The telecommunications network of the new millennium

As telecommunications networks fuse with computer networks, a new generation of distributed computing is emerging. Telephones will make way for computers loaded with such capabilities as natural language translators, speech recognition, virtual reality interfaces, and more, our computers will be hooked to a wireless network; sending and receiving voice, fax, data and images will become commonplace. When something breaks, these networks will be largely self-healing and self-configuring to meet shifting service demands, but they won't wait for things to break-they will be loaded with proactive network management capabilities to intercept problems before they occur. They will provide intelligent services for information retrieval, shopping, and finding others on the network with similar interests. They will provide virtual conference rooms, classrooms, design laboratories and theaters, using virtual reality technology to bring both geographically dispersed and simulated individuals together. Much of this vision is already in the works in R&D labs at major telecommunications companies and universities around the world. Indeed, both the telecommunications infrastructure and what we will be able to do on this network of the new millennium are a long way from the telephone Alexander Graham Bell invented in 1876. The use of advanced software technologies will make the telecommunications network of the new millennium a vast new frontier of possibilities-in business, in education and in the arts.