The Future of the Internet
Just as the internet revolutionized how the world accessed information and communicated through the 1990's, the ongoing development in speed, bandwidth, and functionality will continue to cause fundamental changes to how our world operates for decades to come. Some of the major trends shaping the future of the Internet are summarized below, along with extrapolated predictions: * Globalism. The future of the Internet global distribution of information and knowledge at lower and lower cost will continue to lift the world community for generations to come. People will have access to any information they wish, get smarter sooner, and be more aware of the world outside their local environment.

* Virtual reality. The future of the Internet technological revolution will continue to be made in man's image. Experiments with wide area voice and video communications on the Internet began to be held in the early 1990's. Voice over IP (VOIP) began to be used regularly for long distance voice communications in 2002. Internet video phones won't be far behind. With the continued doubling of computer capability every couple of years, the ability of technology to process the complex analog environment that humans live in -- "reality" -- will continue to increase, and will be increasingly integrated with the Internet.

Three dimensional graphics (3D) will become more sophisticated, and virtual reality interfaces such as viewers and tactile feedback systems will become more realistic. The technology will be applied to innovative ways to navigate the Internet's information universe, for hyper-realistic gaming, and for group communications. There will come a day when you will be able to have dinner with a group of friends each in a different city, almost as though you were in the same room, although you will all have to bring your own food.

* Bandwidth. The future of the Internet growth in bandwidth availability shows little sign of flattening. Large increases of bandwidth in the 10 Mbps range and up will continue to be deployed to home users through cable, phone, and wireless networks. Cable modems and telephone-based DSL modems will continue to spread high speed Internet throughout populated areas. High resolution audio, video, and virtual reality will be increasingly available online and on demand, and the cost of all kinds of Internet connections will continue to drop. * Wireless. The future of Internet wireless communications is the end-game. Wireless frequencies have two great advantages: (a) there are no infrastructure start-up or maintenance costs other than the base stations, and (b) it frees users to become mobile, taking Internet use from one dimension to three. Wireless Internet networks will offer increasingly faster services at vastly lower costs over wider distances, eventually pushing out physical transmission systems.

* Grids. The future of the Internet grid movement is as inevitable as the spread of the Internet seems now. The connection of thousands of computers on the Internet together to solve problems, often called grid computing, will continue to evolve and change many areas of human endevour. Increasingly used for scientific and engineering research, grids can create processing powerhouses far larger than any one organization by itself. * Integration. The future of the Internet integration with an increasing number of other technologies is as natural as a musician's experimentation with notes. The Internet will become increasingly integrated with phones, televisions, home appliances, portable digital assistants, and a range of other small hardware devices, providing an unprecedented, nearly uniform level of integrated data communications. Users will be able to access, status, and control this connected infrastructure from anywhere on the Internet.