[Michlib-l] Benchmark for Bandwidth?

[Knox,Sheryl Cormicle]

Looks like the E-Rate program is going to have more money available than ever before to subsidize broadband access. The FCC is poised to raise the cap another $1.5 billion/year<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/17/business/fcc-chief-aims-to-bolster-internet-for-schools.html>, from 2.4 billion to 3.9 billion. And there's another $2 billion in play for the next couple years form 'leftovers' and due to changes being made in the program. So $5.9 billion.

Those of us at the workshop at LM yesterday are 'locked and loaded' to make best use of that.

And it got me thinking about what is a good, target bandwidth to aspire to? Is there a formula?

The NYT article above about the cap increase references a 'rule of thumb' for schools in the near term  of "100MB of Internet bandwidth per 1,000 students" and in the longer term 1GB per 1,000 students.

Is anyone familiar with a similar 'rule of thumb' or benchmark for libraries?

Such a benchmark would have a lot of caveats, for sure. Maybe you have an internal performance goal for bandwidth to the patron desktop you'd like to share?

_____________________________________
Sheryl Cormicle Knox, Technology Director
Capital Area District Libraries - Administration
401 S. Capitol Avenue, Lansing, MI 48901-7919
517-367-6347 | knoxs at cadl.org<mailto:knoxs at cadl.org>
cadl.org<http://www.cadl.org/>


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