Pervasive Computing Has Pervasive Problems

Patrick Thibodeau   Today’s Top Stories   or  Other Legislation/Regulation Stories  

Mobile Broadband Reveals New World of Notebook Productivity The Impact of Social Networks on Mobility Strategies The Promise of Mobile Unified Communications Five Ugly Truths about WAFS and Caching Forrester Consulting Optimizing Users and Applications in a Mobile World Case Studies Real Customers, Real Results Mobility @ the Speed of Business Virtual Reality SaaS Solutions for Remote Systems Management Sign up to receive Mobile and Wireless Resource Alerts

October 7, 2002 (Computerworld) -- WASHINGTON—The promise of pervasive computing is alluring for Lyle Meier, a systems architect at ChevronTexaco Corp. in San Francisco. Processors are turning up in large numbers in everything from automobiles to aircraft engines. And someday, smart wireless sensors may be widely deployed in oil fields—if wilderness wireless service ever becomes available.

"Oil has an annoying habit," said Meier. "It occurs where there are no people."

Meier's point is indicative of the problems inherent in pervasive computing—the concept of tying together embedded, handheld, desktop and networked systems into a single fabric with ubiquitous reach. Those problems include standards and security issues, interoperability and the lack of IP addresses to handle millions of connected devices.

A federal agency, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), is working to address those problems by developing the standards and measurements needed to stitch together hardware and software components and communications protocols.

NIST is also developing a business case for users to demand pervasive computing systems from vendors.

Last week, NIST held its third pervasive computing conference, this time focusing on health care—a paper-mired industry that NIST officials believe can see substantial business benefits from ubiquitously deployed and connected technology.

"Although the health care industry is one of the major industries in the U.S., it has been one of the slowest to embrace information technologies," said NIST Director Arden Bement.

Indeed, NIST officials stress that broad use of electronic records and wireless networking could reduce health care's administrative cost. But the lack of standards is a tremendous hurdle.

For example, health care workers are beginning to use personal digital assistants (PDA) to access and log information as they move from patient to patient, but XML support isn't available on all PDAs. The manufacturers need to be aware of the standards needed, and the standards have to be fine-tuned for portable devices, according to Mark Skall, chief of the software diagnostics and conformance testing division of the NIST.

Another problem is developing applications that can automatically adapt to different networking environments with different bandwidths, said Mike Wehrs, director of technology and standards, Mobility Planning Group, at Microsoft Corp.

Health Care Uses

In health care, pervasive computing could make it possible to create a single electronic patient record that physicians could access regardless of what device they use, said Dixie Baker, vice president for technology at Science Applications International Corp., a systems integration firm in San Diego.

But many health care systems are proprietary and stymie interoperability.

"Anything NIST can do that can crack that conundrum can help," said Jeff Sutherland, chief technology officer at PatientKeeper Inc., a health care systems developer in Brighton, Mass.

Federal Efforts Security: NIST's Advanced Encryption Standard, released last year, is critical to pervasive computing. Performance: The agency is developing measurements of Java performance on embedded processors. Models: To help industry better understand complex interactions, NIST is working on pervasive computing models. Foundation: NIST is working on a wide range of protocols.

Print this Story

Send Us Feedback

E-mail this Story

Digg this Story

Slashdot this Story

"Welcome to a special IT Blogwatch EXTRA: watching bloggers' reactions to the latest spectacular development in the standards war over..." Read more... "Stephen Spoonamore offers more details on what I was trying to drive home in my recent column: Because individual votes..." Read more... Read more Government & Regulation posts or See all Blogs

Report: AMD to spin-off manufacturing Microsoft scales out SQL Server 2008, wants to 'democratize BI' Oracle tries to step up on high-end databases More top stories...

IBM launches Bluehouse, a Facebook for business iPhone grabs top smart phone spot Wi-Fi helps college students get better grades, survey says

