ion network will be host to a new set of applications-not just to simple voice or text-based data but also to new genres of applications that combine the various media types. The ability to handle digital entertainment applications in a network is crucial. In some parts of the world, such as Asia, education may have the primary focus, and that should tell us where we can expect greater success going forward. But throughout much of the world, entertainment is where people are willing to spend the limited amount of money they have for electronic goods and services. The dig- ital entertainment realm increasingly includes video editing, digital content cre- ation, digital imaging, three-dimensional gaming, and virtual reality applications, and all these will drive the evolution of the network. It's the chicken-and-the-egg story: What comes first, the network or the applications? Why would you want a fiber-optic broadband connection if there's nothing good to draw over that connec- tion? Why would you want to create a three-dimensional virtual reality application when there's no way to distribute it? The bottom line is that the applications and the infrastructures have to evolve hand in hand to manifest the benefits and the money we associate with their future. Another form of application that will be increasingly important is in the realm of streaming media. A great focus is put on the real-time delivery of information, as in entertainment, education, training, customer presentations, IPO trade shows, and telemedicine consultations. (Streaming media is discussed in detail in Chapter 9, "IP Services.") E-commerce (electronic commerce) and m-commerce (mobile commerce) introduce several new requirements for content management, transaction plat- forms, and privacy and security tools, so they affect the types of information that have to be encoded into the basic data stream and how the network deals with knowledge of what's contained within those packets. (Security is discussed in detail in Chapter 9.) ICT Trends Driving 