Posted on: Tuesday, May 15, 2001

Editorial
Hawai'i has to sell its bandwidth niche

While the world of high-tech dot-com companies is temporarily undergoing a painful, but necessary, shakeout, the long-term future of the information revolution remains bright.

And Hawai'i remains poised to take advantage of the next surge, if we think strategically, plan carefully and act swiftly to capitalize on our advantages.

Advertiser staff writer John Duchemin reported Sunday that Hawai'i is loaded with "bandwith" capacity today, and can expect even more in the near future. This is largely an accident of our geographical location in the middle of an expanding Asia-Pacific network of high-speed, fiber- optic cable.

Almost every cable connecting Asia and the United States "lands" briefly in Hawai'i, where we can plug into this enormous carrying capacity.

And it is becoming increasingly clear that robust bandwidth, (the size of the "pipes" that carry digital information) is the key to being at the forefront of the information business.

There is some suggestion that the growing amount of bandwith will result in lower prices for consumers and small businesses. That would be a plus.

But the real plus is our ability to sell ourselves as a location that is superbly and generously connected to the rest of the world. Combine that connectivity with some of the time zone and lifestyle advantages of Hawai'i, and you come up with a winning combination.

It is imperative that those who wish to promote Hawai'i's economic advantages make these advantages well-known throughout the high-tech world.