  The more than thirty years old issue of the information capacity of quantum
communication channels was dramatically clarified during the last period, when
a number of direct quantum coding theorems was discovered. To considerable
extent this progress is due to an interplay between the quantum communication
theory and quantum information ideas related to more recent development in
quantum computing. It is remarkable, however, that many probabilistic tools
underlying the treatment of quantum case have their roots, and in some cases
direct prototypes, in classical Shannon's theory. This paper presents an
outline of some basic ideas and results in that direction.
