakthroughs and, as ever, is geared up in readiness to embark on the path of innovation.

Internet is changing, though these days less in technological terms and more in terms of applications and uses. The reasons why people choose to access the web have altered greatly over the last few years, with the networking side of things now taking pride of place over information and research requirements.

These transformations are having a profound effect on architectures, applications and networking technologies, and it would be absolutely pointless to plan for the internet of the future without bearing them in mind.
Stimuli for change need to be sought on the edges of the network and are, to a certain degree, independent of telecommunications operators and the choices these make. We have come a long way from the days in which developments in the field of connectivity followed hot on the heels of progress in web interface apparatuses. Of late it is precisely the contrary that is the case, as increasingly copious and wide-ranging apparatuses drive web evolution forward.
An example of this is the development in memory capacity. Today, our cameras and mobile phones have several Gigabytes of space, whereas the hard disks of our computers have already exceed Terabyte magnitudes and will undoubtedly continue to expand.
But what does this imply at the edges of the network? First of all, much of the information we normally seek will still be available, though we will not need to access the web in order to obtain it. We will download it from the web asynchronously with respect to its use, at low-cost or even zero cost with made-to-measure and fixed-price subscriptions. Updates will be minor operations and will also be made asynchronously with respect to use. Transmission will be transformed from a simple to an “accelerated” “flow” of data, with a subsequent lowering of costs and a strong drive towards high-performance networks.

The presence of enormous quantities of information in applications is already driving demand in the direction of the upstream, side, which is becoming as important as the downstream, one, rendering virtually obsolete the need for transport solutions such as ADSL (technology which, via a modem and using the normal copper telephone cable, transforms the traditional phone line into a high-speed digital connection for the asymmetrical transfer of multimedia data). With ADSL you can receive up to 6 Mbps and transmit 832 Kbps or more in both directions.
The universe made up of users who generate information at the edge of the network requires transfer speeds of over 100 Mbps.
The demand for band, including on mobiles (currently in its initial phase), will push developments in the direction of high cell densities (an ideal system with which telecommunications operators usually map out the territory that defines their coverage area), leading to increasingly smaller cells.Wi-Max is heading in the opposite direction and will be just one of the many technologies available to cover low density traffic areas with potential high single peaks, though it will certainly not be a replacement for current technologies. The co-existence of various technologies will be a fact of life and the challenge will be to make them more transparent for the end user.
Terminals will progressively become nodes of networks connected in mesh architectures. They will no longer be terminals of a network, but rather networks in their own right whose capacities will increase according as the number of terminals increases.
We need to bear in mind that the market buys terminals on the basis of parameters which are neither performance nor technology related, and that it is precisely terminals and their pervasiveness that fuel advancement of the network.
The evolution of mobile phones, with their increasingly smaller cells, in turn drives forward the fixed-line network.  Slowly but surely, and in line with economic compatibility, everything is converging towards what “must” be afibra, network in which, by force of circumstance, the level of connectivity will be associated to a certain degree of accessibility to resources by means of the platforms that make those resources available. This is why, when planning developments of the Next Generation Network, the emphasis for many operators is placed on platforms that facilitate multimediality and personalisation as well as transparency to technology, infrastructures and access.
In point of fact, these platforms open the way for the development of new business, allowing various players to exploit the associated services in a reciprocal manner, thus effectively creating new chains of value. Hence the “mashups” which are taking shape (a term that originated in music circles to signify the blending of multiple songs). For the moment, these are controlled by Google, but they should soon be available universally. Another connotation of “mashup” is “ecosystem”, understood as a spontaneous aggregation of businesses, usually inspired by a specific product or service.
In this sense, Next Generation Networks will turn out to be the bona fide enabling foundation for future businesses and a vital element in the development of national economies.