Engineering work in the information society

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Transcript Engineering work in the information society

Engineering work in the information society

Adam Pawlak

[email protected]

• • • •

Presentation Outline

• • Elements of the revolution based on information The vision:

Information and communication - Information anytime , anywhere Society - global village Enterprise - global workbench

Infrastructure for the information society *

Internet, multimedia network, vs. interactive television

Convergence of technologies

Mobile and satellite communication

Working in the information society: *

distributed work, teleworking

* *

fast response to change, collaboration abstract work, new on-line jobs

New engineering paradigms and tools based on Internet Towards collaborative engineering

Engineering work in the information society

Information society ...

Which society...?

•

Information superhighways

(USA) or

global information infrastructure

(GII) - technology backbone for the

IS.

•

Information society

(European Commission) - informationsgesellschaft (Germany) •

Global information society

•

A knowledge-based society

Engineering work in the information society

The new industrial revolution

•

New information and communication technologies, as well as advances in microelectronics are responsible for the new industrial revolution that is based

•

on information.

Information may be processed, stored, retrieved, and communicated in whatever • form: oral, written or visual - unconstrained by time, distance, and volume.

10 9 -fold reduction in the cost and speed of storing and transmitting information.

• This revolution adds new capacities to human intelligence and constitutes a resource which changes the way we work and live together.

• The diffusion of these new technologies at all levels of economic and social life is thus gradually transforming our society into an

information society

Engineering work in the information society

Revolutionary changes cont’d

• • • • • New telematic infrastructures can handle the ever increasing tide of multimedia (voice, data, image, text and video) traffic.

Telephone, telefax, television and computers - are to be used in an integrated way.

New ideas, and inventions will spread out globally very rapidly. The main competitive advantage will be the ability to learn and respond faster than competition.

Increased competitiveness for enterprises and opening of new perspectives in terms of both work organization and job creation.

Knowledge and ideas will drive economy. Tremendous quantity of information will be available. Filtering will be a problem.

Engineering work in the information society

Data, Information, and Knowledge

• Unstructured data does not automatically mean information, nor can all information be equated with knowledge. •

Information

is comparable to the raw materials processed by industry to make useful products. • All information can be classified, analyzed and reflected upon and otherwise processed to generate

knowledge

. •

Codified

vs.

tacit

knowledge • Information and communication technologies as such has no effect on knowledge, still less on

wisdom

Engineering work in the information society

The rough sea of on-line information

• One of the main problems for the IS is available on-line:

misinformation

poor quality information

unreliable information

and

commercial type information

• Development of the skills and tacit knowledge to make effective use of on-line vast resource is a must.

Engineering work in the information society

Some technology predictions in the Past

Thomas J. Watson (1943):

The worldwide need for computing will be met by five computers.

Popular Mechanics (1949):

Computers will one day weight less than 1.5 tons.

Prentice-Hall, Business Editor (1957):

The data processing fad will not outlast the year.

Ken Olson (1980):

The personal computer business will fall flat on it’s face. No one will want a computer at home.

Source: Bryan Preas, Xerox PARC

Engineering work in the information society

•

New hybrid network architectures are emerging

: * * telephone calls to be made over cable television networks or the Internet,

video to be carried over telephone wires. • Optical fibre will stay essential for transferring the large amounts of multimedia data.

• • Digital compression techniques, more and more important.

Drastically reduced cost of information storage

Engineering work in the information society

Drastically reduced cost of information storage

Source:

Engineering work in the information society

Information & Telecommunication Market

Engineering work in the information society

PCS = Personal Communication Services; MMDS = Multichannel Mulitpoint Distribution System GMPCS = Global Mobile Personal Communications Systems. .

Source:

1995 World Telecommunication Development Report http://www.itu.int/ti/wtdr95/

The vision

Information anytime, and anywhere

Applications, e.g.: air traffic control, road traffic management, health care, teleworking, distance learning,...

Engineering work in the information society

Society - global village

• •

Minimising of distance and remoteness among citizens New opportunities to express cultural traditions and identities, also for those standing on the geographical periphery

Engineering work in the information society

Enterprise - global workbench

• • • •

Globalization, and new markets - new ways in accessing customers Novel information services and applications Audio-visual markets Ending monopoly for telecom operators

•

Means also fostering an entrepreneurial mentality to enable the emergence of new dynamic sectors of the economy

Engineering work in the information society

The European Commission’s vision

• • • • • • • The EC has been committed to IS vision since the beginning of the 80’s.

