According to Rishi, the third concept that will revolutionize communications technology is the elimination of the obstacles posed by national boundaries. Today, the Internet enables sales from one location to another location globally. So, for example, a person could find the least expensive price of a product and have the item shipped even if it is offered by a company in a country half a world away. This is decreasing limitations, Rishi explains, not only in terms of sales and service value, but also in terms of resources and staffing. Even on our projects, we've got people in multiple countries collaborating on single systems.
Ubiquitous communications is the fourth driving concept.
However, the challenge of achieving this is how to enable different configurations of devices to talk to each other. Dr. Randall Isaac, vice president for systems, technology and science, IBM Corporation, Yorktown Heights, New York, views the future of technology and how to approach it in a different light. Isaac contends that technology is falling into place around the banner of e-business, and research is being focused accordingly. This includes a transformation of business processes. Certain questions should be addressed when conducting research for future technologies, Isaac recommends.