The Internet and the World Wide Web are major forces in the American economy and in American society today, and it is believed that the world is only beginning to make use of the Internet. The future of the Internet will include a number of changes as this medium becomes more pervasive and perhaps more useful with the development of wireless services allowing Internet access through a variety of devices aside from the home computer. Broadband is seen as the road to a new world of communications which will link people through a variety of services including computing, telephony, and television services, all using the same connections.
Before all this can happen, however, there must be a number of innovations in different technologies and the ability to reach more homes. The Internet is only entering its second quarter-century, but it is already having a major impact on the way companies do business. This influence will only increase and will alter the way many companies operate. In discussing how the Internet is affecting the design of automobiles, for instance, one writer states,
In just a few short years, the Web has become an indispensable part of daily life for tens of millions of people around the world. It has reshaped the logic of countless industries, from personal computing to travel. But within the next few years, the Web is expected to make its greatest impact yet (Kirsner 118).
One of the biggest challenges is increasing congestion:
The future of the Internet is bound up in myriad technical issues, but the ability of the Net to accommodate skyrocketing traffic dominates all else . . . The Internet is growing at a rate greater than 100% a year. . . (Anthes 80).
This trend is expected to continue. It is estimated that there will be 900 million computers and other devices, such as Web TVs and home appliances, on the Internet by 2006 (Anthes 80).
By January 1999, there were 42 million publicly addressabl...