Information technologies - ESPRIT programme, launched in 1984.

RACE programme on advanced communications (1985).

First three programmes on telematic applications launched in 1986: AIM (health care), DRIVE (road transport) and DELTA (distance learning).

All these programmes have been extended in the 4th RDT framework programme.

The policies implemented since 1987 in the fields of telecommunications and, more recently, the audiovisual sector, are also involved in this dynamic development.

The Commission issues White Paper (1993) on:

Growth, competitiveness and employment: the challenges and courses for entering into the XXIst century Engineering work in the information society

Growth, competitiveness and employment: the challenges and courses for entering into the XXIst century EC - White paper, 1993

• Emphasizes the significance of this evolution towards the

information society

for the future of European society.

• Stresses the importance and urgency of developing a Pan-European information infrastructure to help revive European economic growth and competitiveness and to create new markets and jobs.

• European Council ordered in Dec. 1993 preparation of the report on concrete measures for its implementation.

• As a result, the Bangemann’s report was prepared (June 1994):

Europe and the global information society Recommendations to the European Council Engineering work in the information society

Europe and the global information society Recommendations to the European Council

- the Bangemann’s report • Emphasizes the urgency of a Community action and the need to speed up the process of liberalization at the same time consolidating the universal service.

• Specifies that financing information infrastructure is mainly the responsibility of the private sector.

• European Union and its Member States to create a coherent statutory framework to avoid the circulation of information being impeded by different national regulations.

• The report also proposes a list of ten initiatives aimed at demonstrating the feasibility and usefulness of new telematic applications.

Engineering work in the information society

Ten initiatives of the Bangeman’s group Teleworking Distance learning Networks between universities and research centres Telematic services for SME's Road traffic management Air traffic control Health networks Electronic tendering Trans-European networks of government authorities Urban information superhighways

Engineering work in the information society

Appl. 1: Teleworking -

More jobs, new jobs, for a mobile society

Target:

•

10 million teleworking jobs by the year 2000.

Positive role of Telework

is not only contributing to the economic competitiveness of European enterprises but also to the quality of life of its citizens, and its potential in creating work opportunities.

Engineering work in the information society

Appl. 4: Telematic Services for SMEs

- Relaunching a main engine for growth and employment in Europe

•

The widest possible use of telematic services (E-mail, file transfer, EDI, video conferencing, distance learning, etc.) by European SMEs, with links

• •

to public authorities, trade associations, customers and suppliers.

•

Raise the awareness of added value services, and communications in general, among SMEs. Increase access to trans-European data networks. If the necessary ISDN networks are available at competitive rates, the private sector will provide trans-European value-added services tailored for SMEs.

Target: 40% of SMEs (firms with more than 50 employees) using telematic networks by 1996.

Engineering work in the information society

The EC programmes related to the research and development for the information society ACTS:

(Advanced Communications Technologies and Services) the European Commission's major effort to support precompetitive RTD in the context of trials in the field of telecommunications during the period of the Fourth Framework Programme of scientific research and development (1994-1998).

RACE:

is a collaborative European research programme, running from June 1987 to December 1995 (including Phases I & II and extension). The overall objective is the introduction of Integrated Broadband Communication (IBC) taking into account the evolving ISDN and national introduction strategies, progressing towards Community-wide services by 1995.

ESPRIT:

an initiative of the European Commission DG III (Industry) is a major research programme in information technologies

Engineering work in the information society

The EC programmes related to the research and development for the information society cont’d Telematics application programme:

Research, technological development and demonstration projects for telematics applications and support actions in the following sectors of the programme: Administrations, Transport, Research, Education and Training, Urban and Rural Areas, Environment, Other Exploratory Actions, Language Engineering.

IBC Lab:

Demonstration and dissemination of the results of R&D efforts: RACE and ACTS. As the Programme RACE is coming to an end and ACTS is taking over, more advanced communication prototypes in various domains are becoming available which can be used by the Commission services to interact with the projects and field related actors in a more effective manner.

Engineering work in the information society

The EC programmes related to the research and development for the information society cont’d The TeleServ project

is part of the European COPERNICUS Programme, which is set up to manage technology projects in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries.

TeleServ's strategic goal is to connect 2000 technologists in the CEE region, to networks and services used by their peers in the West. The intention is to provide technology transfers and employment opportunities in both directions for the region.

I'M Europe -

an initiative of Directorate-General XIII of the EC to provide the World Wide Web with information about Europe and the European electronic information market.

