By Robert V .C. Dickinson, AM Cable TV Industries, Inc.
Transmission of non-entertainment services on CATV facilities has been the theme of numerous "weary prophets" for the last two decades. Although many steps have been taken in this direction, non-entertainment services have not become significant generators of additional cable system revenue. This is not to say that nothing has been done, but simply that the healthy business which was predicted and hoped for has never developed. During this time, however, a whole new segment of communications has evolved within the commercial, industrial and institutional sectors, becoming what we now know as "local area networks", utilizing baseband, broadband and fiber optic transmission media.
We shall briefly examine the development of local area networks and focus upon the kinship of broadband LANs and cable television technology.