A truly open NII cannot be achieved unless the cable TV and/or telephone access circuits are reconstructed in a way that supports the services of both the entertainment and information sectors. Technically, what is needed is a bearer service based on the concept of bidirectional digital packet switching.
Predictor: National Research Council
Prediction, in context:In 1994, the NRENaissance Committee, appointed by the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board of the National Research Council, produced a special report titled “Realizing the Information Future: The Internet and Beyond.” Among the committee members were Internet pioneers Leonard Kleinrock, David Clark, David Farber, Lawrence Landweber and Robert Kahn. The committee’s goal was to “study issues raised by the shift to a larger, more truly national networking capability.” Among its statements about the blossoming of the National Information Infrastructure (NII) is this: ”The committee believes that a truly open NII cannot be achieved unless the cable TV and/or telephone access circuits are reconstructed in a way that supports the services of both the entertainment and information sectors. Technically, what is needed is a bearer service based on the concept of bidirectional digital packet switching. Such a service would permit the objectives of the ODN to be supported at the same time as other services dedicated to the entertainment sector … The debate about next-generation television, entertainment networking, and the emerging reconstruction of the nation’s access circuits has reached a crucial point: what follows may be either a departure from a broader NII, or a striving for interoperability with it. The committee strongly urges the latter approach, and it urges the government to recognize the opportunity at hand and to act on it.”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: Pipeline/Switching/Hardware
Name of publication: Realizing the Information Future: The Internet and Beyond
Title, headline, chapter name: Finding and Building Opportunities to Build Toward
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://stills.nap.edu/html/rtif/
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney