Papers in PDF format

1. Overview
US Information Superhighway: Architecture and Applications
H. Michael Chung
Department of Information Systems
California State University, Long Beach
Long Beach, CA 90840-8506
USA
Internet: hmchung@csulb.edu
It is a misconception that the information superhighway will develop like the federal highway project. While
the roads were primarily funded by the federal government, the government is not going to inject the financial
resources for the information superhighway. Instead, the government will change the ground rules for the
industries to lead the National Information Infrastructure (NII).
A bill passed early this year will bring broad changes in the telecommunications area. For example, long
distance phone service will also be provided by regional Bell phone companies, which could lead to lower long
distance rates. At the same time, local phone markets will be open to traditional long distance as well as cable
TV firms. Since they need to pay local phone companies in order to connect into the existing network, local
rates may rise. Cable rates will go up due to the lifting of rate regulation. National TV station ownership cap
will be raised. Also, cross ownership between cable and telephone companies will be allowed so that new
alliances will emerge.
In this setting, the primary driving force behind the NII is not the new technology nor new regulation. It is the
demand for new products and services. Namely, the government is not really leading the NII effort except in
several public areas. Rather, the market is shaping the NII amid the short term inefficiencies and the
deficiencies in nationally visible showpiece monumental outcomes.
Furthermore, by the year 2000, over twenty percent of all Internet access devices will be non-microcomputer
machines. This is another misconception that the NII is always related to PC's and its compatibles. Consumer
demands and citizen's expectations are the core guideline of the direction of the information superhighway.
Expectations can be met and also demand can be created. To satisfy this assertion, capital should be
consumed. However, the industry will not move without being convinced that the information superhighway
will guarantee being the profit center for the participants. In other words, business applications are the most
critical area that will motivate the industry.
2. Prospects
After witnessing the rise and fall of somewhat intended hypes, consumers and the industry clearly see the real
challenges and the opportunities that lie ahead on the path of constructing NII: an understanding that the
information superhighway has been less a blueprint and more an inkblot test of multiple architects from
different firms.
Highways are a particular thing that has been designed to fulfill a clear need to link distinct points. On the
other hand, NII will not be built on the blue print. It will evolve through the practical merging of the
hardware, software, circuits, and applications. The results will be an invisible, seamless, and dynamic web of
networks, and information resources. Naturally, this may lead to the technological incompatibilities in
engineering, opaqueness in application transparencies for consumers, and short term economic inefficiencies
in resource allocation and utilization. For instance, cruising the information superhighway versus crawling the
road exemplifies an engineering goal the internet has to achieve. In addition, an acid test that questions
whether the internet changes the nature of everything, or it is a new way to do the same old stuff symbolize the
way the internet is to aim at.