Hello all!
WE continue to examine the Info Superhighway and more importantly the Big Picture. Exactly how does that data get to us? Who are the movers and shakers in the industry? Yes the Info Providers provide the service, but in order for them to do so they must use as we are learning of late Common Carriers and other sources. We continue this week a follow of last week's lessons on Cable Systems. As we focus on the Operators.
The Cable Industry show the wide use of Fibeoptics. Statistics show that more than 10 percent of Cable plant lines consist of Fiber. The Regional Hubs (large buildings storing the equipment used) are the the key to provding service to multiple subscribers. Smaller headends link to the Regional Hub via the fiberoptic lines. Regional Hubs have that wherewithal to cover city,states and regions.
The Cabel Industry as mentioned in previous lessons, in order ot be most effective must use the best methods to transfer data. This method is digital conversion and compression. Via compression, ten analog signals can be converted to occupy the space taken by one. As mentioned in previous lessons in most technologies there are leaders. In this one the leader is Tele-Communications Inc, (TCI). Theirs ia a one hundred million, seventy thousand square foot facility. It is called the National Digital Television Center. This center handles the task of compressing Television and sound into a digital format that can then be sent to the headends and cable sites, ultimately coming into our homes via direct broadcast satellite (DBS). The little Cable Box sitting on our T.V.'s handles the conversion of the compressed digital data to the audible and visible information displayed on our screens. These little boxes handle the "on demand" choices of the consumer to choose watch that long awaited Holmes-Tyson fight at whatever specified time and allow the billing tracking so that the you will be billed on your regular Cable Bill. That a lot for a littel box .`
Expect more the the "little boxes". They may soon handle many tasks now handled by our PC's. The idea is not far fetched as we can not have in the corner of our PC Monitor a television show or similar.
We conclude another Lesson. Hoping your Cyber-Travels are good ones!
These lessons are a Holman's World Project. They can be found in their entirety via:
http://www.holmans-world.com/lessons.html
ftp to www.holmans-world.com's
http://www.holmans-world.com/files/lessons directory.
Our Tip of the Week
Where do you go online via the Internet for Movie Reviews?
Answer.
FTP
Where?
ftp lcs.mit.edu
Directory?
cd /common/movie-reviews
Is there a Macintosh Archive of Info?
Answer
Yes!
Where?
ftp mac.archive.umich.edu
Enjoy!