@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Date: Fri, 26 Jan 1996 From: •••@••.••• (Allan Bradley) Subject: Techie stuff I think there is a bit of confusion as to what defines the "Information Super Highway" and the Internet. The Internet, in my opinion, is not the Information Super Highway (ISH). I think people believe that the Internet is the model for the ISH, it isn't. The future is in broadband technologies. ATM today is asychronous (one at a time) (the Internet is also asychonous only much much slower) and is not really isochronous (many at a time) that will come about with BISDN Broadband Integrated Services Digital Network, (FDDI II used isochronous channels in a token ring fashion, but it isn't a popular standard) - Broadband ATM will be isochronous. With fiber optics, information gets transmitted at the speed of light - basically like turning on and off a light switch - binary on 0's off 1's. It is very fast, but limited on the ability of the hardware assimilate the transmission. SONET (Synchronous Optical Network) was developed as high-end transport technology for protocols like ATM to allow multiple simultaneous transmissions over fiber optics. The future will get only more integrated with fiber optics media. Right now a fiber connection uses only one band of light. Future BISDN - Broadband ATM will use the light color spectrum to send parallel information on multiple lightwave frequency's simultaneously. Bandwidth can only get cheaper and is a commodity - the Telcos know this and is why they are going up the technological food chain to the information sources. The issue is that the Internet will be just another channel on a 500 plus basic user connection. TV cable, phone cable, radio, satilite will eventually converge. Whether fiber or satilite is a matter of opinion. I believe fiber will still be the predominant transport technology of the future. What is of concern to me, is that just like Public Television or Public Radio has a channel on the TV/radio frequency band, the Internet will evolve into another channel. I believe the Internet should be a model for public communications, if doesn't get drowned in commercialism. When you look at the future of total information connectivity, it may be that less than 10% (maybe less) of the future population will have an Internet connection as we know it today, and the rest of us just subscribes to the machine. I also think just like Public Television, if something isn't done publically, will require public financing of the Internet to maintain a channel on the spectrum. History is a great teacher, if we only listen. Allan Bradley ConsulMetrix, Inc. Setting the Standards in Technology Consulting @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~--~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~ Posted by Richard K. Moore (•••@••.•••) Wexford, Ireland Cyber-Rights: http://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/nii/cyber-rights/ CyberLib: http://www.internet-eireann.ie/cyberlib Materials may be reposted in their entirety for non-commercial use. ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~--~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~