Engineering work in the information society

ACTS:

(Advanced Communications Technologies and Services) • The development of advanced communication systems and services will contribute to the emergence of an information society in Europe. • RTD aimed at bringing together telecommunications, television and media is essential for the development of trans-European networks and services. • These activities are therefore crucial not only for all economic activities but also for social cohesion and cultural development. Compared with the third framework programme, greater emphasis will be placed on the application of technologies.

Topics to be focussed on

Engineering work in the information society

ACTS: in IV Framework Programme cont’d

Topics to be focused on: ·

Interactive digital multimedia services

sound, images and digital data; - systems and services combining ·

Photonic technologies -

fully optical networks by the year 2000; ·

High-speed networking

- services such as videophones, teleworking and social care, thanks to efficient integrated networks; ·

Mobility and personal communications networks

- offer the public a new generation of flexible and reliable cordless transmission systems; ·

Intelligence in networks and service engineering

- intelligent communication systems and enable users themselves to determine the type of services offered; ·

Quality, security and safety of communication services and systems

- ensure the reliability and security of information transmitted (electronic signatures).

Engineering work in the information society

ESPRIT ESPRIT:

an initiative of the European Commission DG III (Industry).

The technological areas to be supported are: • • • • • • • • Software Technologies (ST) Technologies for Components and Subsystems (TCS) Multimedia Systems (MS) Long Term Research (LTR) Focused Cluster: Open Microprocessor Systems Initiative (OMI) Focused Cluster: High Performance Computing and Networking (HPCN) Focused Cluster: Technologies for Business Process (TBP) Focused Cluster: Integration in Manufacturing (IIM)

Engineering work in the information society

Fifth Framework Programme

Living World & Ecosystem

3.925 BECU Thematic Programmes

Information Society Technologies

3.925 BECU Towards FP5 objectives CEC Draft 1999 2002

Competitive & Sustainable Growth

3.925 BECU Horizontal Programmes

International Cooperation

491 MECU

Innovation & SMEs

350 MECU

Total: 16.3 Billion ECU (incl. Euratom)

Human Potential

1.402 BECU

Source: Marc GOFFART European Commission Engineering work in the information society

http://www.kp.dlr.de/BENEFIT/sr/index-mg.htm

IS for the citizen New ways of working Multimedia content and tools

Source: Marc GOFFART European Commission

Building blocks

Presentation Outline

•

Elements of the revolution based on information

•

The vision:

Information and communication - Information anytime , anywhere Society - global village Enterprise - global workbench

•

Infrastructure for the information society

* * *

Internet, multimedia network, vs. interactive television Convergence of technologies Mobile and satellite communication

• Working in the information society : *

distributed work, teleworking

* *

fast response to change, collaboration abstract work, new on-line jobs

• New engineering paradigms and tools based on Internet • Towards collaborative engineering © Adam Pawlak

Engineering work in the information society

Moore’s law

The power of microprocessors has been regularly doubling about every 18 months for the past 25 years.

The trend continues.

Engineering work in the information society

Metcalfe’s law

The value of a computer network grows as the square of the number of connected elements. The trend is to connect all computers to a single network.

Engineering work in the information society

US Vice-President Al Gore on GII March 21, 1994 .

A planetary information network that transmits messages and images with the speed of light from the largest city to the smallest village on every continent. ... This GII will circle the globe with information superhighways on which all people can travel ... These highways --or, more accurately, networks of distributed intelligence - will allow us to share information, to connect, and to communicate as a global community. Engineering work in the information society

Bangemann Report to the European Council, Europe and the global information society

Brussels, May 1994.

Throughout the world, information and communications technologies are generating a new industrial revolution already as significant and far-reaching as those of the past. It is a revolution based on information. ... Information has a multiplier effect that will energize every economic sector. With market-driven tariffs, there will be a vast array of novel information services and applications. ... Since information activities are borderless in an open market environment, the information society has an essentially global dimension". Engineering work in the information society

Building Japan's information infrastructure , Izumi Aizi Nihon Keizai Shimbun, April 16, 1993 The cost of information today consists not so much of the creation of contents, which should be the real value, but of the storage and efficient delivery of information, that is in essence the cost of paper, printing, transport, warehousing, and other physical distribution means, plus the cost of the personnel needed to run these "extra" services. ... Realising an autonomous distributed networked society, which is the real essence of the Internet, will be the most critical issue for the success of the information and communication revolution of the coming century or millennium." Engineering work in the information society

