Although communications, computers, and broadcasting progressed independently of one another, they have been integrated more and more asdigital technology has been advanced dramatically. Above all, communications and computers have been integrated at a very fast rate.
In the field of computer communications, the market has been growing rapidly in the form of LAN. Each LAN has equivalent functions to those ofa small telephone office. Since LANs have come to be interconnected, the market is expected to grow considerably even in the future separatelyfrom the telephone market.
A typical computer communication network based on LANs is the Internet. Started as a network for scientific purposes, the Internet has expanded explosively and has been shifting to a commercial network at a high pace.
The approach to the real "multimedia age" will be based on computer communications typical of the Internet.
