Telecommunications Plus ISDN Equals Opportunity Copyright CAUSE 1994. This paper was presented at the 1993 CAUSE Annual Conference held in San Diego, California, December 7-10, and is part of the conference proceedings published by CAUSE. Permission to copy or disseminate all or part of this material is granted provided that the copies are not made or distributed for commercial advantage, that the CAUSE copyright notice and the title and authors of the publication and its date appear, and that notice is given that copying is by permission of CAUSE, the association for managing and using information technology in higher education. To copy or disseminate otherwise, or to republish in any form, requires written permission from CAUSE. For further information: CAUSE, 4840 Pearl East Circle, Suite 302E, Boulder, CO 80301; 303449-4430; e-mail info@cause.colorado.edu TELECOMMUNICATIONS + ISDN = OPPORTUNITY CAUSE 93 by Arthur S. Gloster II Vice President for Information Systems California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, California and James L. Strom Vice Chancellor University Advancement Appalachian State University Boone, North Carolina Abstract On-campus connectivity is important to the daily operation of the institution. We can expect the speed and access requirements to have continued growth. As we look outside of the university, we see opportunities of significant proportions for an institution's infrastructure. Appalachian State University and Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo have used the campus infrastructure to provide opportunities to their institutions by connecting K-12 public schools and off-campus student housing through the use of narrow band ISDN. Corporate partnerships were instrumental in these installations, but operating expenses are now a part of ongoing budgets. The campus organizations have been flexible in accommodating these external networks and systems. Cal Poly has primarily data applications but has recently added distance learning and other functions, while Appalachian has interactive video, voice, multimedia and data. If you are thinking about external connectivity, networks and systems, these are both proven components of existing systems. Technical specifications, costs, development, funding and applications will be discussed. INTRODUCTION Higher education is going through a transition. Some have described the current situation as a revolution. Whatever one calls it, something is happening in higher education. The ground rules are changing, the "business as usual" is being challenged and the methods of funding education are being revisited. Accountability, reengineering, outsourcing are no longer confined to the corporate and business sector and are finding their way into institutions of higher learning. Strategic alliances and business partnerships are no longer found entirely in the corporate sector, they are indeed becoming a way of life at many institutions. What we are seeing is a revolution in education that happens maybe once in a lifetime. Opportunities and challenges abound for those who seize the initiative to expand their horizons, for those who seek a new way to do business. As resources dwindle and competition for those resources increases and the marketplace for our product becomes more aligned with a global perspective, the demands and necessity for change march on undiminished. This paper will describe how two institutions, Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina and California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) in San Luis Obispo, California are approaching this revolution. Both institutions are known for their technical orientation, telecommunication infrastructure and the integration of technology into their educational and administrative processes. The process has not happened quickly, but is the result of visionary CEO's who earlyon saw that education and technology were inextricably bound together in the ultimate success of the institutions. They recognized that the world was changing and positioned their institutions to change appropriately. It was at times arduous journey, but as will be shown, a successful one. CURRENT CAMPUS INFRASTRUCTURE Appalachian State University Appalachian State University has a 13 year old coaxial cable system which is nearing the end of its life cycle and is currently being replaced with a fiber backbone. The new backbone will consist of an inner redundant ring with a series of six hubs around the campus. The campus buildings are being serviced with stars off each hub. Both single mode and multi mode fiber are being pulled in a 3 to 1 ratio. Class 5 wire is being pulled in all new buildings with fiber being used in specific cases and when justified. ISDN lines are available options on all campus telephones. Ethernet is the center of the communications network and a VAX cluster forms ASU's mainframe. Standard protocols, Internet, LANs, Emails, etc., are standard integral parts of the architecture, as is found at most institutions. What is different at Appalachian is the use of narrowband ISDN initially in the College of Education and ultimately across the campus. Southern Bell installed the ISDN module and software on an existing 5ESS digital switch in the Boone Central office. The AT&T Foundation provided a $775,000 grant of software, computing and telecommunications equipment and the Appalachian State University Foundation purchased the video equipment. To date almost $3 million has been generated from private funds for the project. Vendors in the project who have provided equipment, technical assistance and financial support include CLI, NCR, Combinet and DIGIBOARD. Cal Poly In 1987, Cal Poly signed a long-term contract with Pacific Bell to provide Centrex IS telephone service. Using flexible, least-cost routing and other techniques, Cal Poly was able to