f we are not talking about transportation but about today's computers and the exchange of information among them. Although computers are now numerous and widespread, they are used mainly in isolation. When they communicate, they do so ineffectively, through arcane and arbitrary procedures.
Professor Dertouzos specifically remarked on communication between computers; however, his vision of the telecommunications environment for the future encompasses all forms of telecommunications and all telecommunication technologies. From his perspective, telecommunications the future of is going to be even more heavily dependent upon computer technology than is today's telecommunications. Thus, the telecommunications infrastructure required, if, in the future, the full potential of telecommunications technologies are to be realized, must be structured with computers in mind.
Professor Dertouzos (1991) envisions a telecommunications infrastructure for the near future with four essential characteristics flexibility in the movement of information, common conventions for the movement and access of information, major common resources of information to serve users, and a plethora of applications of telecommunications technologies. The remainder of this overview of the future of telecommunications is presented within the context of these essential characteristics. Within this framework, specific telecommunications technologies and their applications are also addressed.
Flexibility in the Movement of Information
"Superficially, it might seem that the telephone system . . . would be adequate for a national information infrastructure" (Dertouzos, 1991, p. 31). Certainly, the Baby Bells (the former AT&T operating companies) attempt to convey this impression, and the very recent judicial ruling providing them access to the telecommunications information distribution market has some other information providers, particularly the nation's ne...