Pervasive, Invisible: the "Post-PC World"

Prasanto K. Roy

SINGAPORE: Pervasive computing (PvC) is the next infotech revolution. In a world of smart appliances, IT will step beyond visible computers, immersing us in the environment of an intelligent network that incorporates the Internet. We’ll use devices that look nothing like computers: mobile phones, smart watches, cards, all interacting with this network. And most of us won’t know we’re using "computers".

The Singapore Pervasive Computing ’99 conference, which drew to a close today, was organized by IBM and hosted by Singapore’s National University. IBM chief Lou Gerstner’s description set the tone for the three-day event: A billion people interacting with a million e-businesses, using a trillion intelligent interconnected devices.

This is the "post-PC world"–not because the PC will be replaced, but because will be extended and supplemented by these intelligent devices with embedded software. And the focus will move even further away from the PC, to the "ambient" network and all-pervasive appliances.

IBM’s Beijing R&D labs director Dr George Wang focused on China as the biggest emerging PvC market in the world. The mainland is a natural for PvC: 72 million pagers, 40 million VCD players, 350 million TV sets with 80 million cable connections, and over 28 million mobiles, as of mid-1999. There are also 15 million PCs and four million Internet accounts, and a wireless network that could be the world’s largest by 2001.

Dr Wang observed that PvC extends from an Internet-centric world. By 2001, a quarter of all Internet access will be via non-PC devices, some 50 million of them. A year later, only half the sales of Web-ready devices will be PCs.

Among the PvC related technologies to have come out of the Beijing Labs is ThinkScribe script recognition, which is implemented in a Cross product. The CrossPad looks and writes like a pad with paper and a Cross pen, but it also has a sensor layer under the paper surface to store the writing. This is send to a PC via a serial link, and run through handwriting recognition software.

Another bit of work at the same labs has been Chinese support added to IBM’s WorkPad c3 (a Palm V, made by 3Com for IBM). This has meant the addition of a Chinese OS layer, handwriting support with 20,000-character recognition, and an English-to-Chinese dictionary, all in the basic 2 MB of ROM.

IBM’s Chinese WorkPad is being used by Beijing’s Public Health bureau for blood-pressure surveys and other mobile health applications, uplinking to Lotus Domino servers. Applications are under way for stock trading, insurance, and other transaction areas.

PvC faces a range of challenges today, and it poses an equal number to the traditional infotech world: technical, social, policy-related, and often a mix of these. Organizations with secure networks carrying sensitive data are suddenly faced with hundreds of palmtop-wielding employees carrying megabytes of data. This is a security issue that needs an enterprise-wide palmtops and appliances policy.

And of course, the big technology challenge for PvC is to provide mission-critical availability and reliability. The network and the device can’t fail. Your desktop PC could go down, but when you’re late for a flight and are checking in on your mobile, you can’t tolerate reboots or crashes. Other challenges include security, scalability, availability, end-to-end management, social issues, tools, extensibility, and ease of use, not necessarily in that order.

In 2000, WAP- (Wireless Access Protocol) enabled cellular handsets such as Nokia’s 7110 will have service provider support, letting you book or change a flight plan while rushing to the airport. Washing machines will be Web enabled, so that a developing fault is reported back to the support company before you even know about it. Navigation-equipped devices such as Casio’s GPS watch will interact with your PDA to guide you in a new city, as you go from meeting to meeting.

IBM’s PvC activity is part of the reinvention of Big Blue around the e-paradigm. In a bid to provide end to end pervasive e-business solutions, IBM is partnering with other companies, according to John Turek, of IBM’s Pervasive Computing division. Examples are the OEM arrangement with 3Com for the WorkPad c3, tie-ups with Nokia and others for mobile services and solutions, and arrangements with telecom carriers and a host of others.