Biggest test for bandwidth: Qwest exec predicts next summer's Democratic National Convention will be 'bigger than two Super Bowls'.

• Author: Schley, Stewart
• Position: Q3 Tech Report - Qwest Communications International Inc. - Charles Ward

When most city boosters imagine next summer's Democratic National Convention at Denver's Pepsi Center, they see the stuff of a fertile economic breeding ground. Close to 35,000 people will descend on the metro area for the convention, filling hotel rooms, eating at restaurants and signing credit card tabs that local economists estimate will be part of a $160 million spending spree.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Not Charles Ward. When he thinks about the convention, he thinks about something else entirely: bandwidth. As in gigabytes of the stuff. In all flavors. Wireless networks. Super-fast optical fiber lines. Temporary cellular towers. Plus, all the trappings that go with it. Legions of bloggers. Delegates armed with mobile phones, notebook computers, Palm Pilots and wireless data cards. Help desks and trouble tickets.

In the same way a restaurant manager might fret over getting enough fresh salmon shipped to the kitchen over six or seven frenetic days next August, Ward will worry about getting enough communications capacity to the thousands of visitors who will flood downtown Denver with a plethora of connected gadgets at their side. Ward is Colorado President for Qwest Communications International Inc., and even with more than a year to go before the first speaker takes the stage at Pepsi Center, he's concerned about getting his network in shape to accommodate a flurry of telecommunications demand.

"This is a very telecom-intensive convention. More so than any other event in our country," Ward says.

That's a reflection not just of the sheer body count associated with the political convention, but the new connected-society era in which travelers remain tethered almost continually to devices that demand a connection to the Internet or a wireless phone network. Coupled with a news-media invasion and its attendant need for large-scale video and Internet connections, the Democratic National Convention is a thirsty beast that will slurp up bandwidth from every possible source in a way past gatherings haven't.

Since 2004, when the Democrats last held their national convention in Boston, travelers have become ever more dependent on connected devices. Manufacturers have shipped close to 14 million new Blackberries and other personal digital assistants to North American users since 2004, according to the research firm Gartner Inc. One in five travelers now brings along a laptop computer to do work on the road, according to an AP-Ipsos poll of 1,000 U.S. adults released in May. And the number of U.S. mobile phone users has climbed 28 percent since 2004, according to industry figures reported by the wireless phone industry's trade association.

The stark contrast is apparent to Leah Daughtry, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) chief of staff who was named CEO of the convention by party boss Howard Dean in April. The last convention she co-managed was in 1992, when Bill Clinton...