Interesting People mailing list archives

more on Technology infrastructure in 2011


From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sat, 7 Jan 2006 16:13:58 -0500



Begin forwarded message:

From: Brian Randell <Brian.Randell () ncl ac uk>
Date: January 7, 2006 3:04:46 PM EST
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] Technology infrastructure in 2011

Hi Dave:

I passed Michael Berman's IP message on this topic onto the colleague who is Director of our Computer Service, and he responded with the following queries, that I thought might spark some interesting debate if you wish to put them into IP.

At 1:13 am +0000 6/1/06, Paul Hopkins wrote:
A) Will battery technology have improved sufficiently for the mobile
devices/displays being used or will we need to provide lots of
electricity sockets all over the place? Will fuel cells be practical by
2011?

B) Given the rise in electrical power requirements and air- conditioning
requirements for racks and also the explosion in computing power needs
then what should we plan for computer room requirements?

C) Will SOA developments than may make software more of a "service"
rather than an "asset" have an impact on making expensive/specialised
software available to students? Will the licensing model move towards a
pay-for-use rather than a buy a perpetual licence type of model?

D) Do we think that we will still use buildings in the same way as we do
now for teaching & learning? Eg woill there be a need for more
"collaborative" working spaces (eg smaller "cluster rooms" or areas for
students to gather informally to work in groups) will we see other
traditional area shrinking in size (eg administrative areas?)

E) Will the need for large lecture theatres continue - or would n-way
video-conferencing make it practical to conduct lectures across multiple
rooms?

I'm still really tempted to ensure that there are cable ducts placed
around a new building because  all but "infinite" data volume can be
pushed down a cable - I'd like to treat wireless and cables as
complimentary (ie plan for both!)

Cheers

Brian


--
School of Computing Science, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne,
NE1 7RU, UK
EMAIL = Brian.Randell () ncl ac uk   PHONE = +44 191 222 7923
FAX = +44 191 222 8232  URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/~brian.randell/


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