ISP Information:
Initially developed by Ramtron, this is a type of non-volatile RAM that compares favorably to Flash memory in access/read/write speeds, but is harder to produce than Flash or DRAM in high densities. FRAM is used in some portable devices, but hasn't really caught on compared to other memory technologies.
ISP Glossary:
FRAM - I deliberatly refrained from making any comments last week aboutPresident Reagan after he passed. Enough other people on the net weremaking comments and aside from sending a personal sympathy card insnailmail to Mrs. Reagan and their son Ronnie I let the matter go.But in a recent issue of Washington Times an article appeared whichI want to share with you.PATREAGAN ENABLED DIGITAL PROGRESSBy Mark KellnerOn Jan. 19, 1979, almost two years to the day before he becamepresident, Ronald Reagan delivered a radio commentary about "the phonecompany," the old American Telephone & Telegraph combine that held allthe elements of telephony in this country, from local service to longdistance to equipment.Mr. Reagan noted that a federal antitrust suit against AT&T apparentlyignored the relatively low cost of a coast-to-coast phone call: $1.30a minute in 1979 versus $9.50 in the 1930s. Phone service, he said,was private and affordable, unlike his earlier experience with thefamily's Depression-era "party line" phone."Today," he said then, according to the book "Reagan, In His Own Hand"(Free Press), "the miracles we already have are going to be topped by video phone; there are recorder gadgets to take phone calls andmessages when you are absent, and now they talk of electronic mail. Ifthe cost differential continues at the present rate, it is possiblethe telephone may put the Post Office out of business within the next10 or 20 years."Things unfolded a bit differently than Mr. Reagan envisioned. Videophones are by no means commonplace, but what did unfold owed a lot toRonald Reagan, his political philosophy and his actions.During the 1980s, it was the Reagan administration that oversaw thedivestiture of AT&T's local phone units. That began a wave of changein America's phone network that led to lower prices for phoneservice. Lower phone costs helped spur the growth of companies likeCompuServe and America Online, paving the way for today's Internet.The Reagan White House was the first to use personal computers on alarge scale, along with e-mail, the latter coming back to haunt somestaffers during the Iran-Contra investigation.The first IBM PCs rolled off assembly lines in August 1981, eightmonths after Mr. Reagan's inaugural, and at a time when substantialtax cuts for individuals and businesses came along. Those cuts helpedmake PCs affordable. An improving economy also led many into softwareand hardware development and gave birth to companies that eventuallydominated the field.There was also the public side of his involvement: In 1985, Mr. Reaganpresented the National Medal of Technology to Apple Computerco-founders Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs, for "their development andintroduction of the personal computer." He also lauded data-processingpioneer Grace Murray Hopper on her promotion from captain to commodorein the U.S. Naval Reserve, hosting an Oval Office ceremony for her in1983.Mr. Reagan didn't start a telecommunications revolution by himself, ofcourse. In 1987, he named a then-36-year-old attorney, Dennis R. Patrick,to chair the Federal Communications Commission. Mr. Patrick, hispredecessor Mark Fowler, and FCC colleagues such as Patricia DiazDennis and James Quello were at the vanguard of regulating newservices and markets, opening the field for hundreds of companies andthousands of workers.It wasn't the telephone, but rather the data that traveled overderegulated and divested telephone circuits, that challenged thepostal monopoly and changed our lives. While the daily mail is still apart of American life, the digital revolution got a major push fromthe actions of a former radio commentator named Ronald Reagan.You may correspond in email with Mark Kellner at MarkKel@aol.comor visit www.kellner.us.The Washington Times(http://www.washingtontimes.com/technology/20040607-100647-8137r.htm)For more great articles, visit us at http://www.washingtontimes.com*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material theuse of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyrighto
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