reduce long distance costs and reinvest the savings to upgrade its telecommunications infrastructure. One of the first efforts involved replacing the outmoded broadband baseband coax with a new FDDI fiber optic backbone in 1990 supporting campuswide data and video distribution. Like ASU's, the backbone is a redundant, multi-fiber ring with a series of five CISCO hubs or routers servicing 39 core campus buildings and selected residence halls. Wiring in key instructional buildings were upgraded to support ethernet, token ring and Appletalk LANs. With more than 4,000 on-campus connections and 15,000 accounts, Cal Poly's network provides campuswide access to academic and administrative applications on the university's IBM ES/9000-732 mainframe, an IBM RS/6000 cluster running AIX (Unix) for instruction, distributed Unix servers, local and remote on-line library systems and services, instructional databases, E-mails, Internet, Bitnet and other resources. Access to off-campus computing resources is provided by CSUNET, a T1-based systemwide regional network. Many faculty, staff and students take this level of on-campus network connectivity for granted, and want and need the same level of connectivity at home. Older, 1200-baud analog modems used to be sufficient to dial into the campus network, but enhancements in personal computers and application software have rapidly outgrown their capabilities and the capacity of Cal Poly's 150 dial-up modems. In December 1990, Pacific Bell installed an AT&T 5ESS ISDN- equipped switch in its San Luis Obispo office, making ISDN service an option on all campus telephones. ISDN provided not only improved phone services and simultaneous high-speed data transmission, but increased the deliverable bandwidth on campus to 57.6 Kbps. While making current networking needs easier, ISDN also opened the door to a whole new range of applications the university can deliver into homes. As part of a joint study with Pacific Bell and AT&T, Cal Poly installed 250 ISDN lines on campus in faculty and staff offices where direct network access was not feasible, and tested ISDN service in 13 local residences. When the one-year trial ended in 1991, the results were positive and the Cal Poly Residential Information Services Project (CRISP) was born. PROJECT DESCRIPTION Appalachian State University In 1991, BellSouth, Southern Bell and AT&T entered into a 10 year partnership with Appalachian and a seven county public school partnership to integrate telecommunications technology into the educational process using interactive video, voice and data. "Impact North Carolina: 21st Century Education" came online in February 1992 with three ISDN lines to each of the following locations: Blowing Rock Elementary School, Parkway Elementary School and Watauga High School and four lines to the College of Education at Appalachian State University. One line is for data and is tied to a LAN. Another line is connected to a multimedia workstation. The final line is tied to a videoconferencing unit. All of the ISDN lines are dedicated and are currently used in a pointtopoint configuration. There is one spare line at the university site. The four sites have 20 computers in a LAN using NOVELL software. The file servers are connected with an ISDN line and have connectivity with Appalachian State University's Ethernet backbone. This provides project users access to the university's VAX cluster and a full array of resources that are available to the university employees, such as electronic mail, library catalogs and Internet. Software can be shared between sites and has been purchased with this in mind. The data component is the most heavily used portion of the system. The multimedia workstation is used to enhance the data connectivity by providing interactive graphics. Images can be scanned or retrieved from storage and passed between sites. A digitizing tablet allows each site to annotate on the image. This is the second most heavily used portion of the system. The videoconferencing unit has proven to be the culminating portion of the system for the users. After activity has been completed on the data and multimedia portions, video connectivity is generated for users to see and talk with each other. The video uses 112 Kbps for the video signal and 16 Kbps for audio. The total video unit consists of two monitors (one for outgoing pictures and one for incoming pictures), a three chip camera, a document (overhead) camera, an audio system and a remote, wireless control unit. This is a flexible, communications system which is being used to integrate technology into the total education process, as well as provide a communications infrastructure for all users, kindergarten through university faculty. The project is application driven and addresses issues of pre-service, in-service and K12 studies concurrently. ASU has shortened the learning curve and implementation of results by addressing these three areas simultaneously. Pre-service activities include integrating the telecommunications and technology into the curricula of undergraduate and graduate students, student teaching functions and hands on experience in the test bed schools. In-service activities have focused on obtaining a lead teacher at each school who has full release time to conduct training for the teachers at the school. These lead teachers have become the resource to brainstorm with other teachers how to use the equipment and technology in their courses and involve the students. K12 studies have involved the students in cross age, cross discipline, and cross school and university activities and projects. Examples of the types of activities include: an at risk class at high school working with a graduate class at Appalachian to research Appalachian religions; high school math student working with an 8th grade student because he had gone beyond the teachers at the grade