future of networks ???

[stt]

hello,
what do you think about the future??
- better future for R&D in UMTS, everything wireless ?
- better future for R&D in high speed routers, optical fiber etc ?
isn't the end near for the second ???
I think in about twenty years all networks will be wireless, no more LANS, VPNs...
what's your opinion ?
answer asap please.

 

[evandude]

sounds like you have a school essay you want us to write for you :lol:

 

[Pommie]

If 20 years ago I had tried to guess what would be around now, I would have been very wrong. However, my guess for the future is: all existing networks, telephone, television, cell phone and USB devices - PDA, camera, mp3 player etc will become one network that is accessed on a privilege basis. None of the handheld devices will require much memory as everything will be stored on the network. Everything will be wireless at the local level but I see the backbone as still being hardwired simply due to speed. Sub ocean cables are still preferred over satellite links due to distance and therefore the delay that's involved. Transatlantic = 12,000km cable versus 80,000km satellite. This is assuming geostationary orbit - low earth orbit satellites could improve this greatly. As everyone will be on the same network, then VPN (Virtual private networks), or something similar, will be the norm.

When we all get RFID chips (well you lot in the UK :twisted: ) then access to your home, car, office, park etc could be automated via the network as could paying in restaurants, taxis etc. Thieves could be instantly detected and sent notice to slap themselves on the wrist and not to do it again, hard working people could be confined to their bedroom for weeks on end for sneezing in public. Mind reading probes could detect naughty thoughts and the thought police could .............



Mike.

 

[stt]

but I see the backbone as still being hardwired

great, this interests me more ! a lot of high speed backbones will always be necessary.... can never imagine that all data-transfer that now flows through all the optical fiber networks, LANS, WANS etc etc could ever be transferred all together through the air, or am i wrong?

 

[stt]

sounds like you have a school essay you want us to write for you :lol:

NOT ! I'm just interested in those things.

 

[plot]

i think alot of it will still be hardwired. their is only so many frequencies we can throw around in the air at one time... if a million devices requiring a large frequency range were thrown into the same area at once, the noise problem would be a nightmare... my cell phone often looses it's signal and drops calls, i don't want something like my server computer to be on that shaky of an access too. More then likely, we won't see everything as wireless in 20 years, but we'll start to see phone lines and cable lines running to our houses replaced by fiber.

I also agree that communication services will increasingly combine and eventually it'll all join into one or two networks. probably the internet, and then the cell phones... which may eventually be merged as one also.

That's the current trend already, in the United States we have cable companies offering phone service and internet access, and phone companies are offering DSL, cell phones, and land lines, all in one nice nifty package. The newer cell phones are increasingly taking advantage of the internet, and cell phone providers have even started providing internet access for laptops! (Verizon has this service in limited areas in the states)... everythings merging into one. Soon you will be able to goto a single company for all your communications needs... and it will all be available to fit in a device in the palm of your hand.

 

[spuffock]

I could build stuff to NOBBLE a lot of these wireless networks....
There will always be wired systems for people who can't take the risk.

 

[Pommie]

i think alot of it will still be hardwired. their is only so many frequencies we can throw around in the air at one time....

We started communicating in the kHz range, partied a little in the MHz and we are now well into the GHz range. We'll surely be into terra hertz by then. With 25kHz spacing, we can have as many channels as we want. Bandwidth will not be a problem due to the fact that we will be able to go to smaller and smaller spacings. Power will be the problem, transmitting to wide areas needs large output power. Far simpler and more cost effective to send it down wires to the local area and then go wireless.

Of course, my argument is hogwash - receivers will get more sensitive and therefore more power will not be required. So, I would now guess that everything within a continent will be wireless but that intercontinental will be wired (or optical or any yet undiscovered technique that requires a physical connection).

I must say, I am really disappointed that nobody mentioned the thought police. :cry:

Mike.

 

[Pommie]

I could build stuff to NOBBLE a lot of these wireless networks....
There will always be wired systems for people who can't take the risk.

As we get better at designing wireless communication then I doubt you will be able to knobble it. Even now, wireless networks and even bluetooth switch frequencies so quickly that you can not stop the communication. Unless of course you send out a very broadband signal that blocks everything. The problem is, that that is no use to anyone, it's like blowing up a telephone exchange - yes, it stops the phones working but it is nothing but vandalism, and in the case of wireless communication, very easily traceable.

Mike.

 

[stt]

its just: i see large universities build extra lans. i'd guess, shouldn't it be better that they do everything wireless? I don't know much about it, but once i heard about WiMAX; this is a good step into the future?

 

[stt]

Found it out !
WIMAX This indeed is the future !
https://computer.howstuffworks.com/wimax.htm
france telecom is very busy with it

 

[Pommie]

Found it out !
WIMAX This indeed is the future !
https://computer.howstuffworks.com/wimax.htm
france telecom is very busy with it

This may be the future for the next few years, the question was, where will we be in 20 years?

Mike.

 

[spuffock]

Vandalism? I was thinking of TERRORISM.

 

[Circuit Seeker]

I think that the amount of bandwidth each household requires is going to increase dramatically over the next twenty years - I think services like interent TV, renting moies, music will probably all come over the internet in the future. I think that you will probably see the internet becoming much more integrated into home products, we are already starting to see this with home media centres. Other less likely products like your home alarm will also make use of the internet.

So I think that the main backbones will probably be optic fibre as it has the capability for huge bandwidths. I wouldn't be that surprised if optic fibres made it into the home at some point maybe in the next twenty years. I'm sure that in the home wireless networks will become popular with lots of devices on them not just your computer.

I think in terms of technology it is very hard to predict the future for the next 20 years just think how much has changed in the last 20 years.