Enabling Pervasive Networking

The next element in the Inescapable Data world is pervasive networking. "If I asked my kids today what is Token Ring, they'd first look at me queerly and then cite some reference to a Hollywood movie about forest battles," says Robert LeBlanc, GM of IBM's Tivoli software division. "In what seems like overnight to me, we've gone from a business world that had very unique machinery and intermachinery connections to one whose foundation networking technologies are the same as we now use everyday in our own homes."

This comment came up in the middle of a conversation about the evolution of computer networking. LeBlanc was referring to the old IBM local area network (LAN) protocol that was prevalent during the late 1980s and 1990s. In fact, many other protocols also existed, such as AppleTalk, thin- and thick-wire Ethernet, and some other specialty types. In the early days of networking, there were many vendor-specific networking devices because, by and large, companies settled on a single vendor for the majority of their computing needs. As the mid and late 1990s rolled around, interoperability became paramount, and the world settled on Ethernet as the standard machine-to-machine network.

In the early years of this new century, communication chip speeds greatly increased, costs fell, and building devices around communication chips simplified; therefore, Ethernet-enabled devices proliferated. At the same time, a couple of other trends were taking place. Broadband connections (cable and DSL) to the home became prevalent. In addition, the appearance of the sub-$1,000 PCs made it possible, even desirable, to have more than one PC in the home. To receive broadband in the home, a special device is needed (to adopt the broadband protocol). It was trivial for manufacturers to add the chip set that allowed that device to also be a "networking hub," which enabled users to attach multiple computers to the same broadband connection. (Note that Microsoft did its part and finally made small area networking possible.) The home network was born (long after predicted), and made possible by the simple fact that the networking technology already in use by businesses was the same technology needed in the home. In fact, the mass market for networking gear created by home use brought the cost of networking gear down dramatically for home and business users alike.

Early on, home-based Ethernet networking (i.e., networking with physical wires) would only capture the interest of the techno-savvy. Thankfully, at the exact same time that broadband was entering more and more homes, wireless Ethernet technology (networking without physical wires) was turning a corner. Wireless Ethernet had been around for more than a decade, but had never taken hold; in fact, many of the companies that had painstakingly pioneered the technology went out of business. Why?

Prior to the early 2000s, the business desktop world was dominated by machines that were fixed to one spot in the office. The need for wireless computing was not acute. Soon enough, however, laptops became the dominant business PC platform. Laptops virtually scream mobilitytake me with you wherever you go. As business laptop users exploited computing mobility, the need for wireless connectivity soared, which drove the prices down and the performance up. (Before this, wireless speeds were too slow for business users.)

However, as inexpensive as 802.11b (wireless Ethernet) has now become, it is not suitable for mass deployment into devices smaller than computers because of its size, power, and cost. We are increasingly a society that needs to have everything interconnected, and we are learning to hate anything wired. We expect our home phones to be cordless. We want the ear buds for our MP3 players to connect to our hip-side devices without dangles. We have tasted the freedom 802.11b gave, and we cherish the connectivity. Enter Bluetooth.

Bluetooth is a short-range wireless networking communication method that boasts low costs and low power consumption as its main features, enabling just about anything that runs on electricity (even tiny battery electricity) to communicate with something else (as long it is only a few feet away). The magic of Bluetooth is that any and every device that has even a wisp of electricity, from an ear bud to a toaster to a flat-panel display, will now have some type of wireless communication interface. As wireless communication needs and capabilities grow, a networking hierarchy will fall out of the process that will extend the tentacles of the Inescapable Data network to many of the most commonly used electrified devices in our lives. Computers within our living spaces will be connected to the Internet via broadband. In turn, our computers will communicate via Ethernet (wired and/or wireless or Bluetooth types of technology) with our refrigerators, ovens, air-conditioning systemsany electrified device or appliance.

It is both interesting and important that the general tools and technologies used throughout office buildings are now the same as those used in our own homes. This enables an acceleration of technology use. Similar to how we all instinctively know how to drive a car on any road in any city, we now all know how to live and work in any modern location. LeBlanc added, "My kids come into the office here and walk the hallways. They see an occasional Ethernet wire and a smattering of wireless hubs on the ceilings and walls, ultimately leading to the Internet, which is where they work and play, as do we. Do you see? The home and business worlds have blurred."

Question: In a world where everything is a source of data connected to a vast network with global reach, is it realistic to expect any really useful exchange of data between all these very different devices? And will information then rise to the surface of these oceans of data? If history has shown us anything in the computer world, useful information exchange has always been challenging, if not elusive, between disparate machines. XML, discussed next, holds at least part of the solution.