76 IT Pro January ❘ February 1999

P E R S P E C T I V E S

Advancing IT into the 21st CenturyNeal Lane, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology

R evolutionary advancesin IT have providedthe foundation fornew scientific discov-

eries, stimulated the growth of new industries, and expanded

opportunities for in-ternational coopera-tion. Today, IThelps sustain eco-nomic growth, pro-vides opportunitiesfor lifelong learn-ing, increases ac-

cess to high-quality health carein rural regions, and strengthensnational security. The contribu-tion of IT to the vibrancy of theUS economy is astonishing: Be-tween 1995 and 1997,firms asso-ciated with this technologycontributed one-third of the USeconomic growth. In 1996, theindustry employed over 7 millionpeople in the US.

The progress of IT and thebenefits we derive from its useare the direct results of federalinvestments in basic computing,information, and communica-tions research.For example, fed-eral networking investmentsfrom the late 1960s to the 1980s,primarily for military andresearch use, led to the tech-

nologies and protocols fromwhich the Internet and Web wereborn.

Industry has leveraged thesecrucial investments to createthe innovative products and ser-vices that drive today’s explo-sive economic growth. Inreturn, the income from thiseconomic growth has fundedprograms to train universitygraduates—the future technicalleaders of the IT industry.

FOUR RESEARCH PRIORITIES

To further this remarkablegrowth,President Clinton recog-nizes that the US must make bal-anced investments in funda-mental research. Several federalresearch agencies and I—withguidance from private sectorgroups—have developed a pro-posal for the next generation offederal investment.Among theseagencies is the President’s Infor-mation Technology AdvisoryCommittee (PITAC). PITACrecently reviewed federal re-search in computing and com-munications, and concluded thatthe government is currently un-derinvesting in long-term, high-risk research. PITAC’s interimreport identifies four priorities:

• software research to improvedesign and production tech-niques, and enhance softwarereliability;

• scalable information infra-structures, such as the Next-Generation Internet, to ad-vance communications bycombining networks, wirelesssystems, and satellites;

Theprogressof IT is the

direct result of federal investments.

• high-end computing to con-tinue the increase in perfor-mance; and

• socioeconomic and workforceissues to ensure that all seg-ments of society benefit.

The Administration’s new ini-tiative, Information Technologyfor the Twenty-First Century,known as IT2, responds to theserecommendations. IT2 will fundlong-term fundamental re-search in IT, support develop-ment of advanced infrastructurefor computational science andengineering, and initiate re-search on the economic andsocial implications of the infor-mation revolution. Our effortswill advance development and

The dimensions of theinformation revolutionand its limitless possibili-ties are widely acceptedand generally understood,even by lay people. But tomake the most of it, wemust also acknowledgethat there are challenges,and we must make impor-tant choices ... We canaccelerate the most pow-erful engine of growth andprosperity the world hasever known, or allow theengine to stall.

US President William J. Clinton,

Commencement address,Massachusetts Institute

of Technology,June 5, 1998

1520-9202/99/$10.00 © 1999 IEEE

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January ❘ February 1999 IT Pro 77

access to the computational and communication infra-structure that will support the broader research commu-nity and benefit our national economy. Problems in basicphysics and astronomy, weather and climate, energy tech-nologies, and complex biological processes, to name but afew, need advanced modeling, simulation, and computa-tional technologies.

It is these important applications that challenge the cur-rent state of the art in IT and are thus key to driving fur-ther advancements in high-end computing. So the visionof a balanced portfolio for IT research includes coordi-nating with and supporting these other high-priority sci-ence and engineering research programs.

FOCUS ON SECURITYAs the world continues to rely more heavily on

information systems, we must pay increasingattention to security and reliability. The infra-structures that support a nation’s economic andnational security—electrical-power generation;banking and finance; oil and natural gas productionand distribution; transportation; and others—increasinglydepend upon complex information and communicationsnetworks for uninterrupted operation. Potential securityproblems in these networks have far broader implicationsthan in the past.

In response to this growing security problem, PresidentClinton called attention to the issue of cyber-based threatsto our infrastructures and directed government agencies toreduce these vulnerabilities and risks.The administrationhas developed a broad-based agenda to reduce the vul-nerabilities in our infrastructures. As you might expect, asubstantial number of the research themes focus on thesecurity of our national information and communicationsystems. Among the general needs we have identified forfurther research are intrusion detection and monitoring,information assurance, and protection of the automatedcontrol networks that run many of our essential infra-structures. Given that the private sector owns much of theinfrastructures and employs many of the technical experts,it is crucial that the government work with it to ensureinformation system security.

A dvances in information technology will provide thebasis for much of the world’s economic growth aswe head into the next century. During the past five

years, production in computers, semiconductors, and com-munications equipment quadrupled at a time when totalindustrial production grew by 28 percent. In the comingdecades, the opportunities for innovation in IT are largerthan they ever have been—and more important.

If the past is any guide, the most important advances willcome from unexpected directions, facilitated by advancedtechnical capabilities that result from fundamentalresearch. Thus, federal investments in basic, high-risk

research for IT will be even more essential to ensuring theintellectual and technical underpinnings for these as yetunforeseeable developments. ■

Neal Lane is the Assistant to the President for Science andTechnology and the Director of the US Office of Science andTechnology Policy.

It is especially important that we heed PITAC’scharge to conduct research on the social challengespresented by IT.The information revolution threat-ens to bypass many of our friends and neighbors; ahost of surveys and reports reveal that the impactof these technologies is at best uneven and at worstdivisive. Most worrisome are the signs of a techno-logical divide in our educational system—a divide

that tracks with long-standing socioeconomicdifferences.

For example, data from severalsources reveal significant educa-tional inequity in access to com-

puters and the Internet.The gaps arestarting to close, but the latest data still

provide cause for concern: Students inschools with predominantly minority enroll-ments are up to three times less likely, onaverage, to have access to computers and theInternet when compared to their counter-

parts in predominantly white schools.These same differences appear when we examine

data on home computer use collected by the USCensus Bureau. Children living in our pooresthouseholds are 10 times less likely to have access toa computer at home as are children from upper-income households.There is more than a little ironyin these findings, since the information revolutionhas always brought with it the prospect of increasedopportunity for all. It is incumbent upon us toaddress these problems in our research. As IT pro-fessionals, we must look for ways to enhance publicaccess to the wealth of information our labor pro-duces.

Information for All

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