2 there is a variety of higher-speed
and/or specialized telecommunications services provided to
businesses and institutions for such things as high-speed data
transport and video teleconferencing, and for interconnecting
Internet routers (packet switching nodes).
The ongoing challenges in telecommunications networking today
focus on the following:
1.
Realizing affordable, higher-speed communications
networking capabilities to support multimedia applications for
residences and small businesses, starting with the widespread
availability of integrated services digital network (ISDN) access.
The challenge is driven by the convergence of the
telecommunications, computing, information services, and
broadcasting industries.
2.
Realizing the ability to offer customized
telecommunications services to residences and businesses (e.g.,
calling name delivery, personal telephone numbers, personalized
call screening and routing) by using the emerging advanced
intelligent network (AIN) capabilities of public telecommunications
networks, and supporting customers' needs for mobility by using
combinations of wireless access technologies and AIN functionality
in core public network platforms.
3.
Meeting the challenges of "information warfare" as
U.S. telecommunications networks increasingly become the target of
hackers, criminals, and terrorists seeking to exploit the
increasing dependency of U.S. citizens and institutions on
network-based applications.
4.
Making increasingly complex and diverse
telecommunications networks appear seamless and easy to use from
the perspective of users and their applications.
Meeting these challenges in providing an advanced communications
fabric for NII applications requires the investment of billions of
dollars of research and development funds, and the investment of
hundreds of billions of dollars in new network facilities on a
nationwide basis over the next two decades. These investments
include the installation of combinations of optical fiber, coaxial
cable, wireless technologies, and network software throughout the
United States. One cannot overestimate the challenges associated
with making networks and network services reliable, secure, and
easy to use, and doing so at costs that are compatible with the
expectations and ability to pay of residential and small business
consumers. The vast majority of these software investments are
directed at meeting these challenges. Since the demand of
residential and institutional consumers for the newer applications
that are envisioned within the framework of the NII is highly
uncertain, and by implication the demand and associated revenues
for the telecommunications services that the advanced
communications platform can support are uncertain, these
investments involve high risk, except in situations where a
combination of existing revenue streams and cost savings can
justify the investments independent of the demand for speculative
new services. The rapid depreciation of computer and communications
technologies, in terms of rapidly improving performance/price
ratios, makes these investments even more risky because investments
made in advance of market demand may never be recovered in a
competitive marketplace.
Further compounding the risk associated with the large
investments required to put in place the telecommunications fabric
of the NII is the uncertainty associated with the regulatory and
legal framework within which network providers must operate. The
regulatory and legal framework of the past is ill suited for an
environment of large investments targeted toward highly uncertain
market needs using rapidly depreciating technologies in a
competitive marketplace. For example, the requirement of a network
interface device erects an artificial barrier that prevents local
exchange companies from providing complete services to their
customers. The regulatory and legal framework of the future is
still being defined in a slow-moving set of processes. These
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processes are, to a large extent, setting the pace for the
deployment of the next-generation telecommunications fabric needed
to support the full range of envisioned NII applications.
In summary:
•
The regional Bell operating companies (RBOCs) are
fully committed to supporting the development of the NII and its
infrastructure and services.
•
The RBOCs are fully committed to providing
ubiquitous, reliable, secure, and easy to use state-of-the-art
telecommunications products and services, particularly mass market
telecommunications, at the lowest cost consistent with providing
the required quality of service and operations.
•
The RBOCs are making major investments in research
and development and in deployments in their networks that are
consistent with customer demands for enhanced functionality and
customizability of network services, greater bandwidth in
communications channels, improved responsiveness to changing
customer needs, and improved reliability, usability, and
affordability of services.
•
A major challenge is the resolution of regulatory
and public policy issues consistent with local exchange service
competition and the rapid deployment of new technology to meet
market demand.
