The Future Of Computing

IT managers are realizing that to gain the full benefits of a networked enterprise, they need seamless interoperability that ties internal systems and links them to the rest of the world.

- DR ERIC SCHMIDT, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, NOVELL INC.

The computer industry has been marked by two seismic shifts: first, from the mainframe to the PC, and more recently, from the PC to the network. Given the scope and scale, this latest shift, entailing the move from platform-dependent client-server architecture to platform-independent network services, may be bigger than the transition from the mainframe to the PC.

Network services, such as directory, security and collaboration provide the foundation for intranets that bring advanced capabilities to organizations of every type and size. The Java programming language and network services are the key enabling technologies to allow new classes of applications, including ecommerce to be made available to any user at any kind of computer. Intranets and extranets built on robust network services can connect even the smallest business into the global economy.

Students of pattern recognition can sometimes glimpse the future by looking at trends shaping the technology today. One interesting pattern is what I call a technology inversion. Such an inversion is something previously known as a truth turned upside down and supplanted by a new model as technology evolves and reveals otherwise. Each inversion spawns new, distinct markets worth billion dollars. Expect many inversions over the next two years.