school; graduate student teaching a class at the high school; two 4th grade classes at different schools preparing riddles and answering them; and accessing data bases and information and communicating outside the university through Internet. Cal Poly In 1991, Cal Poly began providing ISDN services to staff faculty and students in the Cal Poly Residential Information Services Project (CRISP). This project provided a campus Centrex ISDN line into 13 student, faculty and staff homes initially, a number that has grown to about 60 now. In 1993, CRISP enhanced its services through the use of new customer premise equipment (CPE) providing analog voice service over an ISDN line as well as high-speed data connectivity. As a result, CRISP members now have CPE with an analog phone jack providing up to five ringer equivalents or lines, and a simultaneous 57.6 Kbps data connection. Cal Poly makes this service available for under $40 per month. At first glance this appears expensive; however, many households have multiple phone lines for voice and data each costing approximately $15 per month, a minimum outlay of $30 per month for one voice and one data line. Two types of ISDN lines are available: the Basic Rate Interface (BRI) and the Primary Rate Interface (PRI). The BRI provides two B channels each capable of providing voice or 64 Kb circuit switched data services to a distinct device. The BRI includes an additional D channel providing 16 Kb of bandwidth on a packet network. The BRI uses the packet network for signaling and supporting several other packet devices simultaneously. In comparison, the PRI or ISDN T-1 provides 23 B channels and a single D channel. The bandwidth of several B channels can be combined in a process called inverse multiplexing or bonding. During this process, a single data service with bandwidth exceeding a single BRI is broken up into separate 64 Kb segments by a piece of equipment known as an inverse multiplexor. The inverse multiplexor sends each of these 64 Kb segments in parallel down one B channel. At the other end, another inverse multiplexor recombines each of the segments creating the original data service. To deliver video data which is inherently bandwidth intensive, a compression scheme to reduce the size of video images is required. Two common formats found on microcomputers are JPEG and MPEG. JPEG stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group, the committee that wrote the standard. Designed for compression of photographic images, it uses a lossy scheme, meaning the compressed picture differs slightly from the original. JPEG takes advantage of distortions undetectable by the human eye so that people rarely notice the difference between the original and compressed picture. When compressing 24 bit/pixel images (256 colors), JPEG typically reaches 10:1-20:1 compression ratios. For example, a full-screen 24 bit VGA picture (640x800 pixels) takes approximately 140 K. MPEG, developed by the Motion Picture Experts Group, is used to compress video data with motion. This format allows 200:1 compression ratios in a sequential series of single frames. MPEG accomplishes the high compression ratio by compressing the original frame, and instead of compressing each following frame individually, only compressing the changes from the previous frame. Thus, a comparable television picture (512x480 pixels) MPEG picture takes approximately 3.5 Kb. Cal Poly's ISDN network consists of two sides, the machine room (or incoming side) and private residences or offices. On the machine room side, Cal Poly owns 11 BRIs connected to AT&T 7500 terminal adapters. These terminal adapters each provide two X.25 9.6 Kbps connections over the D channel associated with the line. Users entering the Cal Poly network in this fashion connect to a terminal server for a direct Internet connection and full access to available resources. In addition, Cal Poly owns three BRIs each connected to two Telrad 285D1 terminal adapters providing six ports. The Telrad ports offer 38.4 Kbps connections over the B channels of the BRIs using a proprietary rate adaption format. To access these lines, the end user must use another Telrad set to place the data call. These ports allow the same access as the low speed 9.6 connections available through the AT&T 7500s, but also allow a Serial Line IP (SLIP) connection. By installing the correct drivers on a user's PC, this line in effect mimics a direct ethernet IP connection, enabling users to run telnet and file transfer protocol IP programs directly from home. Currently, these SLIP connections require a dedicated IP address for each high speed port. However, Cal Poly is exploring new software for the terminal servers that will allow the user to choose their IP address when initiating the SLIP connection. In this manner Cal Poly can provide each user with their own independent IP address and name service. ADVANTAGES Appalachian State University "Impact North Carolina" has been a cost-effective project during its first year and a half of operation. The ISDN lines received a special assembly from the Public Service Commission of North Carolina because the rates had not been tariffed. The monthly charge for the 13 lines is $13,000 per year. The rates are distance sensitive and the lines are available 24 hours a day. Since this is a universitysponsored project, all upgrades to the system and LAN software become a part of the university or state negotiations with vendors. Appalachian is a depot site for NCR, and hardware maintenance receives a special rate. One of the options from NCR is to purchase a specific number of hours of maintenance with parts being available at a specified discount. Multiple user licenses have been purchased for software that will be used at more than one site. Software costs have been reduced and availability of software is from fileservers at the different