TY - JOUR
T1 - Metcalfe's law is wrong
AU - Briscoe, Bob
AU - Odlyzko, Andrew
AU - Tilly, Benjamin
PY - 2006/7
Y1 - 2006/7
N2 - According to Metcalfe's Law, the value of a communications network is proportional to the square of the number of its users. The law is said to be true for any type of communications network, whether it involves telephones, computers, or users of the World Wide Web. Mathematically, the law is correct. Specifically, Metcalfe is correct that the value of a network grows faster than its size in linear terms. He did not however specify how much faster and this is where the limitation lies. In general, connections are not all used with the same intensity. Thus, assigning equal value to all of them is not justified.
AB - According to Metcalfe's Law, the value of a communications network is proportional to the square of the number of its users. The law is said to be true for any type of communications network, whether it involves telephones, computers, or users of the World Wide Web. Mathematically, the law is correct. Specifically, Metcalfe is correct that the value of a network grows faster than its size in linear terms. He did not however specify how much faster and this is where the limitation lies. In general, connections are not all used with the same intensity. Thus, assigning equal value to all of them is not justified.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=33746165139&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=33746165139&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/MSPEC.2006.1653003
DO - 10.1109/MSPEC.2006.1653003
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:33746165139
SN - 0018-9235
VL - 43
SP - 34
EP - 39
JO - IEEE Spectrum
JF - IEEE Spectrum
IS - 7
ER -