(This
article appeared in the BCAJ edition of February, 2002.
It is as delightful to read today as it was 19 years ago. As we read about the
tomorrow written 19 years ago, we can see that today was visualised, with
uncanny precision)
Stanley
Kubrick was a maverick film director. In his movie 2001: A space Odyssey, he had
predicted that man would finally encounter extra-terrestrial intelligence in
the year 2001. Nothing like that happened. It did, however, inspire Steven
Spielberg to make the critically acclaimed movie AI.
What are
the technologies that will drive our tomorrow? Will we live in twilight
‘sci-fi’ zone where everything is virtual? How will technologies affect our
daily lives? As a chartered accountant, should you really bother? So here they
are. A wild walk into the future – Technologies that will reshape you and your
future.
1. Wireless world:
Bet your
last paisa on wireless technology. There is no doubt that wireless will change
our lives dramatically. The only question being asked is – ‘when will it
happen?’
Today, the
biggest impact of wireless is in mobile phones. Can you imagine your daily life
without your Nokia or Samsung mobile phone? Mobile phones will proliferate with
‘amoeba-like’ growth. And this is just the beginning.
The next
big application of wire-less technology will be wireless Internet.
Third-generation (3G) wireless Internet will roll out soon, with capability of
high bandwidth Internet and streaming audio, video and multi-media. Do-Co-Mo in
Japan has already started giving these services and has met with an exciting
response.
Wireless
Internet will become ubiquitous. Your laptop, your mobile phone and your
personal digital assistant (PDA) will have wireless Internet. What will be the
impact on business? Any employee located anywhere in the world will be able to
access the latest corporate information, the latest news and will communicate
with the office and colleagues. Imagine a scenario where you communicate with
all your articled clerks and employees spread all over the globe on a real-time
basis. Imagine being able to update them with the latest notifications and
amendments, whilst they are at a client site rendering advice. Imagine the
endless potential for large companies with a huge sales force. Truly, geography
will become history – unlike Iridium, which coined the tagline ‘Geography is
history’, only to find itself in the history books.
2. Byte a chip!
Today, to
access the Internet you need a carrier – typically, a computer. Tomorrow, you
won’t!
Everything
you can truly conceive of will have the capability to connect to the Internet –
your lassi-maker, your refrigerator, your
toaster and your car – all your devices. But, what the hell! How does this
impact business?
A chip has
the embedded ability to receive, crunch and send data. Imagine a small chip on
all inventory parts in the factory, communicating constantly with wireless
Internet. You will know all details about the entire supply chain, without
having to do any physical check. With embedded intelligence, such chips will be
able to send alerts if certain parameters are breached. It could be an e-mail
alert or an SMS.
3. Distribute your computing:
When you
press the switch to start your fan, you expect the electricity to come on
instantly. You do not own a power generation unit either at home or in your
building. Then why do you need to have a huge PC or invest in a server to have
access to computing power? Much like the electricity grid, can’t you have a
computing grid?
Distributed
computing gives you the power of a super computer, without having to invest in
one. The processing power of thousands of PCs is aggregated. A central server
sub-divides a large task into bits and assigns it to thousands of computers.
These computers do their processing job and return the results to the server,
which aggregates the results. This kind of computing is ideal for large
processing tasks and is already used in research. Large tasks involving
financial transactions are amenable to distributed computing.
4. Move over B2B, it’s time for P2P:
Imagine a
large network with thousands and millions of persons with a commonality of
interest, sharing data and information, creating databases and communicating
instantly. All this without the need to invest in expensive servers. Through
the medium of the Internet, you can communicate and share your files without a
centralised server. Numerous workgroups can create their own space and work
efficiently.
The most
famous commercial application of P2P technology is Napster, which allows anyone
to share music files on their computers.
Stanley
Kubrick’s futuristic prediction that man will encounter extra-terrestrial
intelligence went awry. But that will not halt the progress of some
technologies which will aptly respond to Sydney Sheldon’s famous best seller If tomorrow comes. The
question you need to ask yourself is – Are
you ready?
