Executive Summary

The international nature of infrastructure will have to be addressed in whatever technical, market, and legal measures are taken to assure smooth communication and interaction between most countries. International connectivity must be maintained and expanded as foreign networks develop and proliferate. Beyond physical access, one or more bodies may be needed to develop and monitor bilateral and multilateral agreements on standards, transborder data flow problems, and transborder legalities generally.

Executive Summary

There are many possible visions for an NII … Such a network should be capable of carrying information services of all kinds, from suppliers of all kinds, to customers of all kinds, across network service providers of all kinds, in a seamless, accessible fashion.

Executive Summary

To a large extent, the NII will be a transformation and extension of today’s computing and communication’s infrastructure … 1994 is a critical juncture … Meeting the challenge of “wiring up” the nation will depend on our ability not only to define the purposes that the NII is intended to serve, but also to ensure that the critical technical issues are considered and that the appropriate enabling physical infrastructure is put in place.

Introduction

You will soon use a computer, television, or phone to pay your bills – transferring electronic funds directly from your bank or credit card to Sears or the electric company.

Right-Of-Way On The Info-Highway

Which companies are eligible candidates to build a large, complex networked system like the hyp(ed)othetical Info-Highway? IBM? Yes. AT&T? Yes. Microsoft? No. Apple? No. Oracle? Maybe. Sun Microsystems? Maybe. Sony? Forget it. 3DO? 3D who? The Info-Highway brings us right back to basic issues. The fundamental separation between simple and complex systems permeates competitive bake-offs and industrial face-offs throughout the computer business. This separation is the key distinction between personal computers and workstations … PCs are simple systems; workstations are complex systems.