Background: Evolution of the
Networks
Since the creation of the former Bell system and passage of the
Communications Act of 1934, and until the past decade, the business
of telecommunications has primarily been focused on cost reduction
and improving the quality of telephone calls in terms of the ease
and speed of setting up a call and the quality of communication
after the call is set up. In the late 1940s and early 1950s,
capabilities to allow direct dialing of long-distance calls by
calling customers were created and deployed on a nationwide basis.
In the 1960s and 1970s the emergence of modern electronic circuitry
made possible the introduction of microwave and coaxial
long-distance cable systems that provided higher-quality
connections and achieved lower transmission costs. In this same
period, and continuing throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the
introduction of computing technology, both in stored
program-controlled switching systems and in the automation of
network operations to streamline and facilitate manual tasks,
resulted in dramatic increases in efficiency and the ability to
serve customer needs quickly. The introduction of fiber-optic
systems, starting in 1979, further improved the quality of local
and long distance connections and further reduced the costs of
transmissions. The introduction of local digital switching systems
in the 1980s dramatically reduced maintenance costs.
Figure 1 shows a trend in the total number of local exchange
access lines per employee in a typical U.S. telephone company over
the last two decades. In the past decade, this number has increased
from 167 access lines per employee to 250 access lines per
employee. This improvement in efficiency has been enabled by the
ongoing investment in new network technologies such as fiber optics
and software-controlled remote (unattended) electronic systems, and
in software-based systems that are used to facilitate all aspects
of the business, including negotiating with customers to take
orders for new or changed telephone services, determining the
availability of equipment that can be assigned to new customers,
assigning installation staff to connect customers to equipment that
has been reserved for their use, and determining the causes of
service problems and arranging repairs. With state-of-the-art
computerized systems, which involve tens of millions of lines of
code, many of these functions can be substantially or completely
automated.
In addition to the cost reductions that have been achieved by
the continuous investment in advanced technologies (hardware- and
software-based), there has traditionally been an emphasis on the
use of subsidies to make basic residential services universally
affordable. Business services and long-distance services have
traditionally subsidized residential service. Services in locations
that have lower associated costs (e.g., urban areas) subsidize
services in locations that have higher associated costs (e.g.,
rural areas).
These subsidies have resulted in low prices for basic
residential services. As mentioned, this has resulted in the
ubiquitous availability of affordable telephone services. However,
in many places in the United States, basic telephone service is
priced substantially below cost. As the nation moves into an
environment of
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Figure 1
Trend in enterprise efficiency, as indicated by total
number of local exchange access lines per employee
in a typical U.S. telephone company, 1970 to 2000.
SOURCE: Courtesy of Bellcore.
competitive provision of new telecommunications networking
services, the historical subsidies will slow down the widespread
deployment of new services for the following reasons:
•
Traditional providers will not offer new services
below cost in an environment where competition makes it impossible
to charge prices substantially above cost for other services in
order to subsidize these below-cost services; and
•
Consumers, who have become accustomed, through
public policy, to below-cost, subsidized services and their
associated low prices, will be reluctant to subscribe to advanced
services that are substantially more expensive, even if they have
the ability to pay for those advanced services.
In the last 10 years, the traditional focus on reducing costs
and improving the quality of telephone service has been
supplemented with a focus on providing new telecommunications
services that are associated with the vision of the emerging
information age, as captured recently by the vision of the NII.
Three of the main thrusts that have emerged in the context of
services directed toward meeting the needs of mass markets
(residential and small business customers) are as follows:
•
Personalized and customized telecommunications
capabilities enabled by the advanced intelligent network (AIN);
•
New digital two-way access capabilities, enabled
by integrated services digital networks (ISDN) in the near term,
and by broadband access in the mid- to longer term; and
•
Mobility services based on wireless access and the
AIN to support people on the move.
Conversion of Networks from Analog to
Digital Technologies
Over the last several decades, starting in 1962, digital
transmission technologies have been introduced in public
telecommunications networks. Initially, this took the form of T1
carrier service on relatively short-distance connections between
telephone switching machines. Since 1979, it has taken the form of
fiber-optic systems that link switching systems and that reach out
directly to business customers, and to unattended remote terminals
that serve residential customers. In addition, since the second
half of the 1970s, analog switching systems have been upgraded to
newer systems that employ digital switching technologies. The net
result is the ability to provide end-to-end digital services to
customers to support emerging multimedia applications.
