The North Carolina Information Highway is the most advanced public switched broadband network in the world. The ATM-Sonet network is shared by government and the private sector companies. The private sector telecommunications companies have deployed the network and the state is the first anchor tenant.

The NCIH will change the way North Carolinans work, learn and live. Applications include distance learning, health delivery, economic development, libraries, local government, criminal justice as well as delivery of government administrative services.

Jane Smith Patterson has chaired the steering committee of the North Carolina Information Highway. Jane Patterson serves on the US Advisory Council on the NII. She is recognized as an authority in the United States on the development of information networks and the subsequent applications that run on these networks. She will discuss the NII Council, its work and the projeted development of other broadband networks in the United States and the world.