Information systems are a complex hierarchy of electronic, electrical, mechanical and logical components interrelated at each level. Yet simple relationships between the user and the system must be established. This article describes the role computer communication architectures fill in establishing these simple relationships. It also discusses the further role architectures play in establishing a blueprint for a predictable evolution of information systems and uses examples to illustrate past and future technical problems in achieving these goals.
Information systems are inherently complex. Even the relatively easy-to-use personal or game computer is a complex hierarchy of electrical, mechanical and logical components. At the level of the component chips and electrical parts, it can be described using the equations that govern the flow of electrons in solids. At a higher level, the computer can be viewed as a series of mechanical connections that permit signals to flow from circuit to circuit and give the computer its structural integrity. At an even higher level it is composed of a complex series of logical steps, a program, which instructs the computer how to react to every possible keystroke, joystick movement or other input. These complex stand-alone computers are made to appear simple by limiting their function and by programs which react in ways which are analogous to familiar systems. For example, the movement of a joystick to the right or a right-pointing arrow normally moves the cursor controlled by a word processing program to the right. Widespread use of computers has become possible only as the cost of the memory and computer cycles has dropped to the point that a computer can be programmed to respond as expected by the unsophisticated user.
Similarly, widespread use of information systems with additional complexities associated with the communication of information from place to place, and the translation of informdtion from one format to another will have to wait for the technologies that make them easy to use. Today, many information products and services, ranging from books through traditional business letters to consumer services, can be obtained in electronic form. Yet, despite the computer-readable nature of this information and the fact that computers are in widespread use in homes and businesses today, few personal computer users can access more than a very limited number of remote information products and services. There is no lack of demand; it is the delivery system which has not yet evolved sufficiently. As it eVolves, important questions must be answered about the relationship between the information user and his servant, the information system. For example, should electronic products and services be channeled Division of IBM.