The June 2, 1992 issue of The Economist includes an article about computer networks and the "new infrastructure" which deserves quoting at length. (cf. The fruitful, tangled trees of knowledge, pp. 85-88)
Based on current research, the author claims that "by 1993 four-fifth of America's white-collar workers will use computers linked to local-area networks. The flow of data over these networks,..., is growing by about a third each year, and may soon grow faster. ...
Larger networks are born when these lesser networks fuse.... Young networks tend to grow exponentially. With the addition of each new local-area network, the benefits of joining rise because the network provides more people to talk to. At the same time, the costs of joining fall. Newcomers are more likely to find a nearby part of the network to connect themselves to. ...
When computers talk together on a network at the same speed as the component parts of a single computer talk to each other, the computers start to merge... (and) find, in effect, that they share in the power of all those to which they are linked."
There follow several fascinating descriptions of the cutting-edge present and near future capabilities of networking. The article concludes: "It may take time, but one day the computers of the world will unite."
This issue's feature article discusses the development of several infrastructure networks in the U.S., offers valuable insights of their current and potential uses and argues in favour of speedy development of networks in the "newly industrialized countries" in Asia and, by implication, elsewhere. An infrastructure network is defined as "distinguished from any ordinary communications facility because it is both pervasive and comprehensive to promote group participation! An infrastructure network provides the foundation upon which value added (beyond merely transport and switching) information services can be exploited for competitive advantage or for service improvements."
In their concluding remarks the authors, Thomas I. M. Ho and Kai Sung, write: "We recommended the development of infrastructure networks including national and local networks as well as gateways (to other national networks) and other network resources, e.g. data bases. The involvement of all constituencies, government and education as well as the private sector, will encourage experiments with information technology in organizing work and in management practices that incorporate social values."
Dr. Thomas I. M. Ho is Director of the Information Networking Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. Previously, he was a Professor of Computer Technology at Purdue University. From 1978 to 1988, he was also Head of the Department of Computer Technology at Purdue which has been recognized by the Data Processing Management Association for its Four-year Institution Award for undergraduate computer information systems programs. From 1986-1988, he was on loan from Purdue to serve as Executive Director of the INTELENET Commission which oversees INTELENET, INdiana TELEcommunications NETwork. He received his BS, MS, and Ph.D. degrees in computer science from Purdue University. Dr. Ho is a member of GLOSAS.
Unfortunately, your editor has no biographical information for Dr. Kai Sung.
The article is republished with the kind permission of Pacific Telesis.
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