After a very slow start, Ireland has caught up with the rest of Europe in demand for ISDN - digital telephone lines that allow faster data transfer than ordinary phone lines. As businesses demand better and faster data communication, ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) has clear advantages over modem technology in terms of quick connection (about one second) and fast transfer (basic 64 kilobits per second, or double that of a typical modem connection). But for how long will ISDN be the first choice for business?
"I can't see it lasting more than five years," says Eoin Kilfeather, a researcher in the digital media centre at the College of Technology in Aungier Street, Dublin. "ISDN is available now and people are buying it but there are other technologies on the horizon." The imminent threat to ISDN may also be in part due to the fact, he believes, that it was never marketed to its full potential.
"Telecom Eireann has almost missed the boat from a marketing respect. It is a big lumbering semi-state body that sees itself primarily as a carrier of voice not data. They haven't pushed ISDN very heavily and it is still expensive. They have brought the cost of calls down but that is in response to the fact that modem technology is becoming more and more advanced."
The cost of installation currently stands at £348 plus £29 rental per month. The call rate is the same as that of a standard telephone call. There is a waiting period of six to eight weeks for ISDN installation which can have a negative impact on business, according to Richard Harpur of Diatec, a graphics bureau based in Dublin. "The speed of ISDN is a major factor for us. For example we do a lot of reprographic work for advertising agencies and without ISDN we would have to send couriers back and forth across town, which can be a nightmare," he said. But we now need another ISDN line and we have to wait six to eight weeks for installation."
Any suggestion that Telecom Eireann's commitment to telecommunications ends with the socket in the wall was rejected by a Telecom spokesperson, Majella Fitzpatrick. " We have several units dedicated to looking after the needs of corporate and consumer business and small to medium enterprise. Every company requires a range of solutions, not solely voice. We are very much in the data telecommunication business," she said.
She accepted, however, that more needs to be done to reduce the installation waiting time.
Ms Fitzpatrick also accepted that installation and rental charges need to be reduced. "We have just reduced the cost of calls and intend to make further reductions in other areas. In fact, over the last three years we have made reductions totalling £340 million right across our product portfolio, whether it be data or voice."
According to Eoin Kilfeather a range of new technologies is set to replace ISDN, such as ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) which runs at higher speeds, not on ordinary telephone lines like ISDN, but on fibre optic cable.
"There are also trials going on in the US with Digital Subscriber Lines which have higher speeds than ISDN and are cheaper. Also modem speeds are now reaching 56kbs," he said.
"Nobody can foretell the future," says Ms Fitzpatrick, "All companies have a range of technical solutions open to them. Just because ATM is here does not mean that it is suitable for every company. Companies will only go for a faster technology if it suits their needs. Modem speeds may be improving but to compare the modem to ISDN is to compare a Mini to a Rolls Royce. The Rolls Royce gets you there much more comfortably."
Edel Morgan, winner of the ICL Irish Science Journalist Association New Journalist of the Year, is at: edelmorgan@cybergal.com