Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
than 138,000 employees working in over 80 countries worldwide. The Studios foster a
high degree of communication and collaboration without requiring members of a team
to physically travel to meet. Use of this telecommunications technology is credited with
helping P&G to bring its products to market faster and compete more effectively. Aflac,
BT, McKesson, SAP, Verizon, and more than 100 other Cisco customers are also
experimenting with the use of this technology.
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Home appliance manufacturers are adding telecommunications capabilities to their
products to make them more appealing and useful. Whirlpool is testing the concept of
making refrigerators a central information hub by providing removable digital photo
frames capable of displaying digital images and providing news and weather updates with
its most advanced models. Future plans call for refrigerators that can play music from
MP3 players or satellite radios. Not to be outdone, LG Electronics plans to offer
refrigerators with a 15-inch LCD HDTV for TV and video playback.
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Thousands of companies are employing Webcasts to inform and educate potential
customers about their products and services.
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High technology companies such as Boeing use a wide range of telecommunications
technologies to support their business and collaborate with people from inside and outside
the company. Boeing has created the LabNet to connect the various Boeing Labs and
customers that test concepts and features under development. The LabNet enables all
participants to visualize live, simulated, and computer-generated fighter jets as they
demonstrate their performance under various test scenarios.
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Telecommunications refers to the electronic transmission of signals for communications, by
means such as telephone, radio, and television. Telecommunications is creating profound
changes in business because it lessens the barriers of time and distance. Advances in telecom-
munications technology allow us to communicate rapidly with business partners, clients, and
coworkers almost anywhere in the world. Telecommunications also reduces the amount of
time needed to transmit information that can drive and conclude business actions. Telecom-
munications not only is changing the way organizations operate, but the nature of commerce
itself. As networks connect to one another and transmit information more freely, a compet-
itive marketplace demands excellent quality and service from all organizations.
Figure 6.1 shows a general model of telecommunications. The model starts with a
sending unit (1) such as a person, a computer system, a terminal, or another device that
originates the message. The sending unit transmits a signal (2) to a telecommunications
device (3). The telecommunications device—a hardware component that facilitates elec-
tronic communication—performs many tasks, which can include converting the signal into
a different form or from one type to another. The telecommunications device then sends the
signal through a medium (4). A
telecommunications medium
is any material substance that
carries an electronic signal to support communications between a sending and receiving
device. Another telecommunications device (5) connected to the receiving device (6) receives
the signal. The process can be reversed, and the receiving unit (6) can send a message to the
original sending unit (1). An important characteristic of telecommunications is the speed at
which information is transmitted, which is measured in bits per second (bps). Common
speeds are in the range of thousands of bits per second (Kbps) to millions of bits per second
(Mbps) and even billions of bits per second (Gbps).
A
telecommunications protocol
defines the set of rules that governs the exchange of
information over a communications medium. The goal is to ensure fast, efficient, error-free
communications and to enable hardware, software, and equipment manufacturers and service
providers to build products that interoperate effectively. The
Institute of Electrical and Elec-
tronics Engineers (IEEE)
is a leading standards-setting organization whose IEEE 802 network
standards are the basis for many telecommunications devices and services. The
International
Telecommunication Union (ITU)
is a specialized agency of the United Nations with
telecommunications medium
Any material substance that carries
an electronic signal and serves as
an interface between a sending
device and a receiving device.
telecommunications protocol
A set of rules that governs the
exchange of information over a com-
munications medium.
