15 Background information telecommunications: Telecommunications, from Greek, means“ communications at a distance” Telecommunications through voice, data, and image communication is changing the world. The ease of accessing information and people anywhere at anytime is having major impacts on society, business and finance. Two major trends have occurred in the technology that is applicable to telecommunications. The first trend has been the incredible increase in the processing power of digital computers, namely, dramatic decreases in physical size along with equally dramatic increases in complexity, speed, and capacity. The second trend has been the explosive growth inBackground information • telecommunications: Telecommunications, from Greek, means “communications at a distance”. Telecommunications through voice, data, and image communication is changing the world. The ease of accessing information and people anywhere at anytime is having major impacts on society, business, and finance. Two major trends have occurred in the technology that is applicable to telecommunications. The first trend has been the incredible increase in the processing power of digital computers, namely, dramatic decreases in physical size along with equally dramatic increases in complexity, speed, and capacity. The second trend has been the explosive growth in