START OF THE 21ST CENTURY
Andrzej Jajszczyk · 2001
he last years of the 20th century have brought an amazing change in networking technologies. The enormous success of the Internet, the availability of cheap bandwidth due to advances in optical communications, along with the rapid dcvclopment of wireless systems have created a new networking environment enabling cxisting and new services to reach an unprecedented number of users. More changes are still to come. This special issue prcsents the state of the art and future directions in fixed and mobile networks, and describes relevant enabling technologies as well, such as optoelectronics, telecommunications software, image compression, and processing techniques. Important network design issues related to hardware, software, and traffic engineering are also discussed. The 10 articles contained in this special issue were