Outlining how the Internet infrastructure will look like in the future, Bell Labs president Arun Netravali has predicted that the millennium will see rapid changes in Internet-related technologies that will transform our business and social life.

This from a man who heads one of the World's most prestigious R&D organisations, with a budget of $4.5 billion in 1999, which has till date produced 11 Nobel Laureates (including three in consecutive years from 1996 onwards), has 30,000 plus patents to its name (more than one on an average for each of its 29,000 employees), introduced over 130 plus technology innovations in 1999.

Addressing a rapt audience, comprising largely of chief executives and technology bigwigs from India Inc, at the `Technology Innovation and Impact Summit' organised jointly by CII and Lucent Technologies in New Delhi on Thursday, Netravali said that the phenomenal growth of the Internet was driving infrastructure growth. Accordingly, optical, switched, packet, wireless and software technologies were in the process of integration. "Next generation networks will be seamlessly interconnected comprising several other networks with a packet-photonic core," he said.

From this comes his first prognosis: A "mega-network of networks" will enfold the Earth in a communication "skin" with constant connectivity and bandwidth. Four technologies - silicon chips, optics, communication software and wireless - will drive growth in communications infrastrurture.The second of Netravali's prediction is that the falling cost of silicon chips will see to it that by 2010 there will be so many interconnected devices that "infrachatter" will surpass direct communication.

Wireless technologies, which will grow 100 times over the next five years, will be one of the most important influences in unleasing bandwidth. "My third prediction is that bandwidth will be too cheap to meter and billing will only be for services," Netravali said. "Interactive Telivision may then become a reality," he added. A topic close to his heart, Netravali has himself undertaken pioneering research in the field of digital technology and high definition television.

Netravalli said optical technology will play a big role in transforming network architecture of the future. "All this will make trading of bandwidth as a commodity a reality," he added.

Netravalli feels that the open mega-network network of the future will be data centric in nature. "Businesses and consumers will enjoy a vast variety of individualised, customised services - written by countless programmers on an open mega-network," Netravalli predicted.

Bell's president feels that today's Internet will dramatically transform itself into a broadband "Hi-IQNet" with natural interfaces, active websites and software agents to extract desired information via text, voice, images and video. "Websites will not longer remain passive and this will add value to many applications running on the Net," he added.

The mega network will then act a high-level mediator to bring together humans and informations of all kinds.

Lastly, all this will unlease a new age of virtuality which will transform the way people live and conduct their businesses, Netravali, who is regarded by many as India's best bet to another Novel Prize, said.