The End Of The Middle Is The End For Telephone Companies

from the and-that's-ok dept

dsg submitted David Isenberg's latest article, which talks about the same thing he's been talking about for years, but it's (as per usual) well worth reading. Isenberg again points out that the "stupid" end-to-end network of the internet is better suited for carrying all kinds of data than any centrally managed network run by the phone company. As far as he can tell, there's simply no room for the phone company as this becomes more evident. The only way they can stay in business is if they have their friends in the government create laws that keeps them in power, and slows the growth of the internet. If you're not familiar with Isenberg's work (or even if you are), this is definitely worth reading. I tend to agree with his conclusions. I also think that the real story isn't so much the death of the traditional telephone (and the related companies), but what happens afterwards. The new opportunities that come out of the end-to-end network Isenberg envisions are fairly impressive. I think too many people think that it simply "replaces" the telephne with something cheaper, when it really has the ability to change the entire landscape of communications.

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