The Emergence Of Net-centric Computing: Network Computers, Internet Appliances, And Connected Pcs

The traditional PC is history: Net-centric computing is the future. But what form will it take? Computing appliances, "connected PCs," Web-enabled set-top boxes, Webphones, Internet-connected wireless communicators, or Java-based network computers? All of them - or something else entirely? What challenges face professionals who want to build, plan for, or invest in these new systems? Cole offers new insight into the make-or-break challenges facing the net-centric computing industry, including security, testing, maintenance, and reliability. He reviews the massive infrastructure and technology enhancements needed to support real-time networked multimedia, including MPEG4, RTSP, VRML, Java3D, MMX and its competitors, and 64-bit processors. Finally, he previews tomorrow's new Web-centric user interfaces, intended to keep users from getting "lost in the Web." With extraordinary breadth and depth, Cole has done what others thought impossible: He has made sense of the net-centric computing future.