Metcalfe's Law

1) The number of possible cross-connections in a network grow as the square of the number of computers in the network increases.

2) The community value of a network grows as the square of the number of its users increase.

Metcalfe's Law is often cited as an explanation for the rapid growth of the Internet (or perhaps more especially for the World Wide Web on the Internet). Together, with Moore's Law about the rate at which computer power is accelerating, Metcalfe's Law can be used to explain the rising wave of information technology that we are riding into the 21st century.

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More resources from around the web: - A presentation at the Infonortics Web site is our source for the original statement . - BuyerWeb provides one of many possible examples of a service taking advantage of Metcalfe's Law - A dated but still valid article by George Gilder describes Metcalfe's Law and Legacy .

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