The Advanced Intelligent Network
The introduction of stored program-controlled (computerized)
switching systems starting in the 1960s made it possible to go
beyond direct dialing of calls to offer customized
telecommunications services to meet users' needs.
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The earliest customized services to be offered included
customer-controlled call forwarding, three-way calling, and
network-based speed dialing. Recently these have been supplemented
by services that depend upon the calling party's number such as
caller identification, automatic recalling of the last call
received, and call blocking. These services depend upon the
combination of low-cost memory (storage of information) and
processing power that is enabled by state-of-the-art electronic
technologies. However, these types of services have traditionally
been implemented by making changes and additions to the large
software programs that run the switching systems. Making changes to
these large mainframe-like systems is very costly and time
consuming. Furthermore, since switches are purchased from a
multiplicity of suppliers and come in a multiplicity of types,
implementing new services has traditionally required the
development and deployment of new generic switching software by
multiple suppliers for multiple switch types. This costly and
time-consuming process is not consistent with the rapid deployment
of a wide range of new telecommunications services that are
customized to meet users' needs.
Thus, the local exchange carriers have implemented the AIN as a
client-server approach to creating new services. In this approach,
the switches act as clients that interface with software-based
functionality in server nodes called service control points (SCPs),
service nodes, and intelligent peripherals. The switches, service
nodes, and intelligent peripherals implement building block
capabilities that can be mixed and matched by the SCPs to create
new services for network users. Since all switches implement
comparable building block capabilities, new services can be created
and deployed quickly by implementing new functionality in the
server nodes. Following are three examples of new services that can
be implemented in this way:
•
A large chain of pizza stores requested a new
service where its customers could call a single 7-digit number
anywhere in a large geographical area and have their call directed
to the nearest pizzeria. The 7-digit number is easy to remember and
has the "feel" of a local number, which gives customers the
confidence that their pizza will be delivered warm and fresh. Using
the AIN, this service was implemented as follows. When a pizza
customer calls the 7-digit number, the call is delivered to a
specific telephone switch that recognizes this number as a special
number. The switch sends an inquiry to an SCP, along with the
calling number. The SCP accesses a geographical information system
that determines the nearest pizzeria based on the 9-digit zip code
of the caller and a map associating zip codes to pizzerias. The
telephone number of this nearest pizzeria is returned by the SCP to
the switch, which then forwards the call to the nearest pizzeria.
This example can be generalized within the AIN capability framework
to include area-wide abbreviated dialing for businesses with
multiple locations and a wide variety of special called-number
translation capabilities based on varying numbers of digits.
•
Individuals have many telephone numbers associated
with them. These include their home (residence) telephone number,
their office telephone number, their fax telephone number, their
car telephone number, etc. Some individuals would like to have a
single telephone number that would make them accessible wherever
they are. Using the AIN, one can implement what is sometimes
generically referred to as "personal number calling." One way to
implement personal number calling is to utilize a special "access
code" such as 500 to signify a call that requires special handling.
For example, a personal telephone number might be 500-CALL-ANN
(500-225-5266). When such a number is called, the switch would
recognize it as a personal number, temporarily suspend call
processing, and send an inquiry to an SCP to determine the current
physical telephone number (wireline or wireless) to which this
customer's calls should be directed. Furthermore, depending on the
preferences of the called party ("Ann"), the call might be routed
to her or to her voice mail or to her secretary, depending on the
time of day and the number of the calling party. All of this
service logic can be implemented in the SCPs and their associated
database and processing systems.
