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The electronic commerce (EC) marketplace is evolving so rapidly that the role of EDI, the technology that originally kickstarted the EC phenomenon to begin with, needs to be clarified under current conditions. Explores the way the Internet is expected to spur much higher EDI diffusion rates at much lower costs across industries. Value added networks (VANs) that firms primarily relied upon for traditional EDI connections have also redesigned their software product and service offerings to align with Internet‐enabled possibilities. On a much larger scale, the electronic marketplace is itself being reorganized as Internet‐EDI (I‐EDI) facilitates the formation of intranets, extranets, and now, “supranets”.

Wi‐Fi technologies enable small‐scale, bottom‐up development of community networks in (rural) under‐serviced areas in developing countries. The purpose of this paper is to examine: the constraints and opportunities that small Wi‐Fi providers have faced to date in their endeavors to develop Wi‐Fi community networks in South Africa; and the extent to which the newly introduced Electronic Communications Act of 2006 might alleviate any of the constraints.

Through interviews and document analysis the paper analyzes regulations and license application procedures in South Africa, and exemplifies the impact of both through discussion of experiences of a municipal and small private Wi‐Fi provider.

While formal regulation prohibits community network deployment due to low power limits and restriction of the use of Wi‐Fi within private premises, informal regulatory constraints as a result of lack of clarity on licensing requirements as well as time‐consuming application processes further prevent small Wi‐Fi providers from entering the market. In order to further stimulate universal access strategies, regulators may find incentives to ease these constraints, particularly as innovations in wireless technologies will continue to increase bottom‐up development of ICT networks by small local entrepreneurs. These entrepreneurs, without extensive expertise in law and regulation, will increase the burden and workload of regulators that, particularly in developing countries, frequently face under‐capacity.

This paper extends the debate about spectrum‐licensing barriers for Wi‐Fi community network development in developing countries by providing insight into not only formal but also informal regulatory constraints that impede Wi‐Fi community network provision.

Electronic data interchange is expected to grow globally at a compound annual rate of more than 50% between now and 1994. The European EDI market will jump four‐fold to £1.2 billion by 1993. The EDI markets, standards, problems and activities of value‐added networks are examined in this in‐depth feature article.

Telecommunications are fundamental to the online industry and this article seeks to place telecommunications networks within the context of information retrieval. The history of network development is discussed against a background and explanation of the various technical forms of telecommunications networks that existed at the beginning of the nineteen sixties and have since developed. The remainder of the paper examines the networking resources that have become available since 1984.

In the ten years since its formulation, quick response has made only limited progress despite its well‐demonstrated benefits to the apparel pipeline. Explores the reasons for the delays in implementation and the current state of the art. Examines the steps necessary for further progress in light of likely developments in technology and consumer‐driven retail strategies.

This article reviews the telecommunications environment and infrastructure, discusses the major forces influencing change within this environment, and suggests certain likely outcomes, as seen by the author, that will have significant influences on the future telecommunications infrastructure. This information is then used as the basis for assessing likely impacts on various aspects of library and information systems, their providers and users. Specifically discussed are impacts foreseen for: 1) national online information providers; 2) local online information providers; 3) local and long‐distance telephone companies as providers of information; and 4) users of information. Impacts on library and information system‐related endeavors are seen to be generally unfavorable in the near term, with information delivery costs seen to rise significantly in the next three to five years. A more favorable prognosis, however, is seen for the longer term.

The need to hasten the exchange of business information over the years has resulted in ever‐changing business practices culminating in the advent of electronic data interchange (EDI). Looks at the progress of EDI, the evolution of the syntax used for EDI messages and the services available for the electronic transmission of EDI data. As EDI software has become more sophisticated so have its applications and these trends are illustrated by a series of case studies involving large multinationals with dedicated IT departments as well as small organizations, often with no computer knowledge at all. The automotive industry is one sector which is earnestly implementing EDI to maximize its full potential. There is an increasing trend towards the formation of EDI communities to keep costs down and for the mutual benefit of community members. Opportunities available to future generations of EDI users include continuous dialogue simulating conversation between computers.

The OCLC Network and its associated information processing facilities constitute the largest and most extensive network of its kind in the world. This article presents a technical overview of the existing OCLC telecommunications network, its use, and operation. It includes discussion of: the scope and magnitude of the network and its applications; its technical attributes, traffic, and facilities characteristics; its user types and demographics; the architecture and implementation of the network and its supporting OCLC computer systems; the terminals and workstations utilized; the protocols employed; other networks supported; gateways and linkages supported; costs incurred; diagnostic, maintenance, and operating goals and procedures; vendor service relationships; availability and performance levels achieved; and related network engineering and implementation.

Electronic data interchange (EDI) is a critical technology used in supply chain management systems involving logistics functions. This study explores the construct of “level of EDI implementation” in order to establish its relationship with system success and the criticality of selected implementation factors. Using the survey method that employed a pair of questionnaires for a customer‐supplier dyad engaged in EDI, the final data set consists of 128 firms constituting 64 dyads. Level of EDI implementation is positively related to one out of four EDI system success measures and is associated with the criticality of the following implementation factors: use of cross‐functional EDI teams, the conduct of pilot projects, the inclusion of security and auditing controls, the conduct of training for end users, maintenance of trading partner relationships, use of value‐added network services, and guidelines for digital signatures.

This article provides a broad overview of telecommunications and network‐related technologies. Topics covered include identification and review of network elements, analog and digital signals, synchronous and asynchronous transmission formats, transmission media and equipment, transmission techniques and characteristics, multiplexing, network types, access technologies, network architectures and topologies, local‐area network technologies and attributes, protocols and protocol issues, gateways, internetworking, local networking alternatives, equipment certification, and various aspects of network management. It is intended to provide the practicing professional in the field of library and information science with a broad, up‐to‐date technical review that might serve to support and facilitate further investigation of current developments in networks and networking. Although the broad range of topics is not treated in depth, numerous references are provided for further investigation.