Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!decwrl!limbo!taylor
From: a323@mindlink.UUCP (Rob McMurtry)
Newsgroups: comp.society
Subject: Predictions on what ISDN can be used for?
Message-ID: <1176@limbo.Intuitive.Com>
Date: 10 Sep 90 18:17:07 GMT
Sender: taylor@limbo.Intuitive.Com
Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada
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Approved: taylor@Limbo.Intuitive.Com

I'm researching ISDN (International Services Digital Network) for a
college course, and I'd like to hear (read) some feedback on what people
expect from this technology.  A few years back the bandwidth of ISDN
seemed awesome (2 x 64k-bit, 1 x 16k-bit) but it's beginning to appear a
little pale in the face of full motion video etc.  that is integral with
multimedia.

The projected cost of ISDN in the U.S.  is around $120 billion
(communications is a $640 billion/year business).  What do we want to
see for this kind of investment?  ISDN offers some convenient features
for phones (callback, distinctive ringing etc.)  but what about
computers?  What would YOU do with 131,000 baud?

ISDN doesn't require modems, so transmission will remain entirely within
the digital realm.  This is important, as it prevents the degradation
that occurs when data is converted from digital-->analog-->digital.

Apple has been supporting ISDN, they recently announced an ISDN addtion
to the communications toolbox, so maybe the only thing we'll have to get
used to is speed and added functionality...

Also, consider fiber optics, with a bandwidth of 500 million k-bits/sec!
Any ideas?

Please feel free to email any responses.  I will submit a summary of
responses if things prove interesting.

Rob McMurtry