Revolution in the U.S. Information Infrastructure (1995) / Chapter Skim
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The Evolution of Information Infrastructures: The Competitive Search for Solutions
The Evolution of Information Infrastructures: The Competitive Search for Solutions
Pages 1-12
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This message also applies to the search for information infrastructure solutions. With this in mind, I plan first to examine the driving forces that are propelling the emerging multimedia revolution and the evolution of information infrastructures.
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The new frontier then will not involve making the devices smaller, but in creatively and economically using the vast increase in complexity and power made possible by this remarkable technology. The amazing progress of microelectronics represents a microcosm of the broad thrust of information technology and the other key driving forces made possible by information technology -- all the most vital forces that are leading to the multimedia revolution and the evolution of the NII.
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This led, in turn, to an explosion of advanced telecommunications services that forced AT&T to re-engineer itself from a company that provided largely voice and data-onvoice telecommunications services to one focused on universal information services, or the provision of voice, data, and images anywhere, anytime, with convenience and economy. Providing advanced services on an increasingly intelligent global network was the beginning of multimedia communications, which has now become the revolution of the 1990s and beyond.
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Image Processing The emerging technology of image processing is related in many respects to speech processing and is another driving force toward multimedia communications and the evolution of our information infrastructure. The same key information technologies that are enabling progress in speech processing are also fueling rapid progress in image processing, especially in the important areas of image and video compression.
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Photonic transmission facilities, for example, will be based on the evolving international standard called SDH, for Synchronous Digital Hierarchy. Because SDH defines standard network interfaces, service providers and end users will be able to use equipment from many different vendors without worrying about compatibility.
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Such pervasive competition is another powerful force driving the evolution of both multimedia communications and information infrastructures. The public policy challenge is to provide a framework in which that evolution may occur.
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AT&T is playing a major part in facilitating the emerging multimedia revolution: We provide services, network products to local service providers, and products to end users. These are familiar roles for AT&T, so let me briefly describe another perhaps less well known aspect of the multimedia revolution that we are studying.
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They could, for example, accomplish the task of producing printed materials, presentation slides, and a videotape introducing a new product line. EVOLUTION OF THE NII The quest for multimedia is driving social issues that relate to the NII and the information superhighway.
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In the United States, competitive backbone information superhighways of optical fibers are already in place and expanding rapidly. However, access to the backbone is still largely via copper wire pairs, especially for homes, schools, and small businesses.
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This applies broadly to R&D and R&D environments. The forces behind the emerging multimedia revolution and the evolution of information infrastructures, along with the benefits associated with the information age, are also bringing about a new paradigm for R&D and a new R&D environment.
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Instead, support systems must facilitate the training and sharing of expertise, most often through well-orchestrated multifunctional teams and new techniques for learning, including a strong focus on intergroup learning. Another key element of the new R&D paradigm and its associated environment is a focus on reusable assets, such as previously designed and tested software modules and hardware platforms.
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SUMMARY Rich information technology, the worldwide push toward global standards, ever-increasing customer demands, and growing international competition are key forces behind the emerging multimedia revolution and the evolution of national information infrastructures. The growth of multimedia communications and the further competitive evolution of our National Information Infrastructure, as well as the Global Information Infrastructure, raise some difficult issues and challenges, but these advances promise a broad range of informationage benefits to virtually every citizen of our nation.
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