COMM 360 1

Industry Segments

Peripherals– storage devices– ZIP, tape backup

components– key boards, video

multi-use, converging

COMM 360 2

Industry Segments

Software– pre-packaged– network-based

COMM 360 3

Technology Trends

Multimedia– the next "killer ap“– Drives sales and innovation

COMM 360 4

Technology Trends

PDAs (personal data assistants)– crashed, then resurrected– Different companies dominate – Palm,

Casio, Mindspring– tied to Internet, wireless phone

COMM 360 5

Technology Trends

Videoconferencing– Net chat– Internet phone

Wireless videophones Virtual Reality

– military, medicine– net chat

COMM 360 6

Information Service Provider

Creates content Maintains editorial control Delivered through distribution network Can be:

– entertainment– information– interactive service

COMM 360 7

Common Carrier

Channel – distribution device or network

Carries all messages– service available to all on equal basis– non-discriminatory pricing/carriage

No direct financial interest in content

COMM 360 8

What is the importance of ego or personality in technology development?

What were the key problems Xerox PARC and Apple were trying to solve?

What is the role of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs in software development?

Why isn’t Xerox a key player in computers today?

COMM 360 9

Who is this man?

COMM 360 10

Telephone Technology

1878 -- Variable resistance

transmitter– beaker, magnet, rod,

speaker Audion tube

– borrowed from radio

invention

COMM 360 11

Telephone Transmission

1915 Transcontinental 1918 Multiplexing

– 2 or more signals down the same wire at the same time

high frequency 'carrier wave'

COMM 360 12

Telephone Transmission

1948 Microwave– adapted from military radar transmission– line of sight

1962 Satellites– Telstar– microwave in the stratosphere– geosynchronous orbit– remedies line of sight problem

COMM 360 13

Telephone Switching

1892 Strowger– automatic telephone switch– mechanical

AT&T adopts in 1920s– self-dial --> leads to phone numbers– 1 call per switch

COMM 360 14

Telephone Switching 1938 Crossbar Switch

– multiple calls per switch; used in local & long distance by 1951

COMM 360 15

Telephone Switching

1965 Electronic Switches installed– computer circuit (later a chip) replaces

mechanical arms– computer program routes calls

COMM 360 16

Transmission - Fiber Optics

1958 - Laser invented 1973 - ultra-transparent

fiber 1977 - First fiber

optic system - Chicago 1988 - First transatlantic

fiber cable

COMM 360 17

Transmission - Fiber Optics

Laser shines down path of glass Digital signal created by pulses of light Huge expansion of bandwidth

COMM 360 18

ISDN/DSL

•digital to the home

•multi-tasking

•'intelligent network'

Transmission – Dedicated Line

COMM 360 19

Digital Switch

Phone system becomes a large computer network

Packet Switching De-centralized network Digital system is still generally 'between

the switches'– MODEM device

COMM 360 20

Common Carrier/Service Provider

Telephone Lines

ISP ‘CLASS’Service Provider

Web Pages

DataMusic