Slow Internet Connections: A SaaS Sticking Point - SaaS Week

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October 06, 2007
Slow Internet Connections: A SaaS Sticking Point

I read an interesting blog post today by Dana Blankenhorn of ZDNet, in which Blankenhorn mused on whether primitive Internet connection speeds would drag down growth in niches like Software-as-a-Service. Blankenhorn asked his wife to try an online spreadsheet application and then found that, after filling a few dozen cells, the application started taking minutes to load each new entry, despite having a cable Internet connection. (More on Blankenhorn's experience here.)

Blankenhorn then brought up the idea that primitive Internet service could be a major sticking point to growth of on-demand applications.

The idea definitely has some merit. Even though most metropolitan areas in the US have a choice of broadband connection methods, many areas still do not. And although most enterprises count on having a steady, fast Internet connection and have large IT departments to keep things running, many SMBs or remote offices to larger enterprises might not have an always on, always fast Internet connection. And even though most vendors of Web-based applications would have near-constant availability as a matter of critical importance, the customer's end would also need to have a steady, fast Internet connection to make sure that the employees could efficiently access the application.

Again, probably not a matter of critical importance in a large company located in a metro like Silicon Valley or NYC, but it could certainly be an issue for, say, the IT department of a department store in the middle of the Great Plains that's still working off dial-up or a slower cable Internet connection.