Now, as our force structure decreases, our technology edge becomes more important than ever. Fortunately, the commercial sector is coming to our rescue. Today's commercial systems provide tremendous speed, bandwidth, and capability. As distributed systems, multimedia capability, and virtual displays come to the fore, we will be limited only by our imaginations, not technology. To say software permeates every aspect of our lives, whether we are in the Air Force or not, is an understatement.
Software is the heart of all our modern information, transportation, and weapon systems.
And there is a definite trend toward more software, as systems become more sophisticated. Software can enable situational leadership by providing information in the right amount of detail. providing the user with the ability to analyze and make decisions. I once was counseled to be wary of information managers who like to collect and process all they could while unintentionally building an impregnable fortress of trivia around information of real importance. In our military business, it can adversely affect the warfighting commander's ability to conduct operations. The Air Operations Center, after careful planning, develops a massive 2,500 sortie air-tasking order.