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Communications and data processing are "coming together in an affordable way in the conquest of distance by light waves" (Penzias, 1984, 83). This coming together is being accom plished through the unifying factor of fiber optics technology. Only one "relatively thin and lightweight optical cable can hold as many as 144 optical fibers, each of which is capable of transmitting a gigabit or a billion bits of information per second" (Friis, 1984, 83). A gigabit of data per second may be perceived as follows:
. . . if every home in New York city were equipped with a computer and a 300 baud modem, and if all those computers were on the air at the same time, that would only add up to one gigabit of data (Penzias, 1984, 83).
Penzias (1984, 83) added that "with fiber optics we have essentially conquered distance. Dist
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