Survival in the Information Jungle People always overestimate what will be possible in the next two years . . . and underestimate what will be possible in the next ten H. G. Wells Anyone reaching this part of the book will have picked up a lot of information about new network technologies and the role they promise to play in the information age. There are yet more facts and detailed analyses to follow in the appendixes. But what are the key messages that emerge? To complete our story of the information revolution, let us consider what it all means to you. This. | Total Area Networking ATM IP Frame Relay and SMDS Explained. Second Edition John Atkins and Mark Norris Copyright 1995 1999 John Wiley S ns Ltd Print ISBN 0-471-98464-7 Online ISBN 0-470-84153-2 9 Survival in the Information Jungle People always overestimate what will be possible in the next two years . . . and underestimate what will be possible in the next ten H. G. Wells Anyone reaching this part of the book will have picked up a lot of information about new network technologies and the role they promise to play in the information age. There are yet more facts and detailed analyses to follow in the appendixes. But what are the key messages that emerge To complete our story of the information revolution let us consider what it till means to you. This is not an easy brief. Even with the benefit of hindsight it by no means straightforward to make sense of the current situation. Predicting future evolution is inherently uncertain and something that we will dwell on only briefly. Ideas of teleprescence and virtual reality make for intriguing reading and beguiling pictures but they do not help much in planning the evolution of a network. Bearing in mind the need to make sense of the information already available and that the future will not be forged by technology alone file final part of this book is about converging not diverging ideas. We now aim to focus on the road ahead rather than the scenery along the way. THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME So far we have tried to concentra te on fact and to put firat fact in to context. This is not enough on its own though. A catalogue of what is possible n w is of little value and some sort of informed prediction is necessary especially in 200 SURVIVAL IN THE INFORMATION JUNGLE such a fast moving area. One of the most difficult aspects of planning is ensuring that items are available when they are needed even though 1 that need is some way down the track. The predictive element of this book has veered towards the low risk but .
