The birth of the Internet and of computer networks in general was fueled by the existence of the telephone network. The acoutic couplers and the modems became the way the masses got connected to a common network. However, that transformation is now long gone. The Internet has become ubiquitous. The driving need for people to communicate is what caused the formation of the PSTN network. The existence of the PSTN network fueled the growth of the data network. But now, this are going the other way. The PSTN network is slowly giving way and the data network is becoming more pervasive. In the early days, data rode on the voice network. Now, with the emergence of Skype and services like Vonage it is voice that is riding on data. My own company has developed a conferencing switch which is oblivious to whether the end-points connecting to it are traditional phone, bundled phone (T1) or IP. VoIP is finally here and it is here to stay.

In my previous post, I talked about the latest Supreme Court ruling being a slippery slope. And I was afraid of what would happen if Bush got to choose another justice for the supreme court. Unfortunately, with Sandra Day O’Connor resigning that is what is going to happen. I heard Justice O’Connor at the commencement speech at Stanford last year and was very impressed. Sorry to see her leave and even more sorry at the realization that the current POTUS is probably going to choose yet another conservative to the open position in the Supreme Court.