According to the latest numbers released Wednesday by WebSideStory's StatMarket, Microsoft's Internet Explorer 6.0 has captured a 30 percent market share just seven months after its release - sending Netscape's usage plummeting to an all-time low of 7 percent. Netscape had previously held 12 percent of the browser market for over a year. IE 6 is now the second most-used browser in the world, only sitting behind predecessor IE 5.
"The fast adoption rate for IE 6 has been a definite threat to Netscape's usage share," said StatMarket vice president of marketing Geoff Johnston in a statement. "Although it looked originally as though Netscape had an entrenched core user base, IE6 has managed to take significant market share. It's do or die time now for Netscape."
Although only in beta at the moment, if AOL switches to Gecko in version 8.0 due this fall, Netscape's browser share would get a 13 percent boost, potentially breathing life into the browser war once again.
"Netscape 6 seems to be a stronger product than some of the company's earlier release versions, according to its users," Johnston said. "If AOL takes this step and Netscape continues to strengthen its browser, we could see another battle in the browser war."
News source: Betanews
View: IE 6 Adoption Soars, Netscape Use Plummets - Betanews
"The fast adoption rate for IE 6 has been a definite threat to Netscape's usage share," said StatMarket vice president of marketing Geoff Johnston in a statement. "Although it looked originally as though Netscape had an entrenched core user base, IE6 has managed to take significant market share. It's do or die time now for Netscape."
Although only in beta at the moment, if AOL switches to Gecko in version 8.0 due this fall, Netscape's browser share would get a 13 percent boost, potentially breathing life into the browser war once again.
"Netscape 6 seems to be a stronger product than some of the company's earlier release versions, according to its users," Johnston said. "If AOL takes this step and Netscape continues to strengthen its browser, we could see another battle in the browser war."
News source: Betanews View: IE 6 Adoption Soars, Netscape Use Plummets - Betanews
This way, the carrier minimises the infrastructure investment until an occupier becomes a customer. It also offers great flexibility: if a single residence is replaced with dual-occupancy development, the fibre pair can be removed and a two-pair cable blown through in its place. Up to six pairs can be accommodated by a microduct.
Standard 432-pair fibre cables connect street cabinets to local nodes (which are basically Gigabit Ethernet switches). Several local nodes are connected by a fibre ring, along with a central node that links them to the carrier's metropolitan area network.
One home fibre connection is capable of supporting three or four set top boxes, six personal computers and six phone lines, according to Ericsson officials. Although the phone services are provided using voice over IP (VoIP), the available bandwidth means quality need not be compromised: "it's not a pretend phone service, it's a real one," said Colin Goodwin, strategic product manager - broadband access, Ericsson Australia.
The system can also be used for in-building services such as surveillance cameras, remote unlocking, messaging and energy control. While Ericsson offers the engineering, passive infrastructure, active nodes and switches, and services necessary to construct such a network, adherence to standards means many components are 'commodity' products, which keeps prices down.
Existing customers for the system includes Swedish telco Telia, KingCom (a regional Italian carrier), and various power companies in Sweden and Iceland that own fibre networks. A demonstration system has just arrived in Australia, and Ericsson hopes to interest local carriers and property
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