Satellites in the National Information Infrastructure

The public discussion on the National Information Infrastructure (NII) has been wide ranging and lacking in consensus as to the nature of the proposed NII itself. This paper in acknowledgement of the national policy origins of the NII debate begins with relevant remarks by President Clinton in his State of the Union Address. It defines an initial working definition of the NII based on the President’s challenge. It then provides some clarification to the discussion in terms of planning horizon, subscriber transport services and transport media. The working definition is further developed to incorporate the type of traffic the NII will be expected to support following a discussion of an emerging desktop computing imperative. From this implications are drawn as to the feasibility of the so called fiber solution and an argument made that in the evolution of the current infrastructure to the future NII satellites offer the best solution for a timely manifestation of the vision.