bmk@mvuxi.att.com (Bernard Mckeever) (09/07/89)
Well it looks like someone beat me the SXS story so here's just a few quick thoughts to get your minds off the calling number identification issue. 25 years ago, who would have thought that the network would evolve to what it is today. At that time digital transmission facilities were just being introduced. They could connect two central offices, up to 25 miles apart, over existing exchange cables. Today we have fiber to the home and the beginnings of a true broadband interoffice network. What might tomorrow bring? If, for the moment, we leave the *all import issue* of network management aside, imagine what the home of the near future might be like. Think of communications and information services as a commodity that draws a close parallel to the present electrical distribution plant. No one tells a toaster what to do, the function is built into the appliance. Will we have 1.5, 45, and 500 megabit service runing to our homes and business to match our requirements? Several outlets in each room for connection? One bill per month for cable TV, phone, FAX, security,... the list goes on. Pay for the bandwidth you use and decide for yourself what appliances to buy. Of course many large users approach this capability today, but it will soon spread to us little people. Telecommuting may yet become common, and other opportunities appear endless. Find a vendor with a service you want and arrange for access. If this seems like a pipe dream, check out some of the field trials that are going on today. It never ceases to amaze me what we take for granted today, that was considered impossible yesterday. Enjoy the discussion :-} and turn the "gee wizz kids" loose on the applications. Bernie McKeever 508-960-6289 [Moderator's Note: Bernie, thanks very much for a very fitting close to this issue of the Digest. Indeed, the changes going on in just the past decade -- let alone the past quarter century of telephony are astounding. To the younger folks, it probably does not seem all that mind-boggling, but some of us have been three or four major changes: from manual service to the very early stepper switches; then to crossbar and more sophisticated applications such as E-911 (we had this in Chicago on crossbar!); then to ESS; now various enhancements to that. Where does it end? You tell me what to expect in the year 2014, a quarter-century from now. PT]
sg04@gte.com (Steven Gutfreund) (09/12/89)
Some of the things I have seen at Bellcore (The video hallway), at GTE (teleconferencing and the MUSE/Athena project we are jointly doing), and the recent splash at SIGGRAPH of Virtual environments leads me to the following guess: More bandwidth leads to more realistic telepresence. Currently POTS bandwidth models the remote person as 8K audio. Future systems will allow a complete "virutual reality" person to come and visit you in your office. Alternaitively, one can go and visit other locations. One can go visit another office, or visit home and take care of things you forgot (The X-10 home control system is latched into one's office system). Thus one can walk around one's kitchen (from the office) and start up dinner. (this would look very odd to someone standing in the kitchen. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Yechezkal Shimon Gutfreund sgutfreund@gte.com GTE Laboratories, Waltham MA harvard!bunny!sgutfreund -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
jimmy@icjapan.uucp (Jim Gottlieb) (09/14/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0354m08@vector.dallas.tx.us> bmk@cbnews.ATT.COM (bernard.mckeever,54236,mv,3b045,508 960 6289) writes: >25 years ago, who would have thought that the network would evolve to what it >is today. At that time digital transmission facilities were just being >introduced. That sounds like the current state of affairs here in Japan. We asked for some phone lines to be brought in digitally, but they have never heard of such a thing. We also have some lines coming from a distant CO, and they actually run them analog all the way from the home CO to us. This is probably 15 to 20 kilometers and the lines sound like it. Sometimes, when the lines ring, you pick up the phone and just keep hearing ring voltage in your ear and can not seize the line. The sound level is way low of course. There was an article in the Nihon Keizai Sinbun on 09/12 talking about this very subject. It was comparing all the wonderful features available in the U.S. to the dearth of services here. It also mentioned that no volume discounts are available here, even on the new toll-free 0120 service. We are also running into the problem that most buildings have very few available pairs from the CO. Most of the office buildings we have looked at renting space in have less than twenty pairs available. NTT (the phone company) says they will install any additional cable for free, but will require six months to one year for completion. This means that we would have to pay for up to one year's rent for space that we could not occupy. Jim Gottlieb (remote from Tokyo) _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ <jimmy@pic.ucla.edu> or <jimmy@denwa.uucp> or <attmail!denwa!jimmy> Fax: 011-81-3-239-7453 Voice Mail: 011-81-3-944-6221 ID#82-42-424
deej@bellcore.bellcore.com (David Lewis) (09/18/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0368m07@vector.dallas.tx.us>, sg04@gte.com (Steven Gutfreund) writes: > Some of the things I have seen at Bellcore (The video hallway)... Actually, it's called "Video Window". It used to be called "Video Wall", but someone somewhere decided that a "window" projected a better image (as it were) than "wall". > More bandwidth leads to more realistic telepresence. Currently POTS > bandwidth models the remote person as 8K audio. Again nitpicking... it's actually 3.3kHz. ISDN bearer capabilities include 3.3kHz audio and 7.5kHz audio. David G Lewis ...!bellcore!nvuxr!deej "If this is paradise, I wish I had a lawnmower."