IEEE Wireless Communications • February 2008
8
1536-1284/08/$25.00 © 2008 IEEE
Year1985 1990 1995 200
F
EATURED
A
RTICLE
I
NTRODUCTION
T
ODAY
’
S
I
NTERNET
The applications of communication technologiesthat serve the needs of our industry and of soci-ety have undergone significant shifts since thebeginnings of telecommunication a century ago.The wireless and wireline digital infrastructure we currently enjoy, which serves a vast world- wide community of users, has seen the mergingof analog and digital technologies and of voice,data, video, text, image, fax, graphics, andstreaming media. The Internet is the currentmanifestation of these many developments andthe vortex around which an accelerating wave of change and improvement is taking place, notonly in the infrastructure, but also in the applica-tions, users, services, and innovations of thetechnology.The Internet is leading the way into a twenty-first century information society. It has penetrat-ed our institutions and has changed our behaviorand attitudes in fundamental ways. More thanone billion people on this planet use the Inter-net today. The younger generation cannot con-ceive of a time when they could not share theirphotos, chat with friends, stream video, or shoponline. We can never turn the clock back to thepre-Internet world.The secret of the power of the Internet lies inthe fact that it embraces and encourages every-one to contribute their creative ideas, knowl-edge, and works and make them available toothers interactively on the Internet. The Internetfounding philosophy of openness and communityprovided the environment that spawned itstremendous growth in its early years.The Internet has a flexible future, and theform it takes depends upon how we and circum-stances shape it. Certainly it is safe to say that it will be a network with
extreme mobility
,
personal-ization
,
video addiction
, and
surprising applica-tions as yet unimagined
.Yet, as we race forward into this world of always connected people, devices, applications,and services, it is helpful to glimpse the past andsee the forces and the pioneers that helped bringabout these wonders. Too often we forget thatmany of the advanced technologies we enjoy inthe present were conceived of, developed, anddeployed many years ago by heroes of yesteryear.Let us review the past and explore the heritageof the technology with which we are endowedbefore we launch into a vision of where we areheading.
W
HAT
T
HEY
W
ERE
S
AYING
B
ACK
T
HEN
. . .
Who said the following and when?
“It will be possible for a business man in NewYork to dictate instructions, and have them instant- ly appear in type at his office in London or else- where. He will be able to call up, from his desk, and talk to any telephone subscriber on the globe. . . . An inexpensive instrument, not bigger than a watch, will enable its bearer to hear anywhere, on sea or land, music or song, the speech of a politi- cal leader, the address of an eminent man of sci- ence, or the sermon of an eloquent clergyman, delivered in some other place, however distant. Inthe same manner any picture, character, drawing, or print can be transferred from one to another place.[1]”
In reading this quote, one can’t help imagin-ing that this person is talking about a vision of the Internet. He is discussing worldwide connec-tion among a vast number of users, instanta-neous communication, and the transmission of voice, image, and data — with the use of a trulysmall access device. Amazingly, this is a quotefrom 100 years ago (1908) and was written bythe famous Nicola Tesla, one of technology’sunsung heroes, whose contributions to communi-cations, power generation, and much more, wereenormous. His insight and vision were prescient.
L
EONARD
K
LEINROCK
, UCLA
A
BSTRACT
This article relates the history of wirelesscommunications to the history of the Internet.The early work on packet switching is traced,and then a brief description of the critical eventsin the growth of the Internet is provided. Then,a vision of where the Internet is heading is pre-sented, with a focus on where user participation,flexible applications and services, and innovationare appearing. A network with extreme mobility,ubiquity, personalization, adaptivity, video addic-tion, and surprising applications, as yet unimag-ined is foreseen.
H
ISTORY OF THE
I
NTERNET AND
I
TS
F
LEXIBLE
F
UTURE
The author relates thehistory of wirelesscommunications tothe history of theInternet. A vision ofwhere the Internet isheading is presentedA network withextreme mobility,ubiquity,personalization,adaptivity, videoaddiction, andsurprising applications,as yet unimaginedis foreseen.
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