Global information infrastructure (GII)

• Several competing visions: a

high performance computer network

data access and retrieval which will facilitate high-speed

computer industry perspective

; • a

multimedia network,

the primary use of which will be conveying video in conjunction with data, image, text and voice -

the telecommunications industry perspective;

• a medium for

interactive television

, in which the intelligent television set rather than the home computer or the video telephone becomes the main communication channel -

the entertainment industry perspective

Which vision will materialise as GII

Engineering work in the information society

The Internet

as a high performance computer network ? • •

GII

can be seen as a

high performance computer network

which will facilitate high-speed data access and retrieval. • • The

Internet

is seen as the precursor for a GII. Should be extended from the academic and research communities to a broader commercial marketplace. • Must preserve openness and innovation that have been a critical part of the Internet's success. • • Could form the basis for a new model of network development. The Internet suffers from: potential misuse, security problems and lack of structure. It is also a narrow band rather than a broadband or high capacity network. The Internet may, therefore, be more useful as a test bed for network evolution rather than being the network itself.

Engineering work in the information society

GII as a

multimedia network ?

• Alternatively the GII could be envisaged as a

multimedia network,

for conveying video, with data, image, text and voice. • According to this vision, many of the potential applications will encompass the entertainment, education and health care sectors as well as the business market. • This vision by providing access to schools, universities, hospitals and public libraries predominates among politicians.

Engineering work in the information society

Interactive television

as a foundation for GII ?

• The intelligent television set becomes the main communication channel with: • multiple new television channels, • video-on-demand, • home shopping and other services. • Good for video games as well as for multinational videoconferences. • Entertainment would be the key service, but education and business services will profit as well.

Engineering work in the information society

A report of the Japanese Ministry of Posts and Telecoms (MPT) said that terrestrial digital TV broadcasting should start in the Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya regions by the end of 2003 instead of 2000. The delay is linked to the multi-billion Ecu investment required to switch to digital broadcasting, which acts as a deterrent for industry. The MPT recently unveiled a stimulus package aimed to help broadcasters to switch to digital TV. The report said it expects analogue broadcasting in Japan to end in 2010.

Engineering work in the information society

Information industry convergence -

single

network of networks

can, theoretically, accommodate each of these different visions.

Engineering work in the information society

Towards the information infrastructure for the IS

•

Seamless interconnection of networks: - fixed, mobile, and satellite

• • •

Interoperability of services and applications Integrated Services Digital Network - ISDN: a first step - use of telephone lines for transfer of data (even moving images) - e.g. PC to PC communication, low cost transmission of documents - teleworking using ISDN services can be attractive to a wide range of bussinesses. Ideal for distance learning.

Broadband networks: the path to multimedia - Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) technology should be the backbone of the information society.

- cable (optical fibre), and satellite networks - data compression, and advanced DSP transmission techniques.

Engineering work in the information society

Optical fibres - voice channel equivalents

Source:

Engineering work in the information society

Optical fibres - used vs. unused capacity

Source:

Engineering work in the information society

INTERNET

• • • Radically decentralised systems, no one controls it!

Internet is, in a certain sense, is a set of protocols. Anyone who follows those protocols can play any of a number of roles in the syste: service provider, service user, network provider, and so on. Services required by the IS are supported by INTERNET - built-in control mechanisms (TCP/IP protocol) is its strength - can comprise even 600 - 1000 millions of networks; required are new routers and intelligent software - Serious security problems

Engineering work in the information society

Netscape founder Marc Andreesen has described the Internet as:

"... a platform for entrepreneurial activities - a free market

economy in its truest sense. Its a level playing field where

people can do anything they wanted to".

Engineering work in the information society

Televisions, 1'160m Telephone & mobile subscribers, 698m

Worldwide installed base, 1994

Cellular radio Personal Computers, 180m Satellite DTH Cable TV

Internet connected PCs

Despite this astonishing rate of growth, the Internet still only constitutes a small slice of the information industry pie.

THE Internet and the ITU

Dr Pekka Tarjanne

European high performance Internet

DANTE, FINE, RIPE, TEN-34 and TERENA

Rapid follow-on of the TEN-34 Project to 155 and 622 Mbps

Engineering work in the information society

US Internet2 project

• • • • Commodity Internet Internet2 plans to operate at 2.4 Gbs/sec 600 Mbit/s - is fast enough to transmit a 30-volume encyclopaedia in less than one second.

Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP), will enable users to reserve a required internet bandwidth.

• Selectable quality of service (QoS): transmission speed, bounded delay and delay variance, throughput, and schedule • • Today is used the Internet Protocol (IP) version 4. I2 will deploy IP version 6 (IPv6). All implementations must be backward compatible with IPv4.

Engineering work in the information society

Information infrastructure for the IS cont’d

Mobile communication

• 8 million users (1994) - doubling every year • Europe is an important leader in mobile communications • GSM - very successful

Engineering work in the information society

Information infrastructure for the IS cont’d

Satellites

• Mainly used for television broadcasting, however • May provide Internet access at low cost (??) with broadband “bandwidth on demand” to very large number of users.

Engineering work in the information society

Satellites and the Internet

Linking every home in the World to the Internet through fibre optic cable would cost $300 billion.

To do the same think with global satellite coverage would cost about $9 billion.”

FCC Commissioner Susan Ness After Randy Katz, UC Berkeley

Applications:

• Desktop video conferencing • Computer networking • Tele- medical imaging • CAD/ CAM transmission • Distance learning • Multimedia database/ digital library access • High speed Internet access - direct- to- end- user • Infrastructure on demand

Engineering work in the information society

Size of the Satellite Market

•

1997

– 1500 satellites of all types – 700 Ku- band satellites – 300 GEO satellites, representing over $18 Billion in services & equipment – As many satellites sold between 1995- 1997 as sold throughout 1980s – 44 Iridium satellites in orbit by end of year •

2003

– Satellite population to grow to 2000, $60 billion – Shift to Ka- band – 1078 planned satellites for 14 different s ystems (mostly LEOs)

Source: Randy Katz

Engineering work in the information society

Source:

Presentation Outline

•

Elements of the revolution based on information

•

The vision:

Information and communication - Information anytime , anywhere Society - global village Enterprise - global workbench

• •

Infrastructure for the information society Working in the information society

: * * *

distributed work, teleworking fast response to change, collaboration abstract work, new on-line jobs

• New engineering paradigms and tools based on Internet • Towards collaborative engineering

Engineering work in the information society

Reshaping work

• Dramatic reduction in the cost and time of storing, processing and transmitting information has a fundamental effect on the way we organise the production and distribution of goods and services and, thereby, on work itself. • Reshaping skill structures and the organisation of enterprises. • New industrial and enterprise culture characterised by flexibility, trust, commitment and ability to anticipate and harness changes required.

• Fundamental change to the labour market, and to society as a whole.

Engineering work in the information society

The facts: a new world of work

• • Transformations from standardised manual production towards a more diversified, knowledge based, production of goods and services. "Flexible enterprises" more and more based on processes, less and less on specialised functions. Workers perform a range of tasks, rather than pass the job on from one to another. • Enterprises are being transformed from hierarchical and complex organisations with simple jobs, to less hierarchical, more decentralised and network-oriented organisations, with more complex jobs. • The new flexible enterprise has been described as a fleet of small boats, moving on the same course, as opposed to an oil tanker steered from a central point.

PEOPLE FIRST, European Commission.

New distribution of international labour

• • • The development of high speed networks and advanced services will induce a

new distribution of international labour

. Companies will no longer consider distance as a barrier to implement subsidiaries or to start up new firms in other regions and countries. It encourages outsourcing of jobs around the globe, including white collar workers (e.g. software production in Asia).

Engineering work in the information society

•

The first challenge: to build knowledge and raise awareness of new forms of work organisation.

•

The second challenge: to ensure that SMEs take full advantage of the IS

Enormous potential for firms to become more competitive and to create better working conditions. It has particular advantages for SMEs, the key engines of employment growth - and especially "microfirms" - since the whole concept is built on the small unit, market-driven, decentralised and based on team working.

PEOPLE FIRST, European Commission.

Attributes of work in the IS

Re-engineering, downsizing, decentralisation, flattening of hierarchies, networking of self-directed firms, total quality management, part-time working and teleworking

are all part of the same inevitable process of re-adjustment to a new environment.

distributed work, part-time work, short-term contracts increased accessibility of work for all: women at home,

disabled people, people in remote locations.

Engineering work in the information society

•

Effective, flexible organisation of work as a key competitive factor

: - fast response to change, - free flow of ideas between enterprise departments.

• • Reduced waste and duplication of effort to increase cost effectiveness and shortening production cycles.

