Electronic mail will be valuable to the potential client base only if people they are interested in communicating with are also connected. This implies that, just like the phone, the institutional electronic mail service must have the potential to become ubiquitous within the University.
When considering the current realities of the ubiquity of the current high speed fiber optic campus network, it rapidly becomes apparent that the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) will play an critical role in the delivery of the necessary network connectivity to individual clients and small groupings of clients. This access via the PSTN will of necessity need to be accessible, inexpensive, rapidly deployed and easy to use.