Network options for telesurgery

The medical field and the telecommunications field have one thing in common; both have seen many changes in the last few years. For example, in the field of telecommunications, trunk networks are migrating towards the internationally agreed standards of SDH and SONET. Asynchronous Transfer Mode is the ITU-T agreed transfer mode for the Broadband Integrated Service Digital Network. Changes also affect the telecom user/customer directly. Many people can now choose which network provider they wish to use. People can choose between portable and fixed telephones. These are just some of the changes that have taken place in recent years. The author reviews these changes and assesses their applicability for telesurgery applications