Communications: The quandary of office automation: Systems designers are heatedly debating the most efficient communication hardware for the electronic office of the future

Although the building blocks for the “electronic office of the future” — the work stations, processors, and software — can now be delivered, systems integrators have long debated the most efficient communications hardware for linking them together. Should it be a local area network, which transmits baseband or broadband signals through high-speed coaxial cables — but still has one foot in the laboratory? Or should it be the slower PABX, or private automatic branch exchange: a computer-controlled switch that uses that old reliable, the telephone system, to route voice or data signals in analog or digital form?