39 lines
1.7 KiB
Plaintext
39 lines
1.7 KiB
Plaintext
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"GEE WHIZ" ATM APPLICAITONS ON THE HORIZON
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Nathan Felde, executive director of multimedia communications at the
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NYNEX Science & Technology laboratory in Cambridge, Mass., waxes
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evangelical about the potential of Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)
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applications. After touring his surroundings at the NYNEX Science &
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Technology Center, it's easy to see why.
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In one area, three people sit at a large color monitor viewing a
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sophisticated multimedia cardiology application that includes
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simultaneous full-motion video, audio and graphics applications
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being shared between two doctors. In a nearby air-conditioned room,
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a prototype ATM switch capable of switching 2.4 gigabits is being
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tested. All around, there are circuits and monitors and wires
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connecting them.
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Next to the switch room, Felde takes a seat, puts on his microphone
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and dials a colleague in White Plains, N.Y. But this is not your
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normal telephone call. When Eddie Singh answers, his full-motion
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image appears on a six-inch screen attached to Felde's computer.
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"Hi, Eddie," Felde says. "Hi, Nathan," Singh replies in hi-fi audio,
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as co-workers walk around in the room behind him.
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Felde and Singh chat informally in a manner reminiscent of George
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Jetson and his boss, Mr. Spacely. For them, this fantastic
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connection _ which consumes an entire T-3 hunk of bandwidth _ is
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something they take for granted. For the uninitiated, however, it is
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a fascinating glimpse at the future.
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"This is the beginning of making broadband available to millions of
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part-time users, much the way people use the phone today, " Felde
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states. "Time is now the scarce resource, but bandwidth is an
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abundant resource, and we want to make it available on demand."
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