locations. With ISDN, all users on a LAN can be using Email at the same time. A modem on one phone line would allow only one computer to access the system at a time. The K12 students are bringing an increased level of knowledge of the technology and telecommunications to the next class level. Appalachian undergraduate and graduate students are using the equipment in their course work and student teaching. Because the technology is being made available to teachers without specific instructions on how to use it, creative and innovative ideas are surfacing, being tried and used in the classroom settings. Cal Poly Placing ISDN in private residence makes it easier for students, faculty and staff to access the various computer systems on campus at a speed comparable to that found in campus labs and offices. Students at Cal Poly today, regardless of major, can expect at least one class every quarter requiring the use of a computer. For many students, this means spending long hours in campus computer labs or purchasing expensive devices to access resources from home at less than ideal speeds. Cal Poly currently supports some 2,000 student workstations in computer labs and not all are networked. Space for new and larger labs is limited and demand for access is increasing. ISDN connections could eliminate the need for "dumb" terminal labs entirely, replacing them with microcomputers linked to ISDN connections providing round-the-clock network access. Equipment could be consolidated into existing spaces, freeing up lab space for other purposes. With physical access to the labs no longer necessary, operating costs would be significantly reduced. The ability to access campus resources from home will encourage increased use of computing in the curriculum and classrooms, providing faculty with incentives for exploring new methods of using technology for teaching and developing educational materials. Many Computer Science classes already require students to submit assignments in electronic form. As faculty and students become more comfortable with the technology and access increases, this trend towards paperless assignments will only expand. San Luis Obispo County recently enacted laws requiring places of business, Cal Poly included, to reduce the number of vehicle trips made to and from their location. Increasing telecommuting and delivery of education via the network can greatly reduce the number of required trips to campus. The ISDN service enables staff and faculty to access their office computers from home using software such as PC-Anywhere, Carbon Copy or Timbuktu. With the ability to forward office calls to the home, this makes telecommuting a reality. As students become more familiar with various information resources and the concept of telecommuting, their marketability in today's competitive job market will also rise. Other benefits include unlimited connectivity to campus data systems at no additional cost; the ability to have multiple appearances or phone numbers ring at home including work numbers; and complete compatibility with any household phone, answering machine, modem or fax machine. This allows ISDN to completely replace existing residential telephone service without sacrificing existing functionality. Finally, because Cal Poly provides the phone service and thus performs the billing, Cal Poly recoups the cost of providing the service as well as the costs of providing the on-campus network connections, making CRISP self-supporting. Moreover, Cal Poly anticipates significant productivity gains to result from more cost-effective and efficient use of campus resources. IMPROVEMENTS Appalachian State University The data runs at 64 Kbps between LANs, which is not adequate in some situations. Combinet has provided two bridges that increase the transmission from 64 Kbps to 128 Kbps. It uses both B channels and provides for data compression to increase speed between the two sites. Initial access is to one B channel with compression and then access to the second B channel when traffic passes a threshold level. An example can be seen with loading Worldbook Encyclopedia CDROM at one location from another location and reducing the time from 7' 6.98" to 3' 35.65". Interactive sessions have been held from "Impact North Carolina" sites to TRIP92 (Transcontinental ISDN Project 92) in Reston, Virginia, Governor Cuomo and New York State Technology Commission in Albany, New York, and AT&T Network Systems Executives in Basking Ridge, New Jersey. The K12 students were active participants in these teleconferences. North Carolina's CONCERT network is a highend videoconferencing network that connects several universities and medical research institutions in the state. It uses greater bandwidth than "Impact North Carolina," but interoperability to the K12 sites is obtained through service multiplexors and coaxial cable. The three public schools will have connectivity through ISDN, although with reduced bandwidth. CDROMs, VCRs and portable video cameras have been used a variety of programs and projects to enhance the teaching and learning environment. The teachers and faculty are finding new uses and ways to incorporate additional equipment into the infrastructure. Cal Poly Current customer premise equipment allows for analog voice service on the first B channel and a simultaneous data connection of 57.6 Kbps over the second B channel. Ideally, Cal Poly would like to see a box providing bonding of the two B channels to provide a 128 Kbps connection and analog voice service. This new CPE would set up a dual bonded (128 Kb) connection, and when detecting an incoming voice call, drop the second B channel (and the connection down to 64 Kb) for voice use. When the user terminates the voice call, the CPE would again bring up the second B channel and bond it with the first. In addition, ISDN implementation around the country is still