•
A service that appears to have very high market
demand is voice-activated dialing. This service allows users to
record speaker-dependent (and eventually speaker-independent)
templates of numbers they wish to dial. Subsequently, those numbers
can be dialed by repeating the utterance that was recorded. For
example, a family might have each child record the message "Call
Mom," and arrange that this utterance be converted into one number
or a sequence of numbers to be tried. With AIN, this service can be
implemented for end users who pick up any ordinary phone in their
home or office. When the child lifts the handset (i.e., goes "off
hook"), the switching system automatically connects the line to a
centralized AIN intelligent peripheral (IP) server, which stores
the recorded speech templates and performs the speech recognition
function. This IP returns the telephone number to be called to the
switching system and can also work with other AIN functionality to
prompt the switching system
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through a sequence of numbers that may depend on
the time of day, day of week, or other parameters chosen by the
subscriber.
The key advantages of the AIN are that it can provide customized
telecommunications services to end users in a manner that is easy
to use and that works with a wide variety of appliances ranging
from simple telephones to advanced personal digital assistants.
Advanced Digital Access
Today's residential and small business telephone customers
typically access the network using dial-up telephone services
delivered over the copper wires that connect them to the network
(except wireless customers as described below). Using modern
electronics, it is possible to extend the range of uses of these
wire-pair-based connections far beyond what was originally
contemplated. For example, the latest modems allow for digital
communication at 28.8 kbps on dial-up connections. In order to
support multimedia applications such as access to stored images,
video clips, compact-disk-quality audio clips, and two-way
multimedia teleconferencing/collaborative work, customers need more
than a modem and a dial-up line. One of the largest technical,
economic, and regulatory challenges facing the telecommunications
industry is how to create a path forward toward a ubiquitously
available, affordable (by residential users), high-speed digital
capability to support multimedia applications.
One of the steps in this direction is the widespread deployment
and availability of integrated services digital network (ISDN)
capabilities. In most cases, ISDN uses existing telephone wires to
provide two-way, simultaneous digital connectivity at up to 128
kbps, plus a 16-kbps digital channel for network control signaling
and additional packet data. Users of ISDN have reported greatly
facilitated access to the Internet World Wide Web and other sources
of multimedia information, and the ability to carry out multimedia
teleconferencing/collaborative applications that include
face-to-face video that is of reasonably high quality.
Because ISDN uses the existing wire pairs for most users (the
distance from the user to the terminating point in the network is
the key factor, with roughly 6 km being the limit using existing
wire pairs), it can be provided with a relatively moderate (but
still large) initial capital investment. The existing switches must
be upgraded with hardware and software to support ISDN. Analog
switches must be replaced with digital switches, or the ISDN
customer must be reterminated on a digital switch. Note that
approximately half of the telephone lines today terminate on stored
program (computer)-controlled analog switches that still offer
high-quality service for wire-pair telephone lines.
The software-based operations support systems that are used to
automate operations in the network must be upgraded to accommodate
ISDN. The individual customers who order ISDN must employ special
terminations that are compatible with the ISDN interface, whether
built into an ISDN telephone, a special interface board of a
computer, or an ISDN terminal adaptor. The decision of a RBOC or a
local exchange carrier (LEC) to make ISDN available throughout its
territory (make it available to its roughly 10 million to 15
million subscribers) is a multibillion-dollar investment decision.
The capital investment by a customer for an ISDN interface is a
commitment of several hundred dollars at this time, but this cost
will drop rapidly as ISDN usage rises over the next several
years.
The ongoing charges for ISDN access vary throughout the country
and are based on a combination of a flat monthly fee and a usage
charge that may depend on minutes of use, packets sent, or a
combination of these. As mentioned above, the challenge for the
telecommunications provider is to recover investment costs in an
environment of traditionally subsidized, below-cost pricing of
basic residential telephone services.
Beyond ISDN, in the intermediate and longer term, is the
challenge of providing residence and small businesses with digital
access that is capable of supporting applications such as
high-quality, full-motion video. Such applications require more
than 1 Mbps and can range up to 20 Mbps or more for full-quality
compressed high-definition television signals. To provide such
services requires the deployment of a new physical infrastructure
consisting of optical fibers, coaxial cable, and broadband wireless
technologies. The investment cost is likely to be in the range of
$1,000 to $2,000 per subscriber location served, amounting to
several hundred billion dollars on a
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national level. Since the applications and the user demand are
speculative at this time, creating an economic, regulatory, and
legal framework that will encourage investors to take the enormous
risks associated with such a deployment is a national challenge.
