evices capable of pictures, sound and text creation, transmission, and reception represent threats to the telephone company unwilling to respond to change as much as they do the broadcaster. All of a sudden, the newspaper has an equal opportunity for the valuable eyes and ears of consumers of news and information. In summary, the Internet is a new transmission path, a new threat, and another less expensive and more ubiquitous way of gathering or sourcing content. SATELLITE SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGY A background summary on communications wouldn't be complete without including satellite systems and technology, another unique segment of the field. The global satellite system today has evolved over more than 40 years. Satellite services are grouped into fixed satellite service (FSS) and broadcast satellite service (BSS) by the ITU. The more common informal reference for the BSS is DBS, mean- ing direct broadcast service. In addition to communications, satellite systems and technology provide vital weather information, mapping, location information through the global positioning system, plus many valuable services to the military. The current DBS system is conceptually very similar to one Arthur C. Clarke described in an article³ written in the fall of 1945 for Wireless World. In this article, he foresaw 24-hour manned satellites being used to distribute television programs. Despite a repeated version 2 INTERNET AND TELECOM: A BRIEF HISTORY of the concept in another publication, The Exploration of Space4 written in the early 1950s, the idea never gained much interest or attention. John Pierce of AT&T Bell Labs is credited with being the first to take serious technical and financial interest in the idea. Pierce elaborated on the basic idea to the extent that the space-based platforms would perform much like a mirror and be located in medium and 24-hour orbits. He estimated the capacity of the satellite to be equivalent to 1000 simultaneous telephone calls and comparing it to the first trans- Atlantic telephone cable with 