OPTICAL COMMUNICATION: THE DOORWAY TO THE INFORMATION ERA.

After some preliminary historical remarks about the origin and the itinerancy of the IOOC, some technical issues concerning the outstanding progress of optical communications are reported. This progress will soon involve not only the transmission links, but also other fields such as optical amplification, switching, data processing. So the optical communications are changing the present telecommunication network in a ″Integrated Broadband Communication″ (IBC) system, as it is called in Europe. In fact, the close cooperation among telecoms, broadcasters and computers is likely to give rise to the ″Information Society″ in which all kinds of sources, networks, user terminals and service will be encompassed. The various implications this transformation will have in human life are also illustrated.