Reborn Tech Maniac

Chapter 644 Hoarding Technology to Prepare for the Internet Era

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"This set of equipment with many functions is worth the money. For example, switching back and forth between programs and advertisements in the future, and even the process of broadcasting programs 24 hours a day, can also be many times more intelligent. The power of digitalization It really is extraordinary.”

Looking at the various functions demonstrated by the DVO-1 system, Ted Turner sighed in admiration: "You are forcing the entire radio and television industry to engage in an arms race. The opening of the Goodwill Games is just a few months away."

The old god Tang Huan smiled on the ground, "Then you have to arrange for manpower to receive training quickly. No matter how advanced my tools are, I still need your operators to be of good quality."

Ted Turner nodded slightly, then changed the topic and said: "You can't always look at the results of your high-tech continuous marching into the traditional broadcasting and television fields. You promised me that the technology of marrying cable TV networks and high-tech is It's time to show up."

"I knew you were impatient." Tang Huan laughed, and then made a gesture, signaling the other party and himself to visit the office on the upper floor.

Ted Turner's "cable TV network and high-tech marriage technology" is naturally the technology of using cable TV two-way coaxial cable to provide Internet-related application services, that is, the well-known CableModem in time and space—cable modem .

Its basic principle is to designate an uplink frequency for Internet upload data, while Internet download data takes up one or more TV channel bandwidths.

The practice of using cable TV networks to provide computer network functions appeared in the late 1970s. Government agencies such as the Lyndon Johnson Space Center in Houston and the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington deployed experimental networks with speeds reaching Got 307.2kbps.

Compared with the common speed of 300bps in the dial-up mode of the traditional public telephone network at that time, this indicator can only be described as looking up.Even Pacific Telecom, which is currently at the forefront in the Internet field, can only provide network access speeds of 1200bps, 2400bps, and 4800bps, and there is a gap of hundreds of times between the two.

However, there is still a long way to go before the experimental network can truly enter the field of commercial applications. The influence of this practical result is far less than that of the predecessor of the Internet - ARPANET.

By 1985, that is, last year, the IEEE802 Committee of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers defined a standard - 10BROAD36, which was used to standardize the establishment of a 10M Ethernet on the coaxial cable of the cable TV network, and there was little commercial progress.

Tang Huan naturally has his own pace of technological advancement, and there is no need to follow these institutions to explore by feeling the stones across the river.

The reason why the current Internet has no way to speed up is that the underlying architecture is many times more complex than a local area network such as Ethernet; while traditional public telephone networks and cable television networks use their own network resources to provide Internet services, further increasing the complexity of it.

Fundamentally speaking, put the perspective at the extreme microcosm—the physical lines and the signal streams transmitted on them, they are undergoing various encoding and decoding conversions every moment, which is also the ultimate meaning of IT technology.Whether it is mechanical, electromechanical, electronic, or photoelectric and quantum computers that are still in the science fiction stage, the tools are different. Their evolution is only to provide faster efficiency and convert such mathematical encoding and decoding. .

These encoding and decoding schemes are software achievements, and can be derived as long as the intellectual resources are sufficient; but the computing devices that convert these encoding and decoding are subject to the objective level of hardware development.

Similar to Tang Huan's research center has launched a flash memory product, but at this stage it can only be used simply for solidified program storage such as boards and cards. It is also very difficult to accumulate a solid state drive at any cost, because there is no available A main controller with sufficient computing power to match.

The same is true of the current Internet. The encoding and decoding algorithms and the computing power of the signal processor in various schemes restrict each other, and researchers cannot find an optimal solution.

Tang Huan is different. He is born with a holistic view. From the successful Data-Over-CableServiceInterfaceSpecifications after decades of time and space——DOCSIS backward push, he knows how to find a solution now. .

In the era when DOCSIS was popular, the cable TV network basically developed to the stage of Hybridfiber-coaxial—HFC network.

It consists of three parts: the optical fiber trunk line, the coaxial cable branch line and the user distribution network: the program signal from the cable TV station is first transformed into an optical signal and transmitted on the trunk line; after reaching the user area, the optical signal is converted into an electrical signal, After being distributed by the distributor, it is sent to the user through the coaxial cable.

Now, although the application of optical fiber technology has begun to get great attention, the cable TV network is still in the stage of CableTelevision——CATV, that is, the trunk line is also served by coaxial cables.

In this way, first of all, the electrical-optical signal conversion from the TV station on the HFC to the optical fiber trunk line, and the optical-electrical signal conversion after entering the user area are unnecessary, and the difficulty has been greatly reduced.

After such a layer-by-layer decomposition, throwing away QualityofService-quality of service is QoS, VoiceoverIP-Internet protocol communication technology is VoIP, data encryption and decryption, network security and other features that are temporarily unused or can be considered later, Tang Huan finally got his own set of CableModem—a cable modem Internet service technology solution that meets the current objective conditions.

The reason why Tang Huan is willing to spend more than one billion dollars to help Ted Turner acquire Metropolitan Media's cable TV network is not only to let his power enter the media field, but also to marry Hollywood's entertainment industry and the media industry. Cable television networks are capable of providing Internet access.

