Unisphere

From PFH Wiki

Effectively a Commonwealth wide network. The unisphere allows access to all sorts of information and can also allow users to download sensory dramas and news casts. Each individual has access to the unisphere through their u-shadow. Due to the age of the unisphere and its inception in the early days of the Commonwealth, it now consists of information built on technology and networks that is millenia out of date. This makes finding some of the older information especially difficult to get hold. It is quite analogous to the 21st century internet, but with the advantage of instantaneous personal communication almost anywhere within the commonwealth. It is only limited by the need for an in-range network. So, for example, a planet with a very low population (Eg. Hanko) may have no unisphere connection with the rest of the commonwealth. A spaceship out of range of a planetary spacewatch network would also be limited in unisphere access. Like the internet, it is inherently insecure, mainly because of it's diverse hardware. It is also not quite a universal encyclopaedia, but is dependent on the availability of a relevant article. Hyperdrive and Ultradrive starships can also access the unisphere by utilising a TD (trans dimensional) link, a sub function of the hyperspace drive - however, to use the analogy of the 20th century internet, the 'bandwith' is significantly reduced over distance. Continuous wormhole drive ships still however need to be within range of a local spacewatch network. Outposts not connected by a traditional zero-width wormhole can also manipulate TD channels, hyperspace manipulation, or for redundancy, a combination of all 3 methods.