This time last year, Wall Street was abuzz about the 56-kilobit faster than a speeding bullet modem. Rockwell, 3Com/U.S. Robotics and Ascend all rushed to market with the new product.

Unfortunately, most Internet service providers lacked the hardware required on the other end of the line to complete a 56K connection. What's more, there were no international standards set for the new technology, making service providers reluctant to employ it.

But don't junk that 56K modem just yet. Once the early technical glitches are sorted out, the high-speed modems will become ubiquitous, say researchers at Jupiter Communications. By the year 2000, 56K modems are expected to make up 65 percent of the market.

 1. Push
 2. Windows CE
 3. 56K
 4. Cable Modem
 5. Web-TV
 6. Net Magazines
 7. Apple's Demise
 8. Mac Clones
 9. E-Cash
10. Comdex '96

 1. Dynamic HTML
 2. New Domains
 3. Metered Bandwidth
 4. Web-TV
 5. Rich Ads
 6. The Big Chill
 7. Middlemen
 8. Digital Detente
 9. Cybercommerce
10. Web standards