limited, with islands of activity. Data calls within the same Centrex are easy and efficient. However, calls outside of a CO remain difficult to guarantee and manage. Local telephone companies must strive to develop a residential flat rate tariff. Although the current system allows for users to place unlimited data calls within Cal Poly's Centrex system, voice calls not within the university system are charged by message unit. ISDN service is currently distance limited to certain areas beyond the campus. Cal Poly is negotiating with Pacific Bell to extend ISDN service throughout San Luis Obispo County in 1994. Other plans are underway to expand network capability between the campus and other parts of California through pilot projects with telecommunication vendors to develop and test high-speed, gigabit networks. Future goals at Cal Poly include developing a method to deliver full-motion video resources over ISDN lines. As noted previously, a television quality MPEG picture requires 3.5 Kb per frame. Full-motion video is almost undetectable at 15 frames or 52.5 Kb per second. A single BRI with bonding provides 16 Kb (128 k) of bandwidth. To deliver full-motion, real-time video over ISDN will require caching or a compression scheme utilizing higher ratios. Under a caching scheme, the user would first download the data to their local machine, requiring three times longer than the actual length of the video signal, and then play it back at real time. This system would work for a video version of voice mail, or overnight delivery of a movie or a class lecture. THE FUTURE Appalachian State University "Impact North Carolina" will install a multipoint control unit (MCU) to provide the users with the added capability of being able to communicate with video from one site to multiple sites. Being looked at is a central office bridge and a customer premise bridge. A decision will be made soon as to the direction the project travels. As one might expect, there are advantages and disadvantages to either approach. The CLI CODECS at the present time operate with a proprietary compression algorithm and cannot communicate with other vendors. CLI will supply upgrades to be installed in December to modify the CODECS to meet CCITT standards. They will further add the industry standard 16 Kbps, low bit rate audio and Standard Plus software. DIGIBOARD will supply three bridges for the data component which will allow faster communication from the LAN at the College of Education site to the LANs at two other sites. One dual IMAC bridge will be located at the College of Education and a single IMAC at the other two sites. This will provide similar improvements in transmission speeds with Combinet bridges as previously discussed. The North Carolina Information Highway (NCIH) is a statewide infrastructure that will install nine ATM switches across the state and use SONET for transmission. "Impact North Carolina" will be connected to the NCIH through the state's CONCERT network which is a highend videoconferencing network that connects several universities and medical research institutions in the state. It uses greater bandwidth than "Impact North Carolina," but interoperability to the K12 sites will be obtained through service multiplexors and coaxial cable at 330 mhz. The three public schools will have connectibility through ISDN, although with reduced bandwidth. Video technology has advanced since the inception of this project. "Impact North Carolina" started with dual monitor units for classroom conferences. In the last nine months, personal video units and small group video units have become available and will be made available to the users. The users will determine how these smaller video units can be utilized in teaching and in the classroom. NCR will install their new WaveLAN on the local area network at the university. WaveLAN uses advanced radiofrequency communication and will be used to show alternatives to hardwired LANS. There are benefits to having this type of networking and the teachers will assess the utility and enhancements it can make to the project. Cal Poly In 1992, Cal Poly began using two way interactive video to distribute courses on campus and to its satellite agriculture facility at Swanton Pacific Ranch, 200 miles to the north. Just recently, Cal Poly and IBM began a joint study to test the viability of delivering instruction ("education on demand") over the network to classrooms or homes using a repository of digitized materials stored on the ES/9000. Adjacent to Cal Poly's video production and distance learning facilities, a Faculty Multimedia Development and Testing Center was established in March 1993 and equipped with a variety of hardware, software and consulting assistance to encourage and support faculty interested in developing and integrating materials into their courses or for delivery over the network. Cal Poly is committed to developing electronic classrooms equipped with high-resolution projectors, quality audio, microcomputers with high-speed network access, and presentation software. Faculty will be able to bring their own presentation control software to the classroom, connect to a local or remote server, and access a wide variety of digitized materials to enhance a classroom lecture under their individual control. Cal Poly envisions having the capacity to "digitize" lectures which can be edited, indexed and stored along with course materials. Both the lectures and materials can be retrieved later to supplement existing classroom instruction or as education courses delivered "on demand" in non-traditional settings, such as a graduate-level degree program for students who work full-time. Electronic textbooks and libraries will become the standard rather than the exception. Cal Poly is working with BellCore to implement SuperBook, an electronic document "browser" that can deliver library