Summary

This new wave of technology innovation will cause massive changes in the way that business can be conducted, opening up the business world to the world of ubiquitous computing. The next phase of the software and Internet evolution will start to merge bits with atoms a concept promoted by the M.I.T. Auto-ID Center, which focuses its research on electronic tagging of physical objects. The physical world and the virtual world will become increasingly connected as computing devices and physical objects of all kinds gain intelligence and the ability to communicate with the network via wired and wireless technologies and intelligent identification techniques such as electronic product codes and RFID systems. Web services and peer services will allow objects and applications increasingly to communicate with one another in an interoperable manner. Real-time computing will create business benefits from improved efficiencies and reduced cycle times. Mobile business will keep people connected to the network and will allow devices to be tracked and monitored. Business process management will enable nontechnical end users to manage their business processes across multiple organizations and do so in a language they can understand. Enterprise security will help strengthen business resiliency and will serve as an enabler for these new forms of interaction to occur in a safe, trusted environment.

In the following chapters, we take a detailed look at each of these emerging and disruptive technology categories. Within each chapter we will explore the market, the technology, and industry scenarios and benefits related to each emerging technology. The market section will cover the drivers for adoption; the recent history in terms of standards, applications, and vendors; the value chain that is being assembled in order to deliver end-to-end business solutions within this category; and profiles of some of the major vendors in the space. The technology section will briefly cover some of the concepts and fundamentals that are important for executives to understand when assessing these technologies for their business. Finally, the industry scenarios section will describe typical industry situations where these technologies can be applied and the business benefits that can be realized.