Broadband applications characterization

Broadband networking refers to data transmission at rates above 2 Mb/s and up to 600 Mb/s from the customer interface. Today's local area networks are evolving towards fiber distributed data interface (FDDI) at 100 Mb/s and metropolitan area networks based on IEEE 802.6. The integrated services digital network (ISDN) is expected to evolve towards broadband ISDN by the middle of 1990. The applications of these high speed networks though generally known are not well understood. The author has identified, described, and classified some potential broadband applications. A general framework for characterizing these applications is described. The focus is on the data applications.<>