Tomorrow’s broadband networks will be hybrids of fiber optics, coaxial cable, and copper wire. With some modification to the existing infrastructure, hybrid networks can deliver a full range of high-bandwidth interactive services at a fraction of the cost of fiber to the home. Digital compression, storage, and transmission will reduce the cost of rewiring a neighborhood to a manageable burden.
Predictor: Kapor, Mitchell
Prediction, in context:In a 1993 article for Wired magazine, Mitchell Kapor, a co-founder of the Electronic Freedom Foundation, writes: ”Telephone carriers and cable operators are learning more about the skillful use of technology in a competitive, market-driven environment, leading to a general consensus that tomorrow’s broadband networks will be hybrids of fiber optics, coaxial cable, and copper wire. With some modification to the existing infrastructure, hybrid networks can deliver a full range of high-bandwidth interactive services at a fraction of the cost of fiber to the home. Digital compression, storage, and transmission will reduce the cost of rewiring a neighborhood to a manageable burden. In Virginia, New Jersey, and Florida, the first hybrid networks serving actual customers are being constructed. These test projects will serve only a few hundreds or thousands of customers, but from these first baby steps, mature networks serving tens of millions of households will emerge.”
Biography:Mitchell Kapor founded the Lotus Development Corporation and also founded the Electronic Frontier Foundation with WELL (Whole Earth ‘Lectronic Link) members John Perry Barlow and John Gilmore in 1990 in direct response to a threat to free speech. He was an outspoken supporter of open access to the Internet, and was asked to speak in many venues about the issue, including Congressional hearings. (Pioneer/Originator.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1993
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: Pipeline/Switching/Hardware
Name of publication: Wired
Title, headline, chapter name: Where is the Digital Highway Really Heading? The Case for a Jeffersonian Information Policy
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1.03/kapor.on.nii_pr.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney