First Pacific Networks Corp has developed what it claims is the first communications system capable of providing simultaneous transmission of fully switched voice, entertainment cable TV and high-speed data over a single wideband medium. The company has spent around $20m during the four-year project, producing a platform technology able to work independently, or in conjunction with, PABXs, support local area networking systems, as well as interactive video. The company has also begun work on a project for the US Department of Defense, through its First Pacific Federal Systems subsidiary, covering First Pacific Networks’ proprietary technology for command and control applications; the company claims it enables military commands to monitor and manage resources remotely and in real time. First shipments are scheduled for mid-April 1989.