Health hazards for IT workers -- how that desk job wears your body down Too much junk food, too little exercise and a 24/7 tether to technology? Your body ain't happy, friend. Let us count the pains. NASA robot sends back evidence it's snowing on Mars Instruments on the surface of Mars have detected falling snow that is likely evaporating before it reaches the planet. Wall Street's collapse may be computer science's gain One positive development stemming from the collapse of Wall Street may be a boost in interest in computer science and IT careers among students who were previously interested in financial services jobs. Installing Linux apps: A few good tips Getting new software installed on Linux doesn't have to be hard, but it can differ depending on what you're installing. Windows Vista A to Z Reviews, analyses, how-tos, visual tours, hot issues and predictions about Microsoft's new OS. More Continuing Coverage After 9/11: Homeland Security Apple's iPhone Ask a Premier 100 IT Leader Bill Gates steps down BlackBerry Legal Battle Data Security Breaches Electronic Voting Firefox H-1B Visas HP's Boardroom Scandal Handheld Devices Hurricane Katrina Aftermath Microsoft Legal Issues Microsoft's Vista Open Source RFID Technology SCO's Linux Fight Sarbanes-Oxley Act Spam Voice Over IP Wi-Fi Windows Meta File Vulnerability Windows XP Service Pack 3 IT Careers 2010 Four years from now, the IT field will be a vastly different place. Will you be ready? More Special Reports Premier 100 IT Leaders 2007 Best in Class 2006 Computerworld Horizon Awards 2006 Premier 100 IT Leaders 2006 Salary Survey 2007 Best Places to Work in IT 2007 IT Forecast 2007 Premier 100 IT Leaders 40 Years of Computerworld ASPs, Take Two Best Places to Work in IT 2003 Best Places to Work in IT 2004 Best Places to Work in IT 2005 Best Places to Work in IT 2006 Business Intelligence Home Runs Business Intelligence: Smarter BI Business Intelligence: The Future of BI CRM Goes Vertical CRM: Sober CRM Career Planning Guide 2005 Careers: IT Profession 2010 Computerworld Horizon Awards 2005 Data Management: Mining for Gems Data Management: Taming Data Chaos Development: Hard-Workin' Web Sites Development: New Tools New Choices Development: The New World of Application Development Development: The Web Services Tsunami Development: Web Services Hurdles Disaster Recovery: Preparing for the Worst E-commerce Grows Up E-mail/Groupware: Big Decisions Faces of Mobile IT Forecast 2006 Global Mobile Hardware: Multiple Cores, Multiple Challenges Hardware: On-Demand Un-Hyped Hardware: The Shape of Things to Come Horizon Awards: 10 Cool Cutting Edge Technologies IT Management: Guide to Managing Vendors IT Management: Navigating Global IT IT Management: Recovery Ahead IT Management: The Future of IT IT Management: The Resourceful Project Manager Innovative Technology Awards 2004 Management: Reinventing IT Microsoft in Transition Mobile/Wireless Leaders and Laggards Mobile/Wireless: The Untethered Worker Mobile/Wireless: Tiny Gadgets, Huge Costs Network Management: Taking Control Networking: Turbulence Ahead! Networking: VoIP Goes Mainstream Operating Systems: In the Slow Lane Operating Systems: Linux Goes Global Operating Systems: Should You Nix Unix? Outsourcing: Offshore Buyer's Guide Outsourcing: Outsourcing Dangers Premier 100 IT Leaders 2004 Best in Class Premier 100 IT Leaders 2005 Best in Class ROI: Do the Math! Salary Survey 2003 Salary Survey 2004 Salary Survey 2005 Security Action Plan Security: Compliance Headaches Security: Proactive Security Security: Risk and Reward Security: Tips From Security Pros Souped-up Security Storage: Battling Complexity Storage: Cheap & Secure Data Stores Storage: Stretching Your Storage Dollars Storage: The Lean Storage Machine Storage: The New Rules of Storage Storage: The Ultimate Backup Guide Supply Chain: Missing Links Supply Chain: RFID Reality Check The Business of Security Web 2.0 Security Wireless: Wireless At Work All Zones Application Performance Zone Business Continuity Zone The File Data Management Zone Security Management Zone The SAS Zone Business Intelligence and Analytics Zone Windows Protection Zone The Enterprise Search Zone Software as a Service Zone See your link here

Mobility @ the Speed of Business Download this new tech briefing, free, compliments of HP. (Source: HP) Enterprises have a keen interest in making sure their increasingly mobile workers can get information when they need it, where they need it - not just when there is a Wi-Fi hotspot around. Many are turning to embedded broadband modems as the most cost-effective, easiest to manage solution to connect workers to the right applications. The results speak for themselves in this new tech briefing. Download this executive briefing  Virtualization Everywhere Download this white paper, free, compliments of Citrix. (Source: Citrix) Adoption of virtualization is concentrated among large enterprises, while adoption by mid-sized companies has been much slower. For these companies, the cost and complexity of server virtualization solutions has been a barrier. In this paper, we'll discuss how Citrix XenServer" provides simple, economical server virtualization for any size company. Download now! Download this white paper  The Promise of Mobile Unified Communications The Promise of Mobile Unified Communications Download this webcast, free, compliments of RIM. Go to the webcast  White Papers Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services. Project Portfolio Management - Boost the value of IT Core Network Services Survey: The Costs and Impacts of DNS and IP Address Management Six Project Metrics Every CIO Should Know for Application Delivery Success View more whitepapers

• Report: AMD to spin-off manufacturing
• IBM launches Bluehouse, a Facebook for business
• Microsoft scales out SQL Server 2008, wants to 'democratize BI'
• More top stories