For end users to benefit from many electronic commerce services, they will need to be able to locate and find out about them. This requires improved information search and retrieval mechanisms that are usable across differing kinds and capabilities of equipment. As in other application areas, this implies addressing complex challenges in management of distributed information resources, including distributed file and program synchronization and replication, and tools such as Web servers and Web searchers.

The extreme heterogeneity of electronic commerce implies a great concern for data standards that support information management tools and facilitate interfaces among planning and design, provisioning, production, and business systems (e.g., inventory, ordering, billing, fulfillment, and customer support). Support for multiple media, including images, sound, video, and hypertext, implies the need for continued development not only of standards for interpreting graphical and nongraphical data formats, but also of mechanisms for adapting to different quality demands (e.g., image compression) and access capabilities (end-user access and storage devices and communications links).

Because it is unrealistic to expect that all users would shift to any single set of standards, whether a current or a new one, a major challenge in electronic commerce is incorporating legacy systems, such as databases and communications systems in differing or outmoded formats.

The development of easy-to-use tools and other methods for locating information and other resources, conducting transactions, and implementing security, among other needs, is as significant for electronic commerce as for crisis management and other domains because of the expectation of involving people without significant technical training. The history of automation in retail banking (e.g., ATMs) attests to the recognition that consumers often need to be convinced that a new system is an improvement, and convenience or transparency of user interfaces and processes is a major part of that process. The growing need for system security is the area in which this practical reality is most likely to be challenged: achieving better authentication of users will place a premium on methods that both are effective and do not overly inconvenience customers (suggesting possibly greater interest in physical tokens and biometrics as opposed to personal identification numbers).

Computing and communications are enabling significant changes in manufacturing. These relate to a very broad range of capabilities and functions, from

Front Matter (R1-R14)

Overview and Summary (1-7)

Application Needs for Computing and Communications (8-54)

Technology: Research Problems Motivated by Application Needs (55-98)

Summary and Findings: Research for National-Scale Application (99-138)

Bibliography (139-142)

Appendixes (143-144)

A Workshop Series on High Performance Computing and Communications (145-155)

B Background--HPCCI and NII (156-157)

C Acronyms and Abbreviations (158-160)