The view from the network edge reveals a communications world in the midst of a transformation from Plain Old Telephony Service (POTS) to a multidimensional and gadget-filled future surrounding each individual, beginning with access to Personal Area NetworkS (PANS) using Pretty Amazing New Stuff (PANS). Technology at the edge of the network will increasing facilitate us obtaining all the information we need for our daily activities, no matter what professions, as well as being able to have all our social interactions become automatic and routine. This journey from POTS to (PANS)2 driven by Metcalf, Gilder, and Moore’s law, is causing the evolutionary communication industry to meld (collide) with revolutionary Internet thinking.

Today individuals are just beginning to reach out to the world in a number of different ways via the technology they routinely carry. People are increasingly enveloped by a sea of connectivity options such as 802.11, Blue tooth, UWB, MANs, WANs, GPS, FM, Ethernet, cable, and even infrared and RFID. These physical layers of network access will form the basis of numerous overlapping logical interactions for communications, e-commerce, social networking of peer groups, communities of interest, circles of trust, etc. The interaction of this Pretty Amazing New Stuff and the Personal Area NetworkS as defined by the electronic gadgets that we have on our person and in our local environments for use throughout the day is causing fundamental human patterns of behavior to change. Technology needs are way beyond just connecting everyone on the planet together. It’s about connecting everyone on the planet along with all their gadgets together in an increasing number of physical and logical ways that is the foundation of a truly staggering opportunity to create new end user value.