Digital world - the path to the future

The new information and communication technologies are rapidly changing the way we live, affecting both our working and our private lives in equal measure. These changes can be felt in the worlds of communication and the mass media, as well as in the fields of leisure, health, lifestyle and fashion, and are described using terms such as globalisation, flexibilisation and increased mobility.

 

It was the advent of the Internet and mobile communications that provided the crucial impetus for this development. The miniaturisation of electronic components now allows devices to be constructed on an extremely small scale, and at low cost to boot. Moore's Law - named after Intel founder Gordon Moore - stipulates that the storage density, and hence the capacity, of microelectronic circuits doubles every 15 to 18 months. Nowadays computer chips can be found in almost every piece of equipment. The ability of such devices to communicate independently with other systems in the vicinity presents us with new opportunities as well as great challenges. In addition to electronic devices, the technical infrastructure of buildings or urban areas is also increasingly incorporating "embedded systems" - computers integrated in control systems. Small computers operating in wireless networks have thus become omnipresent - hence the term "ubiquitous computing".

This trend can be seen in the mobile phone, which is undergoing the transformation from voice device to data telephone. Modern smartphones are computers in all but name, boasting almost all the functions of conventional PCs as well as a permanent network presence. And it won't be long before communication devices are integrated in personal items such as clothing or jewellery. As mobile users, humans will find themselves increasingly embedded in networks made up of intelligent everyday objects, thus becoming "switching centres" themselves!

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