Computing and Communications Technologies:

Quo Vadis ?

Athens, 20 May 2001

Horst ForsterEuropean Commission

ATH0

DistributedSystems

Control SystemsCognitive Vision

EmbeddedSystems

Optical NetworkingNetwork Management

Distributed ApplicationsService Provision

PervasiveComputing /Networking

Computing and Networking

IBM0

Where do we go from now ?

Computing and embedded software are ubiquitous

Networks and bandwidth are proliferating. . . and growth continues

Cheap miniaturised sensors emerge

IBM1

Implications

Infrastructure supports more functionality

Applications become distributed

Applications are tethered to the physical world

Systems are increasing in scale and complexity

ATH2

Implications:Infrastructure Evolution

1996-2000 Static optical networkingData prevails over voice Cellular telephony on the rise

2001-2005 Dynamic optical networkingData-centric networksCellular telephony meets Internet

2006-2010 All-optical networking ?and beyond Towards “4th G” ?

ATH3

Challenges: Infrastructure

Transformation

. . . from connected networks and computers

. . . to service access and delivery environment• adapt automatically and dynamically• distributed (and possibly mobile) demands• satisfy all aspects of the user’s computing,

communication, storage and service functionality

CONTROL

ATH5

Challenges: Applications

Transformation

. . . from processing and delivery of data

. . . to interaction with many data sources, dynamically changing data-sets and tasks

• augment human capabilities in analysis, interpretation and decision-making

• computation cannot always prevail• master scale and complexity in an intelligent

way

COGNITIONATH6

In short

As computing and communications

become ubiquitous, control and

cognition will rank as key enabling

technologies

ATH7

Cognitive vision systemsExamples of projects

COGVIS

-provides methods to enable task-oriented categorisation and recognition of objects and events

-system:‘understands’ - recognition/categorisation through association‘knows’ - memory as a basis for information representation/maintenance‘learns’ - allows operation beyond initial specifications

-a prototype integrating methods will interpret user actions and perform tasks,e.g. fetch and deliver objects in realistic settings

COGVISYS

-builds a vision system that can be used in a wider variety of vields

-system: self-adapts at level of perceptionuses explicit knowledge base at level of reasoning

-demonstrators will translate visual information into textual descriptione.g. for traffic surveillance, sign language interpretation, video annotation

IBM2

Pervasive ComputingExample

O Z O N E

nomadic use of technology

natural interfaces

pervasive connectivity; location & situation awareness

dynamic configuration of computing elements and services

high performance (low power) hw/sw platforms

low cost

IBM3