Communication networks

Capacity and speed

In analogy to the improvements in the speed and capacity of digital computers, provided by advances in semiconductor technology and expressed in the bi-yearly doubling of transistor density, which is described empirically by Moore's law, the capacity and speed of telecommunications networks have followed similar advances, for similar reasons. In telecommunications, this is expressed in Edholm's law, proposed by and named after Phil Edholm in 2004. This empirical law holds that the bandwidth of telecommunication networks doubles every 18 months, which has proven to be true since the 1970s. The trend is evident in the Internet, cellular (mobile), wireless and wired local area networks (LANs), and personal area networks. This development is the consequence of rapid advances in the development of metal-oxide-semiconductor technology.