By now, pronouncements about the "Information Superhighway" are so frequent tha some members of the technology elite can no longer contain their contempt for the term.
For example, Intel Corp. president and chief executive Andrew Grove was prompte to tell a trade show audience in New York this summer that he can't use the phrase "and keep a straight face." And Sun Microsystems Inc. chairman Scott McNealy dismisses a lot of the superhighway's present-day capabilities as littl more than "Beavis and Butthead on demand." The problem is not just that the ter is over-used, but is poorly defined, as well.
For some, the superhighway already exists, no matter what the techno-elite may think: it's the Internet, the worldwide network of networks created years ago b the Defense Department to aide research and development.
But while the Internet and other electronic mail networks are global, flexible and widely used, they lack the full integration of video, voice and data that the superhighway will supposedly provide.
At the very least, that sort of development is years away. Still, high-technology companies say they are moving rapidly toward this destination, and the pace of development seems to be accelerating. For banks, both the opportunity and the challenge is to meld their existing electronic payments networks, such as credit-card authorization systems, regional and national automated teller machine networks and automated clearing houses with these emerging technologies.
There have already been several product announcements in banking, although some are more hype than hope.
For example, Chemical Banking Corp., EDS Corp., Bell Atlantic Corp., Olivetti North America Inc. and Docunet Inc. of San Francisco jointly announced in July network of automated teller machine-like devices that would be used to sell airline tickets and travelers checks. The terminals will be connected with travel agency computer systems, and will dispense tickets for American Airlines Delta and USAir. Credit or debit cards can be used as the means of payment.
This is an innovative use of ATMs, and it does demonstrate the growing flexibility of credit and debit cards. But other banks already sell travelers checks and bus tickets through ATMs, and they merely bill their services as an additional use for ATMs.
Still, there are high-tech developments that do seem to be practical approaches to using the most advanced technologies. Four major banks--Citicorp, BankAmeric Corp., Wells Fargo & Co. and First Interstate Bancorp--are among the co-sponsor of the CommerceNet initiative. CommerceNet is a government-industry joint venture, with half of its funding coming from agencies such as the Departments of Commerce and Energy, and half from firms in the private sector. Its objectiv is to determine how businesses can make use of the Internet.
For BankAmerica, CommerceNet promises to be the backbone for electronic data interchange (EDI), which is a means for corporations to exchange purchase orders, invoices and payments electronically. Bob Wynne, a BofA executive vice president, says companies would connect a network server with an electronic catalogue of their products and services to the Internet. Other firms could the place orders using the Internet, through which they would also receive the payment instructions. The payments themselves would actually be routed through bank-owned network such as the automated clearing house (ACH).
This could be the piece of the EDI puzzle banks have been looking for. Cash management departments have been trying to create a market for EDI-related services for years, but it has been slow to take off. EDI is promoted as a mean of speeding the flow of shipments among industrial firms and their suppliers. I is also designed to help these firms better manage their accounts receivable an payable. The problem is that industrial firms and their suppliers were initiall slow in switching from paper-based ordering systems to electronic ones. If CommerceNet can make EDI succeed, it won't need to be hyped as a superhighway.
