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TCOMM Technology profiles purpose
TCOMM technology profiles addresses the concerns of current and future development of technology in the telecommunications industry and the possible effects it may have on society.
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Current Development
Currently the telecommunications industry is going through some major changes to keep up with the high demand of bandwidth from both business and residential customers. Many telephone companies are crossing a brige and having to upgrade both the equipment and the median on which that equipment transports its data. The birth of the internet has helped drive alot of this demand. The development of high band lasers and DWDM (Dense wave division multiplexing) technology to be used over fiber optic cable has increased the amount of data you can place on one single optic strand. DWDM technology has allowed many companies to expand their capabilities and keep the fiber they have already planted in the ground.
As more and exciting technologies emerge standards are to be set so that other vendors can have a fair chance of competing in the same market. Electronic standards are among the hardest to set. A standard can range from what type of signal to use for this application to what kind of cable should this type of signal transmit over. The ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) has been developed so that standards can be set among the telecommunications industry for many decades of use among europe and the world. All of todays current technologies use some means of LAN (Local Area Network) lines. That means while you are talking on a cellular phone the signal that your phone transmits to and receives from is coming from a LAN line. As traffic increases on the LAN lines from cellular activity and mobile activity the demand for more bandwidth has increased.
The Internet revelution has also brought on new technologies that take advantage of availability of higher bandwidth and ease of use. Many phone companies are offering wireless web on wireless phone contracts. Wireless web allows the phone user to search the World Wide Web for information from any location. It seems that conveinence is the number one driving factor of the development of new products.3COM has developed the wireless NIC (Network Interface Card) which allows a user to be connected on their laptop to a network without any wires. This allows the user to do work where they are needed most.
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Future Development
As we all know technology plays a big role in the future of telecommunications. The ideal world for telecommunications is to be able to communicate in all forms (Voice and Data) from any place on or off the planet with no interrupptions in service or signal degredation. The future of telecommunications is very promising. As bandwidth requirements increase the demand for larger pipes for the bandwidth to travel down is also increasing. Today more and more homes are logging on with higer speed connections such as DSL (Digital Subscriber Loop) or Cable Modems. Both solutions offer speeds that are 100 times faster than traditional modems (56K Baudrate).
To touch a bit on future technology for large business needs as well as home use, a few things need to be understood. As the world logs onto the internet the role of telecommunications comes into play. Telephone companies are required to adapt to large demand for bandwidth. In return telephone companies look to vendors to supply the technology in the format that will integrate into the current technologies in a seemless manner. Vendors such as Nortel Networks, Cisco Systems,andLucent Technologies are looked upon to supply new technologies to the telephone companies so that the telephone companies can provide the requested service to the end customer. Vendors such as Nortel Networks already have new technologies in research to meet the demand years down the road.
As we all know the demand for wireless service has increased. Everything from cell phones to PDA's (Personal Digital Assistants) have shown to provide a more productive life for business folks as well as the technology savy. A few years back a cell phone was thought of as a luxury. Today it is looked upon as a necessity. As the world moves toward becoming wireless newer technologies have yet to emerge. I do see the world being able to conduct all communications in the forms of both voice and data at a speed that is considered more than acceptable. As far as how long out, only the future will tell.
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Economic Impact
With new telecommunications technology comes good and bad possible effects on society. The world today is migrating into the information age. As people learn to log on to the internet and use e-mail for the first time they are going against every thing they used to do. From paying bills to shopping for a car it can be done online. The question we have to ask is do we really consider the consequences of doing business over the web? Another consideration is the use of telecommunications in the form of how we talk to others, a good example is cellular phones. We are all aware of the media coverage of how bad cell phones when driving. What is suppose to be a conveinence is now a danger while driving.
What are the good things to come of new technology? Well, to list a few, people will be able to use the web for any source of information from diagnosing medical problems to completing college degrees from home. The web will play a big role on emerging technology and it seems that there are endless possiblities. Information seems to be the driver for new technology. Everything from television, driving your car, making a meal, and conducting business. Technology makes things easier to perform as well as being able to perform the task from anywhere. Technology definatly allows the world to move forward in a fashion that will allow an increase in productivity and ease of use.
Of course with every good comes some bad. I beleive there is more bad to technology than good. As society integrates into technology society moves away from personal interaction. Interaction would come in the form of being locked behind doors and in front of a keyboard. Social interaction is very important. When take away shopping at a mall or doing your own grocery shopping you take steps out of your life that would allow to interact with the public. Yes, technology makes tasks easier to perform but it also gives us more curiosity that moves closer to technology and futher away from social interaction. As we consume ourselves more and more into technology we need to remember where we came from and the impact on social behavior if we don't interact face to face.
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