Close collaboration with suppliers, buyers and even competitors to make the productive ensemble more responsive market and technological changes.

Engineering work in the information society

Flexibility changes affecting individual workers:

• • • • functional flexibility leads to a wider range of skills or roles; temporal flexibility leads to more contracts such as casual, temporary or fixed term employment ; externalisation leads to more employment taking the form of freelance or sub-contract work.

Telework

is a good example of how information technologies both permit and promote the new flexibility.

Engineering work in the information society

New company structures..

...under increasing economic pressure are emerging. • Companies are adapting their structures to become more competitive. • They tend to be more and more organised as:

a network of processes

and to be

decentralised, distributed

collaborative

(vital functions are outsourced to competitors, to their mutual benefit), and

adaptive

(shifting from products to services).

Engineering work in the information society

Teleworking

• • • Teleworking in homes and satellite offices, so that commuters no longer need to travel long distances to work. From there, they can connect electronically to whatever professional environment they need, irrespective of the system in use.

• telecentre working (where an office is shared by several firms), • distance group working, and • teleservices provision as in telesecretariats, and telemaintenance.

Companies (both large and SMEs) and public administrations will benefit from productivity gains, increased flexibility, cost savings. For employees, more flexible working arrangements will be particularly beneficial for all those tied to the home, and for people in remote locations the narrowing of distances will help cohesion.

 Decreased opportunities for social contact. Labor legislation, and social security will have to be assessed.

Engineering work in the information society

Teleworking cont’d

The main areas of potential application are in:

data and text processing, programming, writing, editing, translating, marketing and training, and research/consultancy activities.

Engineering work in the information society

New types of jobs and forms of work

•

New information managers

(using expertise about the contents of cyberspace to provide knowledge rather than information); •

Multimedia managers

(people skilled in putting together information from different sources and from different media so that messages can be put across); •

Internet plumbers

(people who provide troubleshooting services to firms and individuals in setting up, using and adapting on-line services); •

New educationalists

- (people who can act as guides and coaches to the array of information and learning material on-line).

Engineering work in the information society

Working in the information society - Some conclusions

• • • • • •

Technologies are neither inherently good nor bad. It is up to us to shape it into the forms which we desire.

New patterns of autonomous work to emerge based upon the on-line economy.

Work will become more abstract in nature. Information work is brain work requiring conceptual and analytical skills rather than being based on intuitive skills or physical actions.

It will be possible to bring work back to the home.

Very small firms (even self-employed people) can use the access to the network to compete with firms that have the advantages of size.

Clearly, the challenge for all of us is to place an emphasis on developing the positive aspects of the Information Society.

Engineering work in the information society

Presentation Outline

• •

Elements of the revolution based on information The vision:

Information and communication - Information anytime , anywhere Society - global village Enterprise - global workbench

•

Infrastructure for the information society

•

Working in the information society

: *

distributed work, teleworking

* *

fast response to change, collaboration abstract work, new on-line jobs

•

New engineering paradigms and tools based on Internet

• Towards collaborative engineering

Engineering work in the information society

Collaboration

is one of the central requirements for engineering today

Engineering work in the information society

Internet users in mlns

26.7

Compound Annual Growth Rate = 113.1%

7.2

0.01 0.02 0.05

0.3

0.5

1.3

2.4

4.4

1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 13.2

1994

PC users

180 mlns in 1994

The Internet has doubled in size each year for the past decade.

Pekka Tarjanne, SG ITU, 1995 Source:

ITU World Telecommunication Indicators Database

Engineering work in the information society

The WWW phenomenon

While the Internet doubles in size every 11 -12 months

the World Wide Web doubles every 53 days.

Source: Alexander NTOKO, Int.Telecommunication Union, 1996 Engineering work in the information society

Traditional engineering paradigm

     

little or no information sharing, a static organizational structure, lack of cooperation among competitors, vertical integration, product focus, and static passive infrastructure.

Engineering work in the information society

A paradigm shift in engineering

•

A competitive marketplace

•

Fast and safe enterprise-wide engineering

•

Efficiency and certain maturity of network technologies: Communication over the Internet, and corporate Intranets is easy and inexpensive , Internet is rapidly integrated in a design process by providing every member of an engineering team an immediate access to any required information through WWW

Engineering work in the information society

Towards the

virtual (agile) model of engineering

     

information sharing, collaboration among competitors, dynamic organizational structure, shared infrastructure, shared core competencies, focus on customers requirements

Engineering work in the information society

New technologies - new applications - new requirements

• • • • V

irtual design environments

(tools over Internet)

Collaborative virtual prototyping environments Tele-immersion Modelling over Internet

Due to a confluence of factors, engineering collaboration integrating widely distributed teams becomes feasible.

