O'Reilly logo

Stay ahead with the world's most comprehensive technology and business learning platform.

With Safari, you learn the way you learn best. Get unlimited access to videos, live online training, learning paths, books, tutorials, and more.

Start Free Trial

No credit card required

Inescapable Data: Harnessing the Power of Convergence

Inescapable Data: Harnessing the Power of Convergence

by John Webster, Chris Stakutis
Publisher: IBM Press
Release Date: April 2005
ISBN: 0131852159
View table of contents
Start reading

Book Description

  • How "data everywhere" transforms business, technology, and the way you live

  • A pioneering look at grand, new efficiencies forthcoming

    • As communications, computing, and data storage converge, data is becoming utterly ubiquitous...and that changes everything. In this book, two leading data management visionaries reveal how data transforms the way you do business, the technologies you use, the investments you make, the life you live, and the world you live in.

    Chris Stakutis and John Webster draw on interviews with nearly 50 leading experts: technologists, sociologists, entrepreneurs, consultants, researchers, media leaders, and futurists alike. You'll discover how today's "primordial soup" of wired and wireless gadgetry is quickly coalescing into something immensely more powerful, driving applications you thought were pure science fiction. You'll also gain deep insight into the profound implications of ubiquitous data capture: implications that touch everything from your bedroom to the battlefield:

  • The emerging "Connectivity Divide." Which side of the chasm are you on?

  • Inescapable data's technical components: Async communications,

  • pervasive computing devices, wireless, and XML

  • Global calendars, momentary enterprises: Transforming your life and business

  • Uncontrolled information availability: Its risks to your security and well-being

  • The future of technical infrastructure, grids, smart storage, and beyond

  • Radical, new modes of information delivery: Nonnumeric, nontextual, unobtrusive

  • Future tech: From holographic displays to fertility "wall clocks"

  • Your DNA on a chip: The heart of your personal health and wellness program

    • © Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

    Table of Contents

    1. Copyright
      1. Dedication
    2. IBM Press
      1. On Demand Computing Books
      2. WebSphere Books
      3. More Books from IBM Press
      4. DB2® Books
    3. Foreword
    4. Preface
      1. Overview
      2. Intended Audience
      3. The Interviews as a Foundation
    5. Acknowledgments
    6. About the Authors
    7. One. The Inescapable Data Vision
    8. Two. The Connectivity Divide
      1. Introduction
      2. Wireless and WiFi: From Confusion and Competition to Possible Synergy
      3. Nokia and DoCoMo Versus the Old Guard
      4. Connecting You
      5. Connected and Truckin'
      6. Staying Connected Down on the Farm
      7. Connected Camping
      8. Untethered Displayable Data
      9. Religion and the Connected
      10. Summary
    9. Three. Inescapable Data Fundamentals
      1. Introduction
      2. What Is Important in Communication?
      3. From Postal Mail to Voicemail to E-Mail to IM and Beyond
      4. Data-Everywhere Devices
        1. RFID
        2. Hybrid PDAs (Personal Communicators)
        3. Video Cameras and Webcams
        4. Wireless Pervasive Monitoring and Sensing Devices
      5. Enabling Pervasive Networking
      6. XML...Describing It All
      7. Summary: The Final Blend of Ingredients
    10. Four. FromWarfare to Government, Connectivity Is Vitality
      1. Introduction
      2. Instant Messaging: Changing Command and Control in War
      3. Battlefield Connectivity
      4. A “Connected” Homeland
      5. Pervasive Public Surveillance
      6. Connecting State Governments...Together
      7. Summary
    11. Five. Pervading the Home
      1. Introduction
      2. Key Foundation Technologies
      3. RFID, Wireless, and XML
      4. For Example, Refrigerators
      5. From Laundry and Home Inventory to Energy Systems
      6. Home Security: Video
      7. GPS—Tracing Our Steps
      8. Summary
    12. Six. Connecting Medicine
      1. Introduction
      2. DNA—Massive Data, Massive Value
      3. Bioinformatics/Pharmaceuticals
      4. Radiology
      5. Hospitals
      6. Scheduling Care Delivery
      7. Pediatric and Personal Health Care
      8. Summary
    13. Seven. Work Life: Oxymoron No Longer
      1. Introduction
      2. Converged Connections—Of Conference Calls, Cell Phones, and WiFi-Enabled Laptops
      3. Work@Home
      4. Instant Messaging
      5. Groupware and Virtual Office
      6. Text Messaging and Convergence
      7. The New Employee: Independent Consultant
      8. Social Implications
      9. Summary
    14. Eight. Real-Time Manufacturing
      1. Introduction
      2. The Changing Manufacturing Landscape
      3. Value Stream Mapping
      4. RFID and Real-Time Insight into the Supply Chain
      5. New Computing Architectures Driven by RFID-Type Sources
      6. The Shipping Business
      7. Customized Through to Consumer
      8. Video-Controlled Production
      9. Summary
    15. Nine. Sports and Entertainment: Energizing Our Involvement
      1. Introduction
      2. Auto Racing by Numbers
      3. Heads-Up Sports
      4. Inescapable Data and the Individual Athlete
        1. The Swimmer's Edge
        2. Running with Inescapable Data
      5. The Inescapable Data Racquet
      6. Teams and Fans: Real-Time Participation
      7. Player Tracking and Analysis
      8. Participatory Games
      9. TV: Yielding to User-Designed Viewing
      10. Video Business, Connected Style
      11. Summary
    16. Ten. Connecting to Retail
      1. Introduction
      2. RFID and the Grand Retail Vision
      3. Mining Retail E-Commerce
      4. Charting the Course of Customers
      5. Watching Store Operations
      6. Metro's Future Store: A Look at Where It All Comes Together
      7. Buying Shoes—How Extreme Customization Is Possible
      8. Summary
    17. Eleven. Computer Storage Impacted by Inescapable Data
      1. Introduction
      2. Data Classification
      3. Store Everything?
      4. The Data Preservation Challenge
      5. Breakthrough Compression
      6. Video and Media Driving Storage Growth
      7. From Blocks to Files to Objects
      8. Data Protection
      9. Storage Utility
      10. Summary
    18. Twelve. Super Computers, Visualization, and Networks
      1. Introduction
      2. Super Computers
      3. Visualization and 3D Graphics
      4. XML and New CPUs?
      5. Intelligent Networking
      6. Internet Enterprise
      7. Motes
      8. Summary
    19. Thirteen. Inescapable Data in Perspective
      1. What Is Inescapable Data?
      2. Venture and Investment
      3. Should I Worry About Too Much Data and Connectivity?
      4. What Should I Be Doing to Exploit the New World?
      5. Predictions
        1. Communications
        2. Entertainment
        3. Money
        4. Home and Life
        5. Work and Business
        6. Miscellaneous
      6. Summary
    20. This Book Is Based On In-Depth Interviews With These Industry Thinkers