The Digital Connection
1996; American Institute of Certified Public Accountants; Volume: 181; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0021-8448
Autores Tópico(s)Mobile Agent-Based Network Management
ResumoThe gain and pain of adding an ISDN digital phone system. Scenario 1: You click on your Internet icon. Your computer dials the phone number and after a few rings that telltale hiss indicates your computer is attempting to handshake (connect) with the Internet provider's computer. If all goes well, your password will be accepted and the connection will be completed in about a minute. Then you click on your favorite Web page, initiate a search or seek to download your waiting e-mail. The minutes drag on as your commands pass onto the Internet and you wait until the requested data dribble through the phone lines, get converted by your modem and then, finally, your screen fills with the information you want. Scenario 2: You click on your Internet icon. Instant dialing. No hiss. Within five seconds your password is approved and you're connected. Call up the Web page of your choice or click to retrieve your e-mail and your data flash on the screen swiftly. What's the difference between scenarios 1 and 2? Four little letters: ISDN, which stand for integrated services digital network. The key word is digital. Your regular phone is an analog instrument, which is slower (even when you use the fastest commercial modem) and more susceptible to electronic noise and transmission errors than a digital instrument. Further, analog phones and digital computers are inherently incompatible, which is why a modem is needed to convert the computer's digital signals into analog code so information can be transmitted over the phone lines. When the message gets to the computer at the other end, it must be converted back to be understood by the computer. With ISDN, your messages remain digital during the entire circuit. The fastest analog modems work at 28.8 kilobits per second (kbps), or about a page of text every second. With ISDN, data move an order of magnitude faster--128 kbps. Clearly, then, it makes sense for accountants who do much data transmission--either via the Internet or between satellite offices and clients' remote locations--to consider adding an ISDN phone line to their communications systems. * What will you gain with ISDN? * A single ISDN line typically can simultaneously handle two data channels and one voice channel. So, not only can you send and receive data at the same time, you also can use the same line for voice communications during those transmissions. * Because the data remain in digital mode, there are virtually no errors caused either by noise on the line or by the conversion from digital to analog and back again. That saves the extra step of checking data integrity, which is necessary when using regular analog lines. A BUSY SIGNAL Although ISDN has been around for about a decade, until recently only the communications cognoscenti knew about it because, for reasons best known by the phone companies, ISDN was never actively promoted. Thus, only a handful of big businesses with communications experts on their staffs knew enough to install it. But in the last few months, the ISDN picture has changed. In part because of the long, frustrating delays when using the Internet and a growing interest in cyberspace commerce, more phone customers are seeking the digital connection. While some telephone utilities have responded by beefing up their efforts to promote ISDN, little comparable effort has been made to prepare their technical staffs. As a result, the wait for an ISDN line can range from weeks to months--and in some locations the service is still not available. Worse, often the phone company installers concede they know little about the new technology, and the horror stories told by many customers provide ample evidence of that problem. To be sure, some phone companies are stepping up training for the special installations, but their efforts have yet to match customer demands. Considering the obstacles, why should accountants consider installing a digital line--especially if cyberspace commerce and the Internet are not high on their business priorities? …
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