Keeping the U.S. Computer Industry Competitive Systems Integration (1992) / Chapter Skim
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5 Prerequisites for Progress
5 Prerequisites for Progress
Pages 74-90
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From page 74... ...
This view was expressed by Alan Perlis, the late Yale University computer scientist, in his remarks at the CSTB's inaugural colloquium on the competitiveness of the U.S. computer industry: We must never forget that we are at the beginning of the Computer Age, so that exploration of its role must continue into the foreseeable future.
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From page 75... ...
The current generation of technology, they say, has yet to be domesticated, and, for now, the need for new types of applications and information services may be greatly overestimated. Colloquium participants offered their own assessments of the nation's information future, with many generally endorsing measures to build a nationwide information infrastructure.
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From page 76... ...
Those include the need for making strategic investments, including demonstration projects by the federal government; attending to technical standards; enhancing the role of universities; pursuing enabling technologies; attending to human elements; providing for system security and privacy; and developing a shared vision of the information age. These themes are recapitulated below.
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From page 77... ...
Martin and other speakers questioned, however, whether a truly coordinated and cooperative effort is possible within today's fragmented regulatory and policy framework. Federal and state policymakers and regulators, he said, "are doing superb jobs within their- own domains but, I fear, are looking backwards towards the old edict of universal telephone service ....
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From page 78... ...
Without consumeroriented trials of advanced information services, said Martin of Bellcore, conjecture will continue to dominate the debate over a nationwide information infrastructure. Whether hooking up households and offices on a network will yield such benefits as individualized education, better health care as a result of providing access to remotely located medical expertise, and new economic opportunities for declining rural communities can only
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From page 79... ...
It provides a rich area for us to develop methods, do research, and make progress." As an additional spur to progress, several colloquium participants suggested, the federal government could sponsor development and demonstration projects that would pioneer applications of advanced information technology to the missions of information-intensive agencies, such as the Social Security Administration (SSA) , the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
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From page 80... ...
; and other federal procurement activities point to the possibilities for a wide range of federal systems to implement and demonstrate aspects of systems integration. Another option for stimulating investment, suggested by Mark Teflian of Covia, is to provide tax incentives to private organizations that invest in advanced technology needed to modernize the nation's communications infrastructure.
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From page 81... ...
Government representatives should solicit input not only from equipment vendors but also from systems integration firms and leading-edge users." "Standards activity clearly needs to be expedited," Martin added, "but finding the right model that assures ongoing open participation by industry and yet accelerates the process is a very complex matter that requires careful study." Many speakers expressed concern over the complexity of current and emerging standards, which, in the long run, could undermine internetworking efforts and perhaps slow the adoption of new technology. Citing one example, Alfred Aho of Bellcore said the communications protocols designed to support the Open System Interconnection reference model "are getting bigger, fatter, more complex, and more numerous.
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From page 82... ...
However, the former, system certification, is the subject of some controversy within industry centered on how best to demonstrate conformance, while the latter, including verification and validation of software, is the subject of vigorous activity and debate in the technical community. ENHANCING THE ROLE OF UNIVERSITIES Given the technical challenges that advanced information networking poses and the systems integration industry's need for a highly skilled interdisciplinary work force, one might expect the nation's universities to be playing key roles as performers of research and as trainers of science and engineering personnel.
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From page 83... ...
For its part, he added, "business should assist universities in upgrading equipment, share its expertise, and provide input into curriculum development." PURSUING ENABLING TECHNOLOGIES Technological innovation yields the raw materials of the information age, while systems integration offers perhaps the best means for making the most productive and widest use of those materials. The competitive advantages reaped by firms such as Frito-Lay and others that have effectively linked information technology, people, business operations, and long-term strategic planning provide compelling evidence for this assertion.
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From page 84... ...
competitors and cash in on growing opportunities to sell devices, software, and services. The governments of Japan and European nations are collaborating with industry on a wide range of information technology research and development projects, ranging from the manufacture of advanced semiconductor memory chips to demonstrations of new information services to devising security countermeasures and privacy safeguards.
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From page 85... ...
There is need for both incremental improvements in existing technology and "clean sheet" approaches to networked computing and communications. In hardware, critically important areas include advanced integrated circuits, computer architectures, photonics and photoelectronics, flat panel displays, switching technology, digital signal compression, and many others.
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From page 86... ...
It is, to a large degree, a human resource issue." But people may be the most unpredictable and, therefore, the most neglected variable in information networking and systems design and implementation. "I think we are just starting to understand the fact that, really, the computing system has to be driven by the human system," said Michael Taylor of DEC.
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From page 87... ...
PROVIDING FOR SECURITY AND PRIVACY The global spread of computing and communications networks heightens concerns about security and privacy. Once organizations begin to link up with others outside their own private network, as many are now doing, said Fischer of Andersen Consulting, "the possibilities for security violations go up exponentially." If not addressed with effective countermeasures, colloquium participants noted, increasing vulnerability to security breaches could constrain applications of information systems.
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From page 88... ...
Recognition of this value is implicit in the coordinated actions by European countries, Japan, and other nations to build regional and national communications and computing networks. While not intended to garner unanimity of opinion, the colloquium did generate a consensus view on the critical need for this nation to plan for its future in the information age.
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From page 89... ...
program represents a collaborative effort to develop the telecommunications infrastructure required to support future computer networks. The program was initiated in 1988 as a five-year effort with eight nations contributing over half a billion dollars to develop an integrated broadband communications system for high-speed operation.
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From page 90... ...
Al and Ale. The NTIA infrastructure report referenced in note 4 comments on the lower rate of ISDN implementation in the United States as compared to several other countries (pp.
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