1 Telecommunications Evolution Timeline

Telecommunications Evolution Timeline Roger Chung NTC/362 February 11, 2013 E. Rufus Rogers

2 Telecommunications Evolution Timeline

Telecommunications Evolution Timeline

The history of communication dates back to 1200 BC when Homer talks about signaling fires in the Iliad. Communications has evolved over hundreds of years from carrier pigeons to phones to the internet. Thousands of technical advancements throughout history have helped develop the way we communicate today and some will be mentioned in this paper. Telegraph Samuel Morse developed and revolutionized long distance communication with the invention of Morse Code in the early 1830s and 1840s. Electric signals were transmitted over a wire laid between stations. The code was assigned a set of dots and dashes to represent each letter of the alphabet. Morse sent his first telegraph message in 1844 from Washington D.C to Baltimore Maryland. Alexander Graham Bell At the age of 29, Alexander Graham Bell invented the first telephone in 1876. In 1877, he formed the Bell Telephone Company. After the telephone, Bell had invented the photo phone which would allow sound to be transmitted on a beam of light. In 1881, he was successful in doing so with his assistant. Bells invention of the photo phone reveals the principle of which todays laser and fiber optic communication systems are founded. AT&T Corp Originally American Telephone and Telegraph Company, was at times the world largest telephone company, worlds largest cable television operator, and a regulated monopoly. AT&T

3 Telecommunications Evolution Timeline

started as the Bell Patent Association, a legal entity established in 1874 to protect the patent rights of Alexander Graham Bell after his invention of the telephone. FCC The FCC was created after the Communications Act of 1934 because there need to be a better way of determining who got to use what radio bands and for what purposes. The Radio Act 1912 was the first attempt to make a more legislative oversight to the radio industry and whoever wanted to transmit over radio had to do so by obtaining government issued permission in the form of a license. FCC took over and changed many characteristics of the FRC, but with the same goal of reducing interference. Early Networks During the 1960s, the government was asking computer vendors to develop some software and hardware so that computers could communicate with each other and share information. The government was using many mainframe and mini computers in many agencies at the time. Department of Defense was encouraging vendors to develop standards so that the Government, Educational, Research, and DOD computers could all communicate using existing phone lines. A program called ARPNET (advanced research project agency network) protected information flow between military installations by creating a network of geographically separated computers that could exchange information in 1969. ARPNET is considered the grandfather to the internet. This is when TCP/IP was established. It is now the standard for transmitting data over networks. Wi-Fi

4 Telecommunications Evolution Timeline

Wi-Fi was invented back in 1991 by NCR Corporation/AT&T. Wi-Fi was originally meant to be used with cahier systems with speeds of 1Mbps/2Mbps. Vic Hayes is the inventor of Wi-Fi and other standards such as IEEE 802.11b, 802.11a, and 802.11g. Wi-Fi uses unlicensed radio spectrum and does not require regulatory approval. WWW. In 1992, the World Wide Web is launched. Tim Berners-Lee is an independent

contractor for CERN, who built ENQUIRE. It was a personal database of people and software models, but also a way to play with hypertext. He wanted a way for physicists around the globe to share data with no common machines or presentation software. In 1990, Berners-Lee had everything he needed to start the web. He had in play the HTTP, HTML, web browser, first HTTP server software, first web server, and the first web page to describe the whole project. Telecommunications Act of 1996 12 years after the breakup of AT&T, the Telecommunications Act of 1996 attempts to move all telecommunication markets toward competition. The Act envisions competition in all telecommunications markets, both in the markets for the various elements that comprise the telecommunications network, as well as for the final services the network creates. Building on the experience of the long distance market, which was transformed from a monopoly to an effectively competitive market over the last 12 years, the Act attempts to promote competition in the hitherto monopolized local exchange markets. The Act recognizes the telecommunications network as a network of interconnected networks (Economides, 1998).

5 Telecommunications Evolution Timeline

References Economides, N. (1998). The Telecommunications Act of 1996 and its Impact. Retrieved from http://www.stern.nyu.edu/networks/telco96.html Schilling, J. (2007). WiFi. What is it?. Retrieved from

http://www.wilcorpinc.com/wifi_history.htm von Alven, W. (1998). Bill's 200-Year Condensed History of Telecommunications. Retrieved from http://www.cclab.com/billhist.htm