Network providers are reluctant to deploy higher-cost architectures
and technologies 5 or more years in advance of speculative market
needs for such things as very high bandwidth (more than a few
hundred kilobits per second) upstream capabilities on a per-user
basis. Nonetheless, some RBOCs have announced plans to deploy
broadband networks throughout their service areas over the next 20
years, and all RBOCs are deploying broadband networks on a limited
basis to test market demand and technology capabilities.
In a competitive marketplace, other firms can learn from
mistakes made by the first entrant and can then enter the
marketplace later with newer technologies and a better
understanding of customer needs. The potential advantages gained by
waiting may give rise to a "getting started" problem, as all
potential investors wait for someone else to make the first move.
Long-term, large-scale projects like the NII may not be allocated
adequate capital. To offset this risk partially, network providers
would like to begin recovering their capital investments as soon as
these new networks are deployed. Existing revenue streams for
traditional telephony and entertainment video services are less
risky than unproven and speculative new services. By offering old
and new services on a new shared platform, network providers can
reduce their revenue risk and also benefit from economies of scope.
The need to reduce risk and share the costs of network deployment
across many users and services may be an important factor driving
many telecommunications companies' interest in entertainment video
and many CATV companies' interest in traditional telephony.
Services to Support People on the
Move
Since its introduction in 1984, cellular telephony has grown
approximately 40 percent per year to serve nearly 20 million
customers today. Paging services and cordless telephones are also
highly popular. In the next several years, new kinds of personal
communications services based on digital technology and supporting
both traditional voice and computer/multimedia applications are
expected to be widely available. It has been estimated that by the
year 2003, there will be 167 million U.S. subscriptions to personal
communications services, with many customers subscribing to
multiple services.3
While wireless provides the physical access mechanism for an
untethered telephone and other appliances, the advanced intelligent
network (AIN) provides the software-based functionality to people
on the move. Home and visitor location registers (AIN service
control points) keep track of where nomadic users are and provide
the information required to direct incoming calls to those users.
AIN can screen or block incoming calls according to the calling
number, time of day, day of week, or other parameters specified by
the called party. AIN functionality allows "multitier" telephones
to access cordless base stations, high-power vehicular cellular
base stations, low-power pedestrian cellular base stations, and, in
the next several years, low-Earth-orbiting (LEO) satellite systems,
depending on which is most economical and available at any given
time. As wireless telephony transitions toward nomadic multimedia
computing and communications, the advanced intelligent network will
provide access control (security-related) mechanisms, interworking
functionality, screening, customized routing, media conversion, and
other "middleware" functionality to support people on the move.
Forecast
Advanced Intelligent Network
Based on demographics, it is probable that all RBOCs and most
other local exchange carriers in the United States will deploy the
advanced intelligent networking capabilities described above nearly
ubiquitously over the next 5 to 7 years. Some carriers have already
made these services widely available. These services will represent
to telecommunications subscribers what the advent of the personal
computer represented to its user community. Users will be able to
define and obtain customized call processing capabilities to
support both voice and data/multimedia applications such as
customized screening and routing of calls, automated media
conversion to facilitate the delivery
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of messages, personalized telephone/network numbers, and access
control (security-related) services. These will be provided in a
way that is easy to use, reliable, affordable, and capable of
interworking with a wide variety of appliances and terminals,
ranging from simple telephones to personal digital assistants. AIN
will enhance multimedia communications by enabling users to control
multiple channels in a single communications session, and by
interfacing with a variety of user terminal devices in a
user-friendly way.
