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Look up information superhighway in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
The information superhighway (from German: infobahn) [1] [2] is a late-20th-century descriptive phrase that aspirationally referred to the increasingly mainstream availability of digital communication systems (and ultimately the Internet and its World Wide Web).
To some extent, it is associated with United States Senator and later Vice President Al Gore. [3]
There are a number of definitions of this term. The 1996 publication Wired Style: Principles of English Usage in the Digital Age defines the term as "the whole digital enchilada - interactive, cable, broadband, 500-channel [...] then-Senator Al Gore Jr. introduced it at a 1978 meeting of computer industry folk, in homage to his father, Senator Albert Gore Sr." [4]
The McGraw-Hill Computer Desktop Encyclopedia, published in 2001, defines the term as "a proposed high-speed communications system that was touted by the Clinton/Gore administration to enhance education in America in the 21st century. Its purpose was to help all citizens regardless of their income level. The Internet was originally cited as a model for this superhighway; however, with the explosion of the World Wide Web, the Internet became the information superhighway". [5]
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) defines the term as "a route or network for the high-speed transfer of information; esp. (a) a proposed national fiber-optic network in the United States; (b) the Internet." The OED also cites usage of this term in three periodicals:
The working paper No.179, 1994, of the Center for Coordination Science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology describes the concept as follows: "The information superhighway directly connects millions of people, each both a consumer of information and a potential provider. (...) Most predictions about commercial opportunities on the information superhighway focus on the provision of information products, such as video on demand, and on new sales outlets for physical products, as with home shopping. (...) The information superhighway brings together millions of individuals who could exchange information with one another. Any conception of a traditional market for making beneficial exchanges, such as an agricultural market or trading pit, or any system where individuals respond to posted prices on a computer screen is woefully inadequate for the extremely large number of often complex trades that will be required." [6]
Some other people used the term "superhighway" in application to telecommunications even earlier.
In 1964, M. Brotherton in his book "Masers and Lasers; How They Work, What They Do" on p. 5, wrote about laser beams and used the term "superhighways" for communication. [7]
The term "electronic super highway" was used by RCA engineer James Hillier in 1971 to describe the future evolution of cable television and home communications [8]
In addition, this cable will run past every bank, school, store, and place of business. It will be an electronic super highway carrying entertainment, education, and informational commerce, making possible a new and closer coupling of the citizen to his society and culture, but from the retained privacy and convenience of his own home.
In 1974, Nam June Paik also used the term "super highway" in application to telecommunications, which gave rise to the mistaken opinion that he may have been the author of the term "information superhighway". [9]
In 1972, Andrew Targowski presented the Polish National Development Program at the State Council for Informatics, which included the plan of developing the public computer network INFOSTRADA (INFO-STRADA), with autostrada meaning motorway in Polish. Later this plan and its topology were published in his book INFORMATYKA modele rozwoju i systemów (INFORMATICS, models of development and systems) [10]
The building of new electronic super highways will become an even huger enterprise. Assuming we connect New York with Los Angeles by means of an electronic telecommunication network that operates in strong transmission ranges, as well as with continental satellites, wave guides, bundled coaxial cable, and later also via laser beam fiber optics: the expenditure would be about the same as for a Moon landing, except that the benefits in term of by-products would be greater.
The history of the Internet has its origin in the efforts of scientists and engineers to build and interconnect computer networks. The Internet Protocol Suite, the set of rules used to communicate between networks and devices on the Internet, arose from research and development in the United States and involved international collaboration, particularly with researchers in the United Kingdom and France.
A wide area network (WAN) is a telecommunications network that extends over a large geographic area. Wide area networks are often established with leased telecommunication circuits.
The National Information Infrastructure (NII) was the product of the High Performance Computing Act of 1991. It was a telecommunications policy buzzword, which was popularized during the Clinton Administration under the leadership of Vice-President Al Gore.
Photonics is a branch of optics that involves the application of generation, detection, and manipulation of light in the form of photons through emission, transmission, modulation, signal processing, switching, amplification, and sensing. Photonics is closely related to quantum electronics, where quantum electronics deals with the theoretical part of it while photonics deal with its engineering applications. Though covering all light's technical applications over the whole spectrum, most photonic applications are in the range of visible and near-infrared light. The term photonics developed as an outgrowth of the first practical semiconductor light emitters invented in the early 1960s and optical fibers developed in the 1970s.
In telecommunications networks, a node is either a redistribution point or a communication endpoint.
