Gigabit ethernet is making progress. A 1000Base-T proposal will allow 1000 Mbps on standard four twisted pair copper up to 100 meters. Lucent Technologies introduced an Internet telephone server system, which uses regular phones and fax machines and routes the traffic via the net. Some ISPs may diversify and sell voice calls. Ascend Communications agreed to purchase Cascade Communications, a fitting combination of networking technologies.
All optical networks are on the horizon.
Check out Ciena's MultiWave 1600, allowing a monomode fiber bandwidth increase from 2.488 Gbps to 39.81 Gbps. Old TDM cuts off at about 2.488 due to the limited silicon switching speed. Electrons are heavy and slow compared to photons. Optional fiber downlink modules are available as well. Cisco purchased Telesend, an ISDL equipment manufacturer.