materials, journal abstracts and other documents with text, graphics and video to the desktop via the network. Future enhancements will include electronic or video mail to enable instructors and students taking "education of demand" courses to interact, remote registration and payment of fees, and sharing of courses between multiple campuses. ISDN in the community will play a major role in bringing "education on demand" to the home. With high-speed ISDN data lines, users can access Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) like X- windows to take advantage of integrated multimedia applications like SuperBook. Several related issues will be addressed as these concepts are implemented, including licensing and copyright protection of intelligent properties; faculty release time and compensation for developing course materials; and the impact of non-traditional educational methods on learning and interpersonal relations. Transactional monitoring and pricing techniques will be explored in a joint study between Cal Poly, Bellcore, Lawrence Livermore Lab, Chevron, and the American Chemical Society. On a systemwide level, CSU is spearheading Project DELTA to support multi-campus efforts to develop new methods of delivering instruction using technology. For example, Cal Poly is working with CSU Long Beach to develop a distributed database of digital information provided by CSU faculty. Cal Poly is also cooperating with local community colleges and K-12 school districts to implement distance learning and multimedia services, and assisting with efforts to develop community access networks. One concept currently being explored is a "Video Yellow Pages" in which users would connect, enter the name of the service they want, and retrieve multimedia "want ads" such as a restaurant menu featuring pictures of that day's specials. Companies, such as Hewlett-Packard, have expressed interest in having Cal Poly deliver graduate level degree programs remotely to their employees in Silicon Valley, and Cal Poly is working with Pacific Bell, SP Telecom, Sprint and other vendors to establish the necessary high-speed data links to facilitate these and other "education on demand" services. CONCLUSIONS "Impact North Carolina" and "CRISP" have proven that strategic alliances and partnerships can work effectively between public education, business and higher education. Commitment, compromise and common goals are indispensable in the success. Prototypes and models can be initially funded through a partnership, but expansions must be accomplished through hard dollars, budgets and purchases. The corporations cannot be expected to fund expansions since their initial involvement was to develop a process, a model or a prototype. The cost of expansion has been found to be less than the initial project cost. Product improvements and unit prices have fallen in most instances. With ISDN as a telecommunications infrastructure, the ongoing annual costs are reasonable and affordable. These costs are divided between the user groups and placed into the fixed budgets of each user. Major annual expenses have been identified as hardware and software maintenance, ISDN lines and additional equipment, such as CDROMs, VCRs etc. Software purchases have been handled out of existing budgets. ISDN provides an affordable way for students, faculty and staff to access the campus network from their homes. It also provides the university with a revenue source to continue network enhancements. The opportunity to work with the education community has been stimulating to faculty. A sense of ownership has been generated in the project and curriculum revisions have started. The inclusion of the technology in courses is expanding in the public schools, Appalachian and at Cal Poly. Students and faculty are all levels of education are participating and benefitting from the enhancements. A paradigm shift is taking place in instruction, from a mode of faculty-student interaction taking place in specified locations (campus classrooms) at specified times (class schedules, office hours) to one in which students have access to most of the information content in a variety of forms at their convenience (when they choose, and where they choose from a variety of locations, including their living quarters). This shift is possible because several technologies have matured which provide the basis for major changes in the delivery of instruction. Education in the future must support delivery of real-time, simultaneous two-way video presentations, multimedia presentations, and "education on demand" to students, faculty and staff both on- and off-campus in their homes and work places. This is vital to overcome economic, cultural and physical barriers to learning. Shrinking resources and increasing demand require innovative methods of delivering education and services to traditional and non-traditional students, and appropriate use of information technology is critical to meet this need. Both ASU and Cal Poly are exploring several cost-effective technology solutions designed to improve productivity, reduce labor intensity, provide new ways of delivering education and better services to students, "customers" and "stakeholders," while maintaining their competitive edge. Achieving these goals will move the institutions towards becoming fully integrated "electronic campuses" in which students, faculty and staff are linked to information services and technology without regard to their physical location. Eventually ISDN will be replaced with something newer, faster, and cheaper, just as it is replacing analog telephones. However, ISDN represents an important breakthrough in preparing society for the concept of providing information services in their homes. ISDN allows the leap forward from providing simple text information over the telecommunications line to a full-scale multimedia delivery system.