Page 65 - Intelligent Communication Systems

CHAPTER 6 / INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAYS 49
development concerning the Information Superhighways were talked about. One
of the main events was an experiment on Information Superhighway transmission
via interconnecting Berlin, Hamburg, and Cologne. A keynote address was broad-
cast from the headquarters of the Ministry of Telecommunications in Berlin to the
conference venue in Hamburg. A joint experiment on Computer Supported Co-
operative Work (CSCW), linking Hamburg and Berlin, was conducted via the
German version of the Information Superhighway.
To achieve a global information infrastructure, the protocols and communi-
cation methods should be standardized. There are two methods for such standard-
ization: a de facto standard, and an official standard, which is established by an
international organization. But there are problems concerning standardization: If
standardization, such as protocols and communication methods, is accelerated,
then technological development could suffocate. Thus, coordination between the
standardization activity and technological development is very important.

6.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAYS

In the 1960s, heavy industries such as shipbuilding and the steel industry evolved
with the industrialization following the Second World War. In the 1970s, the elec-
tronics and machine industries (home electronics and automobiles) evolved. Progress
in technology has both reduced costs and increased efficiency. To lower costs,
manufacturing companies moved their factories to Asian countries, where wages
were lower. But this strategy of exploiting the wage differential between advanced
and developing countries has been less and less successful. To overcome this, a
totally different strategy will be needed.
Progress in manufacturing industries has significantly increased petroleum
consumption. It has become urgent to reduce petroleum consumption via the intro-
duction of industries such as the information industry. Thus, information techno-
logy will play an important role in the twenty-first century, sometimes called the
Information Age. Information Superhighways will be the information infrastruc-
ture in the Information Age.