Date: Fri, 02 Oct 1992  20:27:04 EDT
From: FZC@CU.NIH.GOV
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: 13 Firms Plan Multimedia Consortium
Reply-To: TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM
Organization: TELECOM Digest
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 756, Message 1 of 8

13 Firms Plan Multimedia Consortium

By John Burgess, Washington Post Staff Writer
{Washington Post} October 1, 1992, Pg D13

   A diverse group of 13 U.S. technology companies plans to announce
next week that the firms will work together to bring to American homes
an array of new electronic services, including movies on demand,
electronic newspapers, picture telephones and others, according to
industry sources.

   The "First Cities" consortium will bring together such companies as
Apple Computer Inc., Eastman Kodak Co. and Corning Inc., under the
auspices of the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corp., a
computer industry group in Austin, Tex., that operates with the
approval of the U.S. Government.

   The joint effort reflects heightened momentum toward a merger of
disparate computer, entertainment and communications technologies into
a new form of sound-and-sight service known broadly as "multimedia."

   The 13 companies plan to study jointly the technological barriers
that continue to block such services and to examine what types of
services Americans want and how much they are willing to pay for them.

   "It's a classic chicken versus egg problem," said Tim Regan, vice
president and director of public policy for Corning.  "We don't know
what services will develop until we build the network itself."

   Though some sources described the venture as being limited to
research, Regan said the long-term goal is to wire about 200,000 homes
in 10 to 20 American cities as a test.  The homes would be connected
so that residents served by the network could communicate with each
other in radical new ways.  For example, they might be able to
transmit exceedingly sharp color photographs of their families.

   For years, visionaries have talked of an era in which every
American home would be equipped to receive a wide range of video,
education and shopping services.  TV sets, computers and telephones
would merge into one unit that might be connected to the electronic
services by a fiber-optic cable into the home.

   Individuals would "interact" with the system by pressing buttons on
a hand-held control device.

   But before they invest in the services, companies want a better
understanding of the problems that remain.  For example, most homes
are now equipped only with copper phone lines or a television cable
capable of receiving a few dozen channels -- not sufficient for
handling two-way transmissions of huge amounts of data of the kind
envisioned in the future.

   Many feel that for the market to take off, the country must have a
new communications network capable of opening a video circuit between
any given point and another -- just as today's telephone network does
for calls.

   Highly complex software also will be needed to control and manage
new networks capable of carrying large amounts of digital data.

   Telephone companies such as GTE Corp. already are conducting
experiments with early versions of "video on demand."

   Regan said the consortium hopes to create common technical
standards to make for ease of use by customers.  But questions remain
about whether Americans will want these services.

   Many Americans are still intimidated by computers, but optimists
note that companies such as CompuServe and Prodigy have made inroads
into American homes by providing on-line information services.

   International Business Machines Corp. wants to set up a nationwide
system that would use cable TV lines, and is discussing this
possibility with the nation's largest cable operators, including Time
Warner Inc. and Tele-Communications Inc., industry executives have
said.

   Kodak views an interactive communications system as a way to send
photos around the country.  Apple is developing hand-held "information
appliances" that may be linked to a communications network, according
to the Associated Press.  Corning is the world's largest maker of
fiber-optic cable.

Staff writer Paul Farhi contributed to this report.