A revolutionary British telephone designed to exploit the capabilities of Asynchonous Transfer Mode packet networks is to be made by a major continental manufacturer – presumably Siemens AG, L M Ericsson Telefon AB or Alcatel NV – according to its creator, Gordon Edge. Edge, founder of the PA International Ltd consultancy and design house, developed the so-called virtual telephone at his new company, Cambridge-based design house Generics Group Plc, in conjunction with Ideo Inc of Palo Alto, California. The virtual phone has no dials or keys, just a blank screen on a compact hand set. When the screen is touched, buttons that look three-dimensional appear that can be used for dialling, accessing a still or moving image database or choosing a stored photograph – and the colour screen doubles as a videophone display. To transfer a call, the user pushes an icon and an internal telephone directory is displayed. We can paint an entirely realistic looking piece of hardware on that window. The user can touch a button that reacts like a real button, so you that you get the visual and other feedback you would from a hardware-based system, Edge told Reuter. Many personal computer functions are included, operating in a telephone environment. Although designed with Asynchronous Transfer Mode in mind, the phone can be used over existing networks, but ideally should be connected to an Asynchronous Transfer Mode multimedia PABX or exchange. Depending on the pace of Asynchronous Transfer Mode development and customer trials, the virtual phone will be on the market late this year or early next, and is expected to appeal to business users on local and wide area networks, police and immigration, security and survelliance services and others requiring applications mixing images, voice and data – estate agents could project colour pictures of houses to prospective buyers, and physicians could use it for remote diagnosis. The target price is under $500 per hand set, less than current videophones. A mobile version is being designed.
