Encyclopedia of Operations Research and Management Science

2001 Edition
| Editors: Saul I. Gass, Carl M. Harris

Communications networks

  • Edward A. Sykes
Reference work entry
First Online:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-0611-X_135
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INTRODUCTION

Communications networks are systems of electronic and optical devices that support information exchange among their subscribers. Examples of communications networks are abundant in everyday life: telephone networks, broadcast and cable television networks, and computer communications networks such as the Internet. The impacts of communications networking on the individual, society and the planet are staggering, rivaling that of the tall ship and the automobile. In just under two centuries, humanity has been transformed from myriad villages and towns isolated in obscure corners of the continents to one “global information village.” This transformation is no more evident than in the fact that the very boundaries between information transfer and information processing are increasingly hard to define. The integration of communications networks, computing technology, and end-user de-vices (e.g., the telephone, television, personal computer) is increasingly being referred to...

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Copyright information

© Kluwer Academic Publishers 2001

Authors and Affiliations

  • Edward A. Sykes
    • 1
  1. 1.Make Systems, Inc.CareyUSA