Engineering work in the information society

• V

irtual design environments

(tools over Internet)

• Configurable set of engineering tools distributed over Internet or on enterprise Intranets. • Easier sharable work

Engineering work in the information society

Internet-wide IC design using WELD Web-based Electronic System Design

http://www-cad.eecs.berkeley.edu/Respep/Research/weld/

Engineering work in the information society

Three-tier architecture

consisting of:

Tools or services that are made available for network access Services existing in the network that assist various client/server activities Users/programs who access © Adam Pawlak 87

Engineering work in the information society

Synchronicitys Mission

To be the leading supplier of Web-Based Groupware for the Management, Reuse, and Secure Distribution of Electronic Design Information and Intellectual Property.

Engineering work in the information society

Design Management Groupware (DMG)

product for collaborative design on the WWW

for engineering groups designing integrated circuits (ICs).

•

DesignSync HLD

, developed to enable collaboration among local and geographically dispersed design teams, improves efficiency, productivity and communication of project information, while decreasing development cycles and associated costs. • Secure, Web-based client/server architecture with configuration management and revision/release control, as well as full user authentication, data encryption and compression when sensitive design data is in transit. •

DesignSync HDL

dramatically simplifies project and user administration while allowing project team members better communication and access to crucial design data anytime, anywhere.

Source: Synchronicity - http://www.syncinc.com/

Engineering work in the information society

•

Collaborative virtual prototyping environments

• Support teams with shared viewing environments in combination with sophisticated communication tools. They have a character of multi-user and multi-application shared 3D environments. • 3D objects "can be joined into one scene that can be viewed by different users with independent or shared camera positions, enabling the distribution of visualisation tasks between smaller, flexible and more specialised applications".

Engineering work in the information society

•

Tele-immersion

• • • • • • Presents the high-end technology of virtual prototyping. Will significantly change the research and engineering paradigms. Engineers at widely dispersed places will be able to share a single virtual environment. They will be able to interact and communicate in real time. Modelled objects may have molecular, physical or economic attributes. Virtual prototypes can be: modelled, their designs reviewed, and evaluated.

Engineering work in the information society

•

Modelling over Internet

• ProActiveM technology and Engineering Links for CAD/CAM/CAE domain from Bentley. • • Collaborative engineering based on Web with set of tools and technologies extending the Web browsers with CAD capabilities. • • Active Models™ can run without re-compilation on all platforms, and are indexed in the way facilitating their search. ProActiveM is an object-oriented language, binary compatible on Bentley platforms. It's a superset of Java, thus it allows execution of Java programs within Bentley's CAD software.

Engineering work in the information society

Bentley Systems’ MicroStation Link embedded Web browser : (a) provides full Web navigation-all capabilities without making users leave the CAD system, and (b) can be used to embed pointers to information related to the overall project.

Source:

Regli97

Engineering work in the information society

Presentation Outline

• •

Elements of the revolution based on information The vision:

Information and communication - Information anytime , anywhere Society - global village Enterprise - global workbench

•

Infrastructure for the information society

•

Working in the information society

: *

distributed work, teleworking

* *

fast response to change, collaboration abstract work, new on-line jobs

• •

New engineering paradigms and tools based on Internet Towards collaborative engineering

Engineering work in the information society

Engineering work in the information society

- relevant notions

Keywords: information society, Internet-based collaborative engineering, distributed engineering, network-based engineering, WWW technologies, global engineering networks, tools over the Internet, virtual design environments, digital engineering libraries, networks, pan-European collaboration, standards.

Engineering work in the information society

From the panel in Florence

Introduction

New model of engineering Internet and WWW as enabling technologies

Towards collaborative engineering based on Web

CSCW - a discipline with a tradition WWW in Internet-based collaboration Engineering over WWW New technologies and applications Engineering libraries and services on Web Collaborative engineering vs. reengineering

Standards for collaborative engineering IT infrastructures

Engineering work in the information society

New projects, e.g.

• •

MADEFAST

had as a design objective an

optical seeker Radeo Program

•

VELA

targets an advanced

multimedia processor chip

Engineering work in the information society

Collaborative engineering

is an innovative method for product development which integrates widely distributed engineers for virtual collaboration.

