---

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 10, 1993                   TAG: 9303100398
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

---

TAKE HIGH TECH ROAD TO THE FUTURE

HERE'S A thought for the valley's future.

Instead of building a "smart road" to Virginia Tech, build an electronic road from Tech to Roanoke. Use existing right-of-way to construct a pipeline containing fiber-optic cabling between the two. It should be big enough to accommodate any future additional cable runs, e.g., 3D holography. Use the old Norfolk Southern office building as the initial building for a Tech downtown campus right next to the new conference center.

Equip all termini with two-way interactive voice-video and computers. Establish voice-electronic mail for students to communicate with professors and vice versa. Archive all current lectures and staff an electronic library to provide makeup lectures and access to vast on-line reference resources. Provide links to the existing area colleges for consolidated curricula and continuing education. Furnish an electronic exchange for businesses to exchange expertise, information, services and recyclables. Provide all services in-home when the phone company recables the valley with fiber optics.

Eliminate the two-hour round-trip commute and subsequent pollution and use of irreplaceable resources. Get the valley its four-year college. Provide employment at all levels, from test monitors to telecommunication experts. Use the resources at Tech to recycle existing downtown buildings as the campus grows and to set up, expand and maintain the system.

Start the valley on building "the future" now. BUZ KEENE ROANOKE

---