Integrated Services Digital
Network
ISDN is widely deployed and available today. A detailed
deployment schedule for ISDN is shown in Figure 2. ISDN is a major
step forward in enabling two-way, interactive access to multimedia
information, multimedia messaging, and multimedia teleconferencing
and collaborative work. It will be the backbone of the transition
of residential access toward broadband over the next 20 years.
Along with today's dial-up modem-based access, ISDN will be a
principal access technology for residential and small business
users accessing the Internet over the next 20 years. ISDN, in both
its basic rate (two 64-kbps "B" channels) and primary rate
(twenty-three 64-kbps "B" channels) forms, will be used by
businesses to meet their traditional telecommunications and
Internet access needs, and it will be used by cellular and emerging
personal communication service (PCS) providers to connect into the
core telecommunications networks. ISDN will be a principal access
mechanism for K-12 schools, libraries, and community centers to
connect to the national information infrastructure.
Higher-Speed Switched and Nonswitched
Services
Until recently, the primary method by which businesses and
institutions obtained nonswitched private line connections between
their locations was to use dedicated 1.5-Mbps T1 lines, and
dedicated 56-kbps digital private lines rented from
telecommunications carriers, including the local exchange carriers.
Some larger businesses and institutions have used higher-speed
45-Mbps private lines for point-to-point connections. Recently, new
types of digital services, including frame relay, switched
multimegabit data service (SMDS), and ATM cell-relay, have been
introduced by telecommunications carriers, including local exchange
carriers. SMDS is a packet-switched, connectionless data service
that allows the destination to be specified independently for each
packet. Frame relay and ATM are currently nonswitched services that
utilize predetermined destinations for traffic; switched versions
of these services are under development. All these services offer
the advantages of improved sharing of facilities (fibers,
terminations on electronic equipment, etc.) through statistical
multiplexing. These new services, particularly ATM, can also
support advanced multimedia applications that require high data
rates and low delay variability between communicating
endpoints.
These higher-speed services are being deployed in concert with
market demands and are expected to be widely deployed and available
over the next 5 to 7 years.
Wireless
Cellular networks are widely deployed in urban and suburban
population centers, and coverage and connectivity are steadily
improving. These networks are being expanded to meet the growing
user base with the deployment of smaller cells and newer
technologies. Low-power cellular (personal communications services)
to support people on the move is being implemented and will be
widely deployed over the next 5 to 7 years. Wireless networks are
being upgraded to employ digital technologies that support data and
multimedia applications. In addition, these digital technologies
enable the incorporation of encryption methods to improve the
resistance of wireless services to eavesdropping. The use of
advanced intelligent network functionality and services will allow
for improved roaming and mobility for wireless users and will
enable access to multiple wireless networking
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Figure 2
Percentage of lines with actual or planned ISDN availability
through 1996. SOURCE: Courtesy of Bellcore,
based on SR-2102, Issue 5, November 1994.
services (e.g., cordless telephony, high-power cellular,
low-power cellular, and satellite-based services) from a single
telephone handset. Such "multitier" applications are being deployed
now by some local exchange carriers, and they are expected to be
widely available over the next 5 to 7 years.
Internet
The Internet, as it exists today, is built on services provided
by local exchange carriers and interexchange (long-distance)
carriers. Users access Internet routers (switches) through dial-up
telephone lines and 56-kbps or 1.5-Mbps T1 private lines leased
from telecommunications network carriers, primarily local exchange
carriers. Routers are interconnected with 56-kbps, T1, and 45-Mbps
private lines, typically leased from telecommunications carriers.
Increasingly, fast packet services (such as frame relay and SMDS)
are being used to replace point-to-point links.
Recently, several local exchange carriers have announced
offerings of complete Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) offerings,
including routing functionality, mail boxes, and support services.
