by John S. Mayo

About the author: John S. Mayo served as president of American Telephone & Telegraph’s (AT&T) Bell Laboratories from 1991 until his retirement in 1995.

It’s clear that the key underlying information technologies are the prime drivers and the key enablers behind the emerging multimedia communications revolution and the evolution of information superhighways—as well as a host of other advances that together are changing the way we live, work, play, travel and communicate. Because these key information technologies are changing the work and home environments, these same technologies are helping to address customer needs. The more they can do, the more new products and services the customer wants. It has been an upward spiral that has lasted over three decades, and will surely last at least one or two decades more.

What...