When the Dow dropped its worst-ever 777 points this week, it dragged with it stocks of every kind – except shares of Campbell’s Soup. (After all, what tastes better after a horrible day than comfort food?) The recession that’s been threatening to hit will come in the second half of 2008, analysts say. Communications service providers will fare better than their equipment and software counterparts, but no tech company will go unscathed and few, if any, will grow.
For service providers, at least, there’s some relief that their bandwidth products will remain in demand. After all, data use rises exponentially year after year, said Larry Irving, a consultant and former telecom staffer in the Clinton administration, at a recent industry event. And the demand will never decrease. To wit, every 15 minutes, Americans create the same volume as it took 200 years for the Library of Congress to store, Irving said.
That’s good news for carriers in the midst of this seemingly unending market meltdown. And if they wanted to, they could think of bandwidth as that bowl of Campbell’s Soup – a staple sure to grow more popular as cutbacks take place elsewhere.
Unfortunately, in the meantime, equipment makers and software developers might have to consider themselves the buttered bread – a nice complement to a meal, but not necessary.