It is likely that most local exchange carriers will offer complete
Internet service product lines in the next several years. However,
there are regulatory issues that can delay the RBOCs' offerings of
Internet services. The Modified Final Judgment (MFJ) prohibits the
RBOCs from carrying traffic that crosses local access and transport
area (LATA) boundaries; such traffic must be handed off to a long
distance carrier selected by the consumer. It is not clear whether,
and if so, how, the restriction applies to the provision of
Internet service. In testimony before the House Subcommittee on
Science, George Clapp, general manager of Ameritech Advanced Data
Services, made the following statement:
Offering a ubiquitous Internet access service
with the burden of the longdistance restriction wouldincrease our
capital costs by 75 percent and expenses by 100 percent.
Thefollowing factors contribute tothese additional costs:
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•
LATAs in which there is low customer demand cannot
be served from other sites in other LATAs.
•
Customers of our switched data services frequently
demand redundancy within our own network to assure service
availability. Because of the long-distance restriction, we cannot
use sites in other LATAs to provide redundancy.
•
Current Internet routing technology requires us to
dedicate a router to each long-distance provider in each LATA.4
At this point, some RBOCs are interpreting the MFJ restrictions
to apply to their Internet service offerings. This is an area where
regulations need to be changed to allow the RBOCs to compete on an
equal basis with other carriers that are not subject to MFJ
restrictions.
Broadband Access
As described above, the provision of ubiquitous, affordable
broadband access to residences is one of the most difficult
challenges facing telecommunications carriers. All RBOCs have
expressed a commitment to deploy broadband access services as
quickly as the market demand, technology cost trends, and
regulatory and legal environment permit.
The RBOCs have collectively invested approximately $20 billion
per year in upgrades to their networks since divestiture in 1984.
They have committed to increase their investments substantially if
regulatory reforms are enacted that enable them to be full-service
providers of telephony, video, and multimedia interactive services
in an environment that is conducive to the high-risk investments
required to deploy broadband access networks. Several of the RBOCs
and other local exchange carriers have market trials of broadband
access under way or planned.
The deployment of symmetrical two-way capabilities, which permit
residential users to originate individualized very high speed
(greater than several hundred kilobits per second) upstream
communications is a major challenge. One must differentiate between
the concept of symmetrical two-way access, which has been raised as
an issue by the government and other stakeholders, and the concept
of two-way capability. The most demanding two-way capability that
has been identified in the context of networks that serve
residences is two-way multimedia collaborative work, also called
multimedia teleconferencing. Research has shown that two-way
multimedia collaborative work can be supported, to a large extent,
by basic rate ISDN, and that nearly all needs can be met with a
two-way capability of 256 to 384 kbps. Most broadband access
network architectures being considered for deployment by the RBOCs
can support this capability on a switched basis for all
subscribers. At issue is whether there is demand for still higher
speed two-way capabilities, comparable in speed to the one-way
capability needed to deliver entertainment-quality video to
residential customers. The data rate associated with entertainment
video ranges from 1 Mbps for VHS quality to 20 Mbps or more for
HDTV quality video. The ability to deliver entertainment-quality
video both downstream to residential users as well as upstream from
residential users is what is called symmetrical two-way access.
Although a large number of alternative architectures have been
extensively studied from a capability and cost perspective, it
appears that in many situations substantial incremental investments
are required to provide symmetrical two-way capabilities. It is
unlikely that these incremental investment costs will be recovered
in a competitive marketplace if they are made many years ahead of
the demand for such high-speed upstream services. The details of
the trade-offs among alternative broadband architectures vary from
RBOC to RBOC depending on such things as the density of housing
units.
Dependable, Usable Networks
The tradition of the telecommunications industry has been to
provide network services that are highly reliable, secure, and
usable by the widest possible range of telecommunications services
customers. As new, interactive, multimedia networking services and
applications are deployed, using a wide range of new and
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heterogeneous technologies, it will be a great challenge for all
industry participants to maintain this tradition in the context of
the NII. If individuals, corporations, and institutions are to
reengineer themselves to become dependent on networked
applications, then those individuals, corporations, and
institutions must be provided with network-based services and
applications that are even more dependable than today's telephony
services. They will expect those services and applications to be
easy to use, to work all of the time, and to be secure from
intrusions and other security threats. The RBOCs are committed to
maintaining their tradition of reliable, secure, and easy-to-use
services through a combination of technological and operational
methods. In particular, the use and sharing (in public forums such
as the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee) of
best practices among network providers are essential to help
prevent and minimize such threats. Cooperative testing between
networks to detect incompatibilities, particularly of management
protocols that protect faults from propagating into large outages,
is an essential ingredient of this process.