You know, in the original time and space, after another ten years or so, CableModem forced telecom companies to vigorously promote ADSL technology to compete and become a major Internet access service method.

This shows how much potential it has.

Ted Turner, who once visited the Cupertino R&D Center in Silicon Valley, was also fooled by Tang Huan about such prospects, and the pace of expanding the cable TV network of Turner Broadcasting Company was so close to madness.

"What is the network access speed that your CableModem can provide now?" Although Ted Turner doesn't know much about high technology, he still knows some important indicators well.

"Under the current version 1.0 technical standard specification, CableModem can theoretically provide a network access speed of 320kbps." Seeing that Ted Turner's eyes seemed to glow green when he heard this answer, Tang Huan hurriedly Further emphasizing: "Note, this is just theory."

"The reality is smaller than the theory. Is it enough to drop from hundreds to tens? And the speed that the public telephone network controlled by telecom operators can achieve is still in the single digits." Excited Ted Turner, It is logical to infer.

"You're really right. My plan is that in the first phase, the network access speed for individual users will be 14.4kbps, and it will be higher for commercial users." Tang Huan nodded, "Excessive speed, There are more stringent performance requirements for various hardware including the core component signal processor; in addition, compared with the current network service content, too fast speed is also a waste. Symbolically, the CableModem When the network access speed reaches the double-digit mark, it has already achieved enough shocking effect in the market. Providing users with terminal equipment at an acceptable price is the first factor that needs to be considered first.”

While listening to Tang Huan's introduction, Ted Turner operated it himself. On the fourth-generation Fangyuan personal computer connected to the AOL server through CableModem, he quickly received an e-mail with rich pictures and texts, and even contained A musical greeting card, so happy that he couldn't help but scratch his head.

"You're going to Germany to participate in the Hannover Messe this time, probably because you plan to sell these products to European countries?" Ted Turner, who was happily enjoying the "high-speed network", asked casually.

"Of course." Tang Huan nodded without hesitation, "It's just that, compared to the simple application of the DVO-1 system, CableModem is a bit complicated. After all, the TV system in Europe is different from that in North America. has its own definition of usage, and they are used to differing from the US."

Ted Turner put down the mouse, and looked at Tang Huan with a half-smile, "I believe that with your shrewdness, you have already woven a tight network of intellectual property rights. corresponding benefits in exchange."

"When doing business at the national level, you must know how to measure, know how to advance and retreat, and don't push too hard." Tang Huan laughed.

"Since you have provided CableModem, a high-speed Internet connection technology solution for the cable TV network, have you operated a new "high-speed" R&D achievement on the telecom network in addition to the original dial-up Internet access?" Ted Turtle Nana asked tentatively.

"Actually, before AT&T was dismantled, the public telephone network built in the United States was definitely the best in the world in terms of quality, and Europe and Japan couldn't be compared at all. Therefore, the speed of dial-up Internet access will not be far away. It is no problem to reach CableModem’s current 14.4kbps, and it is even possible to double it to 28.8kbps, or even a higher 56kbps. Of course, this requires a more complex upgrade of the communication protocol.”

Tang Huan's addition made Ted Turner gasp, and he couldn't help worrying about the growth of CableModem. Fortunately, the other party's next turning point made him breathe a sigh of relief.

"However, 56kbps has reached the technical limit of dial-up Internet access. Therefore, I did look for a new solution called Digital Subscriber Line-Digital Subscriber Line or DSL, to continue the existing huge public telephone network in the Internet age. Life."

"Just one thing, the encoding and decoding operations involved require more complex calculations than CableModem, and it is only suitable for demonstration in the laboratory for the time being. It is good to wait for key components such as signal processors to further improve the data throughput capability. Go to market."

"So, CableModem doesn't need to worry. I will face strong competitors when I was born, and there is still plenty of room for growth."

Ted Turner still asked: "Then you go to the Hannover Messe this time, will you also show this technology?"

"You don't want me to stop issuing DSL temporarily, do you? I'm afraid that won't work." Tang Huan shook his head apologetically, "First of all, we are not the only ones conducting research in this field, such as Bell Labs, an old technology cradle. , We will definitely not be idle. After we have decisive research results on key technologies of great significance, we must not only quickly launch patent protection, but also speak out in a timely manner to let the public know its ownership."

"Secondly, it also involves the technological dispute between the present and the future."

"Maybe you have heard that Europe is planning to implement a brand new telephone network Integrated Services Digital Network - Integrated Services Digital Network or ISDN."

"Different from the 'analog lines' of the traditional public telephone network, ISDN completely uses digital circuits with only two states of 0 and 1, so it is not as sensitive to interference as analog lines, and can provide stable data services and connection speeds , and it is relatively easy to carry out more digital information services for which analog lines cannot or are difficult to guarantee quality, such as video, image, fax, video conferencing, distance learning, personal computer communication and data services other than the basic function of making calls wait."

"In this regard, Germany is the most active and the fastest to act."

"As a result, the traditional telephone network was seen as numbered by uninformed investors, and even Pacific Telecom was deeply affected by this pessimism."

"I went to Germany this time to use DSL to hit Europe. Your technical direction may not be the best."

"You're clearly going to someone else's territory to make trouble." Ted Turner muttered to himself with his eyes straightened.

(End of this chapter)