# NEW SERVICES AND TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS ON THE HORIZON

## Changes in Network Services and Trends in Technological Development

With the explosion in Internet users, the Internet environment is changing qualitatively, and new services and technologies are coming into use that will result in a "ubiquitous network society." These changes in the Internet environment can be seen in the communications network, which is getting faster and being used in more different ways; the increasing diversity in Internet-access devices; and the increasing sophistication of data management and access management. The most obvious change in our network environment has been the spread of fast or super-fast constant-connection, but in the future other kinds of changes can be expected: proliferating "hotspots" for wireless access, and the seamless integration of networking into everyday objects, as with smartcards that communicate wirelessly. The hardware at the edge of the network—today, mostly personal computers and cell phones—will likewise diversify to include devices that previously had functions completely unrelated to the network: televisions, telephones, household appliances, and even cars. As these trends progress, the companies that are involved in information communications will develop new services to keep pace. This will not just take the shape of today's data centers, which are an outsourcing service for data management, with a client-server model; but rather, data will be shared on a peer-to-peer (P to P) basis, with bits of data and services residing on a variety of servers all being tied together on a web-services model.

These changes in the Internet’s landscape can be expected to bring about a network-services future, a ubiquitous network society, where the network is available anywhere, anytime; where personal and corporate users will both be able to use it in ways that most suit them, in any situation. Personal users can be expected to want remote monitoring and operation of appliances in their homes, but wireless access via hotspots, communication with other users, etc, will all remain important uses. Corporate users will need access in a variety of business situations—during sales calls, while performing maintenance, and during meetings—so the scope of the network can be expected to be expanded to accommodate them.

## Communication Services and Technologies for the Network Society

In the past, most individual Internet users got online using analog phone lines or ISDN lines. More recently, though, the number of users with broadband access has skyrocketed. The emergence of wireless communication protocols, such as wireless LANs and Bluetooth $ ^{™} $ , and the wireless access systems that support them, are a portent of the coming ubiquitous networking environment "usable anywhere, anytime, by anyone, with any terminal." One reason wireless networking is attracting attention as a technology for ubiquitous networking is because of its potential as a service: hotels, restaurants, shops, airports, train stations, etc. can install base stations for wireless networking to provide high-speed Internet access as a service. Locations with these wireless base stations—often called "hotspots"—make it possible for a user to simply walk up with a properly equipped personal computer (PC), personal digital assistance (PDA), or the like, and instantly start surfing the Internet at 10 Mbps or faster. These types of service are now being offered on a commercial basis, and are a step towards ubiquitous computing. In the future, it can be expected that the number of hotspots will rise and information equipment with wireless LAN cards will proliferate, fee-based systems and business models will appear, and seamless access-control technology will be developed.

There has also been a revolution in minia-turization for the IC chips used in wireless smartcards. This allows everyday objects to be "tagged," making it possible to identify and acquire information about them, which in turn has led some to look for ways to provide network services that tie in with tagged objects. These services could allow e-commerce that would work by acquiring information about products from their ID tags; that information could likewise be collected and centralized. ID tags attached to publicity material could provide richer content (music, video, etc.), for an entirely new type of service. In short, the future will not