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Opinion
From the Ground Up
by
Rajgopal Nidamboor
There isn’t a moment
where a computer chip in today’s world stands still — without
activity. The buzzword is our globe has digitized — and,
there’s no going back. We have more than 400 million people on
the Internet — so much so, the ’Net is no longer a novelty.
You’ve
wired shopping on the ’Net, doctors for consultation, and other
specialists who are extending their helping hand, or design, for
your investments.
The ’Net, in short, is a triumph for technology — a digital
revolution that has been more profound than a mere application
of high-tech tools. It is also not just reality; it is a prelude
to a philosophy, of openness and free communication. It is, in
essence, a connected gestalt — a gestalt called life via the Web
itself. And, the best part of it is — it is also evolving and
changing for the better.
Here’s the why, how, why-not, and so-what of it:
As Nobel Prize-winner Arno Penzias, formerly Chief Scientist of
Bell Laboratories, once said: “Some people will want to spend
money to save time, and other people will want to spend time to
save time — both approaches will be available.” The inference is
apparent. Because, the radio has been a major component in the
phenomenal growth of the global telecommunications network — the
largest and most complex object ever made by man? You bet.
Our electronic revolution has, predictably, taken off from the
humble radio! Get the point! This is not all. The fusion between
wireless communication, the entertainment industry, data
transfer and the classical telephone is driving a revolution.
Most importantly, the boundaries that separated the telephone
from the radio, and telephone receiver, are also now breaking
down with bewildering alacrity.
“In another 10-12 years,” as Pekka Terjanne, former
Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union [ITU],
said a few years ago, “distinctions between broadcasting and
telecommunications may mean nothing at all.” There you are —
sort of! So, when people talk about information, they think of
the traditional content of books, newspapers, television, and
radio. But, in the brave new world of our century, the merger of
the telephone, computer, and cable television/entertainment
industries into a single entity will, therefore, be a fulsome
eventuality. It already is — to a great extent. It will be all
the more encompassing, sooner than later.
Put together in context, it simply means this: for several
years, business and technology observers had only been talking
about the major changes being brought about by the Internet.
Today’s technology solutions, for want of a better word, can,
therefore, be called “convergence solutions.”
The implications?
Convergence is likely to create physical, social, and economic
changes in the global communications infrastructure. The
changes, though (r)evolutionary, are already catalytic. They
represent the convergence of computing power, communications
capability, and content — the information of the information
composite, to be precise. Result: the development of fibre-optic
networks, the establishment of high bandwidth, Information Super
Highways, and the creation of inter-personal communications via
cellular networks and satellite systems point the way to a
digital communications revolution that will completely transform
our world as dramatically as the telephone, automobile, and
television. It has to a huge extent — and, this bids fair for
better things to come our way… soon.
The change will be radical, revolutionary and path-breaking.
Example: Consumers in the near future, for instance, will be
able to order the latest Barbie doll from an American shopping
mall or a silk sari from Mysore — all from a pop-up menu on
their desktop information appliance. In addition, the mobile
phone could help close the gap between Internet ‘haves’ and
Internet ‘have-nots,’ by enabling countries to set up networks
that do not rely on costly, or fixed infrastructure and lines.
This evolution has already happened in one of the world’s
poorest countries, Bangladesh, and in India too, where farmers,
fisher-folk and others have been provided with payphone. It’s an
idea whose future has arrived. It has made accessibility to
information quite easy, almost workaday stuff, juxtaposed by the
availability of data about the prevailing market price for
farmers’ produce — at the click of the muse. The spin-off effect
of it all, in the developed, and the developing world, would
only be near-at-hand.
There are several other possibilities too. Once PC prices drop
below Rs 10,000, in India, for example, there will be a
proliferation of home users. Once you have a PC at home, you’re
bound to take a ’Net connection. Also, non-PC access to the ’Net
is the new gyration that is rapidly emerging. Aside from that,
there are models of cell phones, which are connected to the ’Net
already. So, while the number of PC users would only increase,
non PC-based audience of news and entertainment would also
expand quickly. And, once Web TV takes off in India, in full
measure, it is also going to add a new dimension. (Grab another
look at the scenario. As, cell phones flash news in a capsule
format throughout the day, you are given a choice: take it, or
leave it. It is all up to you!).
The 21st century will be the century of wireless communications,
and whosoever is in the league will be a cohort for major
initiatives in global personal mobile communications services —
by the use of satellites — to draw but just one example.
Additionally, with convergence filling up the entire horizon,
the world is likely to shrink further, as disparate but
like-minded groups, scattered around the globe, will also come
together.
So, one thing is imminent — even though everything ‘electronic’
would ultimately depend on availability and accessibility.
Penzias has the original and, perforce, the last word on it:
“We’ll have lowered the cost-floor, and raised the performance
ceiling — and, there would be more access for people who are
locked out of the system today.”
Touche!
January 29, 2006 Top |
Opinion
The Week of January 29, 2006
India's Second Freedom by Rajinder Puri
Hamas' Victory : Impact on Peace Process by
Sujata Ashwarya Cheema
In Search of Self by Naira Yaqoob
My Childhood and Kamla Nehru by Arya Bhushan
Isomers, Prions, Homonyms,
Necker Cubes, Us and the Universe Part 3 by
Gaurang Bhatt, MD
The Kalika of Patan by Prema Nandakumar
The Land of the "Kiwi" by Neha Girotra
My Temporary Son a Book Review by G.
Swaminathan
From the Ground Up by Rajgopal Nidamboor
Stardust Memories by Michael Levy
Indian Youth in Search of Icons by Prema
Nandakumar
Oblivion by Ramendra Kumar
A Pan of Musk by NS Murty
What are We Scared Of? by Anitha Abraham
A Boat Ride Back in Time by Elayne Clift
Rice Tales by Aparna Pallavi
Nepal: Looking for 'People Made to Disappear'
by Sudeshna Sarkar
Two Babies: World Apart by Kwamboka Oyaro
India's Congress
Government
Virtually Indicted in Supreme Court Judgement
by Dr. Subhash Kapila
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