Digital televisions, household appliances, and wearable items all boast processing and networking capabilities. Neither view is accurate. Many other fundamental technological advances on the periphery of IT harbor the potential to overshadow the already impressive gains we've seen over the past thirty years. The distributed control, adaptive behavior, and federated solutions pioneered by the Internet provide the underlying architectural paradigm for such innovations to be quickly adopted. Plentiful venture capital adds fuel to the fire.
Massive power enables the application of evolutionary hardware and software design techniques.
Complex systems such as weather, economics, and human health may be simulated, analyzed, and understood at a level once unimaginable. Disruptive technologies compete with and often displace incumbents, who must buy new entrants to stay in the game. The current popular fascination with e-Business is only the beginning of a period of major disruptive change sweeping across most industries. Net-based marketing, sales, and support shake up distribution channels and foster the growth of new ones. Most companies manage a complex mix of direct and indirect channels.