An optical fiber, or optical fibre, is a flexible glass or plastic fiber that can transmit light from one end to the other. Such fibers find wide usage in fiber-optic communications, where they permit transmission over longer distances and at higher bandwidths than electrical cables. Fibers are used instead of metal wires because signals travel along them with less loss and are immune to electromagnetic interference. Fibers are also used for illumination and imaging, and are often wrapped in bundles so they may be used to carry light into, or images out of confined spaces, as in the case of a fiberscope. Specially designed fibers are also used for a variety of other applications, such as fiber optic sensors and fiber lasers.
Optical networking is a means of communication that uses signals encoded in light to transmit information in various types of telecommunications networks. These include limited range local-area networks (LAN) or wide area networks (WANs), which cross metropolitan and regional areas as well as long-distance national, international and transoceanic networks. It is a form of optical communication that relies on optical amplifiers, lasers or LEDs and wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) to transmit large quantities of data, generally across fiber-optic cables. Because it is capable of achieving extremely high bandwidth, it is an enabling technology for the Internet and telecommunication networks that transmit the vast majority of all human and machine-to-machine information.
Jun-ichi Nishizawa was a Japanese engineer and inventor. He is known for his electronic inventions since the 1950s, including the PIN diode, static induction transistor, static induction thyristor, SIT/SITh. His inventions contributed to the development of internet technology and the Information Age.
Michael Silverton is an American computer scientist.
A photonic integrated circuit (PIC) or integrated optical circuit is a microchip containing two or more photonic components that form a functioning circuit. This technology detects, generates, transports, and processes light. Photonic integrated circuits use photons as opposed to electrons that are used by electronic integrated circuits. The major difference between the two is that a photonic integrated circuit provides functions for information signals imposed on optical wavelengths typically in the visible spectrum or near-infrared (850–1650 nm).
Fiber-optic communication is a method of transmitting information from one place to another by sending pulses of infrared or visible light through an optical fiber. The light is a form of carrier wave that is modulated to carry information. Fiber is preferred over electrical cabling when high bandwidth, long distance, or immunity to electromagnetic interference is required. This type of communication can transmit voice, video, and telemetry through local area networks or across long distances.
The High Performance Computing Act of 1991 (HPCA) is an Act of Congress promulgated in the 102nd United States Congress as (Pub.L. 102–194) on December 9, 1991. Often referred to as the Gore Bill, it was created and introduced by then Senator Al Gore, and led to the development of the National Information Infrastructure and the funding of the National Research and Education Network (NREN).
Telecommunications engineering is a subfield of electronics engineering which seeks to design and devise systems of communication at a distance. The work ranges from basic circuit design to strategic mass developments. A telecommunication engineer is responsible for designing and overseeing the installation of telecommunications equipment and facilities, such as complex electronic switching system, and other plain old telephone service facilities, optical fiber cabling, IP networks, and microwave transmission systems. Telecommunications engineering also overlaps with broadcast engineering.
eCorridors is an information technology program to promote and facilitate broadband access for communities of Virginia and nearby areas. It was developed by faculty at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (VT) in the spring of 2000.
Al Gore is a United States politician who served successively in the House of Representatives, the Senate, and as the Vice President from 1993 to 2001. In the 1980s and 1990s, he promoted legislation that funded an expansion of the ARPANET, allowing greater public access, and helping to develop the Internet.
Telecommunications in Angola include telephone, radio, television, and the Internet. The government controls all broadcast media with a nationwide reach.
A global network is any communication network that spans the entire Earth. The term, as used in this article, refers in a more restricted way to bidirectional communication networks based on technology. Early networks such as international mail and unidirectional communication networks, such as radio and television, are described elsewhere.
Verizon Fios is a bundled Internet access, telephone, and television service provided by Verizon Communications that operates over a fiber optical network within the United States.
The vice presidency of Al Gore lasted from 1993 to 2001, during the Bill Clinton administration. Al Gore was the 45th Vice President of the United States, being twice elected alongside Bill Clinton in the 1992 and 1996 presidential elections. Nearing the end of his tenure, Gore ran for president as the Democratic nominee in the 2000 United States presidential election in which he was defeated by George W. Bush following the controversial Bush v. Gore Supreme Court decision and was succeeded by Bush's running mate Dick Cheney. This made Gore the first incumbent Vice President of the United States to run for the presidency since George H. W. Bush who was elected to the presidency in 1988 and the first incumbent vice president to lose a presidential election since Hubert Humphrey in 1968.
Optelecom-NKF, Inc. is an American company that designs, manufactures, and markets high-bandwidth communications products, financial market data information, and business video systems.
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