As we move into the future, the role of telecommunications
networks in facilitating interoperability and ease of use will
become increasingly important to consumers. While early adopters
and those who create new technologies have a relatively high
tolerance for complexity and unreliability and are willing and able
to invest substantial amounts of time in learning to use
applications and in resolving problems, mass market users expect
their applications and services to be extremely dependable and
intuitive. In theory, software-based functionality can be placed in
end users' terminals to enable interoperability, to resolve
incompatibilities that would be perceived by customers as
application failures, and to make complexity transparent to end
users. In reality, this is achieved today by forcing end users to
be systems administrators of their complex terminal software, or to
engage others to administer their systems for them. Traditionally,
the telephone networks have hidden complexity from end users and
have resolved incompatibilities among end user terminals by
employing ''middleware" in the networks. For example, an end user
in New York can make a call from an ISDN telephone to an analog
cellular phone in London. As applications such as multimedia
teleconferencing, multimedia messaging, and remote access to
multimedia information become increasingly important in mass market
applications, telecommunications networks will play a critical role
in resolving incompatibilities between different types of user
terminals and between user terminals and servers, in facilitating
the location of resources, in helping users manage their
communications services, and in providing capabilities such as
multimedia bridging.
Broad Recommendations
Most of the technology-related challenges in creating the
national information infrastructure can be best addressed by the
private sector, with the cooperation of the public sector.
•
From the point of view of local exchange network
providers, the regulatory impediments discussed above must be
addressed to enable an investment climate that is appropriate for
the high risks associated with the large deployments of network
infrastructure needed to provide broadband access. The public
sector should work with the private sector to address issues
related to universal access and service and to promote open systems
and interoperability among networks, systems, and services. The
public sector should remove barriers to full and fair competition,
such as the MFJ restrictions and the network interface device
requirement discussed above, and should avoid creating new barriers
in the future.
•
The public sector should use networks provided by
the private sector rather than building networks in competition
with the private sector's commercial service providers.
•
The public sector must also address the myriad
legal issues related to intellectual property, liability,
application-specific law (e.g., practicing medicine across state
lines), and other issues that are impediments to the emergence of
new applications. Many of these issues have been identified in
forums such as the National Information Infrastructure Advisory
Council and the private sector Council on Competitiveness.
•
The public sector should be a role model user of
the emerging NII and should continue its initiatives to create a
broad awareness of the potential of the NII to address many of
society's challenges in education, health care, and government.
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•
The public sector should support and fund
precompetitive research and development targeted toward enabling
NII dependability, interoperability, and ease of use by the broad
population. The public sector should also support and fund
precompetitive research and development on advanced technology for
next-generation networks and advanced applications.
•
The public sector should collaborate with the
private sector on programs that will lead to the realization of the
goal of having K-12 schools and libraries connected to the NII by
the year 2000.
•
The public sector should work with the private
sector to protect U.S. interests in matters related to the global
information infrastructure, with particular emphasis on
intellectual property protection and trade reciprocity.
Notes
1. Council on Competitiveness. 1993.
Vision for a 21st Century Information Infrastructure. Council
on Competitiveness, Washington, D.C., May.
2. Federal Communications Commission.
1994. Statistics of Communications Common Carriers, 1993/1994
Edition. Federal Communications Commission, Washington, D.C.,
Table 8.1.
3. Personal Communications Industry
Association. 1994. 1994 PCS Market Demand Forecast. Personal
Communications Industry Association, Washington, D.C., January.
4. Clapp, George H. 1994. Internet
Access. Testimony before House Subcommittee on Science, October
4.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
exchange carriers
