The Promise of
Information Technology
Information technology is one of the defining technologies of the modern era. Through its effects on manufacturing, medicine, education, commerce and other aspects of society it rivals and parallels the impact of printing, telephony and flight. Indeed, the development and deployment of all these technologies can be understood in terms of three fundamental themes.
The first is that of global intimacy, which is revealed in the capability of small companies to access global markets, the increased opportunity for personal communication, and the ability to work "everywhere, all the time." The second theme, accelerated efficiency, denotes the use of technology to reduce costs and increase productivity, while the third, new opportunities, refers to the way in which processes and products are enabled by novel technologies or by new capabilities that arise within a technology. These themes provide insight into the development and applications of information technology, as well as into the issues governing the pace and acceptance of change.
Global intimacy flows from enhanced channels of communication. Businesses and governments can use kiosk and network technologies to increase access to services and people. Education is
enhanced by distance learning, by access to information on the World Wide Web, and by online communications between teachers, parents and students.
Accelerated efficiency is well illustrated by the example of electronic publishing. Display devices with the resolution and appearance of paper will provide a preferred alternative to the printed page for many applications. New HTML-based standards for publishing and network or digital-disk delivery will be enabled by superdistribution technologies such as Cryptolopes and by scalable web servers, which provide rapid, global dissemination.
New opportunities are created when technologies cross critical functional thresholds, enabling new solutions such as network computing. Other examples that characterize this theme include wearable computers; the use of networked business services for purchasing, anonymous bidding and secure contract signing; and simulations of complex physical and social systems.
Many of these transformations are already well underway. But even from this brief summary of the emerging possibilities, it is clear that the most significant impact of information technologies is yet to come.
Satish Gupta
research vice president
technical strategy & planning
