The future: (information super highway or footpath?)

Our network thinking is preconditioned by a history of radio and copper cables, constrained bandwidth, and high distance-related costs; with centralised switching and services; software of massive complexity to realise simple functions; and interfaces convenient for technology. But we are now in a new regime of very low cost transmission, switching and computing and future prospects include: the migration of intelligence to the periphery of networks; total customer control; distributed switching; increased mobility; bandwidth on demand; radical changes in services and information access and delivery. In the next decade we might see many established wisdoms; practices, and operating regimes overtaken and replaced. New forms of software and operation, humanised interfaces, and greater mobility will revolutionise computing, communication and IT. However, to realise the full potential industry will have to recognise delay as the critical limiting factor, and aspire to new levels of reliability