[Cutkosky, MADEFAST, Communicat. of the ACM, Sept. 1996]

shared eng. data real-time communicat interactivity Objective: optical seeker

Engineering work in the information society

Multidisciplinary engineers Not co-located Asynchronous Communications

Engineering work in the information society

Engineering notebook

for personal and shared design information and as a gateway to tools and services on the Internet

Source:

http://madefast.stanford.edu/ACM_paper.html

Engineering work in the information society

105

Engineering work in the information society

Technology for collaborative engineering

• high performance workstations with advanced visualisation and modelling software needed for virtual prototyping, • • high speed networks, and appropriate standards including those for product data representation, as well as communication.

WWW as an universal, platform truly independent interface to team members, tools, and libraries.

Engineering work in the information society

Design of new systems on a chip is particularly well suited for new collaborative engineering technologies. Designs exceeding 10 mlns of transistors per chip would require hundreds of man-years effort if designed from scratch. The viable strategies are those based extensively on re-use. Re-use crossing the enterprise borders require however, new standards and solutions including those for intellectual properties protection. The recently announced CAD tools which are Web-based: project: SpecChart Editor, JavaSIS - logic synthesis, and optimization; 's - groupware product for the management, reuse, and secure distribution of electronic design information; ' s Design Exchange provides secure design collaboration environment for geographically dispersed design teams; to name just a few.

These are first academic and industrial developments in putting the Internet and Web into the engineering practice. Perhaps, it's worth to note, that all are stemming from the US.

Engineering work in the information society

WWW-based collaborative engineering

• WWW has been conceived as a support for collaboration among researchers

- asynchronous communication, electronic publishing

•

WWW requires :

•

extensions of HTML and the HTTP protocols; content languages;

•

navigation, annotation, and visualisation of complex engineering objects; new types of "engineering" links;

•

protection of intellectual properties ;

•

indexing and retrieval of complex objects;

•

collaboration-oriented developments in WWW browsers;

•

engineering databases infrastructure for WWW.

Engineering work in the information society

Strategic goal - global engineering networks

• "Working together through shared knowledge" - original goals of the WWW [Tim Berners-Lee] "Collaboration on the Web" talk , he stressed the need for "sharing knowledge - with semantics ". • A common understanding of engineering artifacts has to be established . • Internet-based engineering services will cluster into networks specialized for a particular engineering domains, like DSP design, mechanical and civil, or chemical engineering . • All these engineering networks will provide access to specialized libraries collecting domain-specific knowledge and expertise.

Engineering work in the information society

Strategic goal - global engineering networks cont’d

• •

Research and development is required

: a systematisation of

engineering knowledge

, new methods and tools for acquisition, retrieval and representation • of engineering knowledge; new techniques and tools for engineering knowledge capture/codification, and re-use.

Engineering work in the information society

Virtual organizasations enabling net-based eng.

• Will become capable of faster change, i.e. enabling dextrous design and production

Engineering work in the information society

Towards the pan-European collaborative engineering

•

• First successful examples of pan-European collaborative engineering based on Internet.

Telework can contribute to a decreased brain drain and fix in Europe groups of experts in specific domains.

• Is the awareness about the potential of the new technologies for collaborative engineering equally shared among the EU and CEE partners ?

Engineering work in the information society

Benefits of Collaborative Engineering

•

• Core competency sharing through "platform of capability" in the product development Product and process optimization with fewer iterations • • Rapid response to customer needs Cooperation and team responsibility for customer defined opportunities • Cost containment in experimenting with new designs

Source: US National Center for Excellence in Metalworking Technology Engineering work in the information society

References

[Regli97]

Regli W.,

Internet - enabled Computer Aided Design

, Internet Computing, Jan-Feb. 1997

Internet2 Project - next generation Internet for research and educatio

[IC97] Engineering meets the Internet

How will the new technology affect engineering practice?

Internet Computing, Jan-Feb. 1997.

[PCSWW97]

Pawlak A., Cellary W., Smirnov A., Warzee X., Willis J.:

Collaborative Engineering based on Web - how far to go?,

Advances in Information Technologies: The Business Challenge, J.-Y. Roger et al. (Eds.) IOS Press, 1997.

TEN-34 Trans-European Network

WELD : Web-based Electronic Design

project at Univ. of California, Berkely.

[WETICE96]

Workshops on

Enabling Technologies: Infrastructure for Collaborative Enterprises

, Workshop at Stanford, July 19-21 1996.

Engineering work in the information society