| Description |
1 online resource (xiv, 322 pages) |
| Contents |
1. Introduction -- The promise of regulation -- Conceptual framework -- 2. The first information revolution -- The development of telegraph services -- The telephone and state regulation -- Radio and federal regulation -- 3. Technological origins of the second information Revolution, 1940-1950 -- Radar -- The transistor -- Electronic digital computers -- 4. The SAGE project -- I. The separate worlds of computers and communications, 1950-1968 -- 5. The early semiconductor industry -- The creation of a competitive market -- Innovation and the integrated circuit -- Falling prices, rising output -- 6. The early commercial computer industry -- Vacuum-tube and transistor computers -- The system/360 and IBM dominance -- Alternatives to IBM computers -- 7. The regulated monopoly telephone industry -- Antitrust and the 1956 consent decree -- Microwave technology and potential long distance competition -- Central office switches -- Terminal equipment -- II. Boundary disputes and limited competition, 1969-1984 -- 8. Data communications -- Packet-switching and the arpanet -- Network protocols and interconnection -- Local area networks and ethernet -- 9. From mainframes to microprocessors -- Intel and the microprocessor -- Personal computers and workstations -- 10. The computer-communications boundary -- Computer-assisted messages: Communications or data processing? -- Smart terminals" Teletypewriters or computers? -- Interconnection of customer-owned equipment with the telephone network -- The deregulation of terminal equipment -- The deregulation of enhanced services -- 11. Fringe competition in long distance telephone service -- Competition in specialized services -- Competition in switched services -- The transition to optical fiber -- 12. Divestiture and access charges -- The divestiture -- Access charges -- The enhanced service provider exemption -- III. Interconnected competition and integrated services, 1985-2002 -- 13. Mobile telephones and spectrum reform -- Early land mobile telephones -- Cellular spectrum allocation -- Cellular licensing problems -- Spectrum instructional reform -- PCS and auctions -- 14. Local competition and the Telecommunications Act of 1996 -- Competitive access providers -- Interconnection: CAP to CLEC -- The Telecommunications Act of 1996 -- Implementation of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 -- 15. The Internet and the World Wide Web -- The commercial Internet and backbone interconnection -- The development of the Web -- The new economy financial boom and bust -- Real growth in telecommunication and price benefits -- 16. Conclusion -- Technological progress and policy evolution -- The process of institutional change -- Final comment |
| Summary |
Thanks to inexpensive computers and data communications, the speed and volume of human communication are exponentially greater than they were even a quarter-century ago. Not since the advent of the telephone and telegraph in the nineteenth century has information technology changed daily life so radically. We are in the midst of what Gerald Brock calls a second information revolution. Brock traces the complex history of this revolution, from its roots in World War II through the bursting bubble of the Internet economy. As he explains, the revolution sprang from an interdependent series of technological advances, entrepreneurial innovations, and changes to public policy. Innovations in radar, computers, and electronic components for defense projects translated into rapid expansion in the private sector, but some opportunities were blocked by regulatory policies. The contentious political effort to accommodate new technology while protecting beneficiaries of the earlier regulated monopoly eventually resulted in a regulatory structure that facilitated the explosive growth in data communications. Brock synthesizes these complex factors into a readable economic history of the wholesale transformation of the way we exchange and process information |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 305-310) and index |
| Notes |
English |
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Print version record |
| Subject |
Telecommunication.
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Information science.
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Electronic information resources.
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Telecommunications
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telecommunications.
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information science.
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BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Industries -- Media & Communications.
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TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING -- Telecommunications.
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BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Economic History.
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Electronic information resources
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Information science
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Telecommunication
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Telecommunicatie.
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Elektronische informatie.
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| Genre/Form |
Electronic information resources.
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| ISBN |
9780674028791 |
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0674028791 |
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9780674011786 |
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0674011783 |
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