Information society : agenda for action in the UK : evidence received after 31 March 1996 / Select Committee on Science and Technology.
- Great Britain. Parliament. House of Lords. Science and Technology Committee.
- Date:
- 1996
Licence: Open Government Licence
Credit: Information society : agenda for action in the UK : evidence received after 31 March 1996 / Select Committee on Science and Technology. Source: Wellcome Collection.
47/324 page 349
![23 April 1996] [ Continued Standards will be important to ensure open access to information and interoperability between networks. Standards bodies will have an important role to play and should be encouraged. However, caution must be exercised when specifying particular standards ahead of the market place. In summary, it is essential that the Government addresses urgently the issue of the information superhighway, taking the lead as a consumer of information services, and promoting conditions for its early development. Countries such as the USA, Japan, Australia and Singapore have identified the area as one of prime importance and have already begun this process. The UK must build on its considerable strengths and be prepared to take a lead in the ensuing information revolution. Question 1 What is the current form of the “Information Superhighway”, and how is it developing (i) in the United Kingdom and (ti) worldwide? What specific problems arise from incompatible networks standards and why are these incompatibilities arising? DEFINITION OF THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY The definition of the information superhighway as provided by the Select Committee implies the following characteristics: — high-speed and capable of carrying “broadband” signals; — two-way, or interactive and therefore demanding a “switched” network; — able to carry all kinds of traffic; in particular voice, text, video, images (ie “multimedia”) in a common digital format; — _ easy to access and use and with “intelligent” systems; — within reach of all the population or “ubiquitous”; — essentially “international” in character. Although there are networks in place which deliver some of the above characteristics, there are none as yet which deliver them all. THE CURRENT FORM OF THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY The technologies that underpin current forms of the superhighway fall into four categories of transmission, switching, data storage, and bandwidth compression. These are described in Annex A. CURRENT STRUCTURE IN THE UK Most existing networks deliver either narrowband telephony services or analogue broadcast entertainment services. They do not meet the requirements for a fully interactive, broadband, switched, ubiquitous, digital superhighway outlined above. The pattern of ownership existing in the UK is as follows: Licensed-Operator Networks. There are a number of networks which require an individual DTI licence under section 7 of the Telecommunications Act 1984, and which are owned by specific operating companies. Public Telecommunications Operator (PTO) networks, including BT’s, are principally designed for widespread delivery of telephony services. BT already uses broadband optical fibre in the core network (between telephone exchanges) where.some 2 million km have been installed, and toa much lesser extent in the access network (connection from exchange to customer) where some 25k businesses now have fibre connections. Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) connections provide multiple 64kbit/s digital access channels to premises in the UK, and are growing rapidly. However, the access network consists largely of copper pairs carrying narrowband voice traffic. Business data networks are a more recent development. In many ways they can be thought of as superhighways, although at present only major institutions can afford them. One example is BT’s Switched Multi-megabit Data Service (SMDS). This delivers switched, digital, broadband connections to major business and institutional users. It is the foundation for the UK SuperJANET network, linking computer sites at some 40 universities. Cable networks are being built in parts of the UK. Cable companies are PTOs but provide cable TV services as well as telephony. Most of these networks deliver one-way broadcast distribution of analogue TV signals, and so presently fall well short of the requirements for an information superhighway. Cellular networks offering mobile radio services using cell-phones are expanding rapidly. They focus on voice and narrowband data communication, and their spectrum allocations reflect this use. Satellite TV distribution networks are currently based on one-way analogue distribution but return channels can be provided over land lines.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b32218631_0047.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
