The Battle Against Latency And Its Legal Implications

Latency is the delay experienced in an IT system between an input being sent and an output being received and it is becoming a focal issue for IT suppliers and consumers. Anyone who has experienced delays on satellite phone or video calls will be familiar with the frustrations of latency, which can convert fluent conversation into a continual stream of interruptions and silent pauses.

This article will look at why latency is important, provide a high level technical outline and lastly focus on the commercial issues to consider when contracting for hardware, software and connectivity where low latency is of importance. This article will not deal with regulatory aspects of latency.