DIGITAL ARCHITECTURE COLLABORATION
We are at the dawn of a new age of information and infrastructure technology in which distributed networked systems combine with pervasive computing to take the notion that the network is the computer to new heights. These systems will require new hardware designs, better software development tools and more dynamic networks that overcome infrastructural limitations.
Today, multiple parallel technology developments appear to be increasingly reinforcing and accelerating one another. But are these innovations actually aligned and will the building blocks of digital infrastructure really play well together?
Perhaps the most important impact resulting from the shift to digital systems has to do with how these technologies are developed and the architectural relationships between and among the differing technologies. Networking, computing, applications, device management and identity have all, for the most part, evolved in relatively autonomous development paths. We strongly believe this will need to change.
The two biggest challenges with developing digital infrastructure are:1) aligning players and developments with an agreed upon architecture; and, 2) synchronizing developments across the ecosystem of core technology developers. This type of coordination and collaboration requires a subtle dance of alignment, timing and delivery – the ability to see where, and how fast, capabilities are progressing and thus align development work and also manage complexity.
All of the traditional categories of players that are theoretically driving digital infrastructure innovations (IT systems, telecom systems, automation and control systems, software development and more) have historically operated within well-established technical development protocols and business models that reflected the distinct competencies each group has developed over the last 20+ years. In short, they are trapped in their own “sunk cost” economics and blinded to any alternative future beyond the linear development path they have been on.
As the number and diversity of stakeholders expands (users, architects, developers, supporters, etc.), and the volume and nature of their interactions grows, the discrete technologies that comprise digital infrastructure will need to become more and more tightly coupled. Each core technology must be viewed in close proximity to all of the other core technologies and, by necessity, need to be mutually supportive without inhibiting the other core technologies. However, trying to coordinate and align the respective roles of each core technology often creates contention.
We are coming to see the continuously evolving relationship between these core technologies as fertile ground for innovation. They need to be interwoven and mutually supportive to leverage their combined potential. However, trying to coordinate and leverage the respective roles of technology architecture and business architecture often creates contention.
As is often the case, all of this adds up to the need for a new architecture for distributed systems that is a profoundly different architecture than what’s in common use today and new types of relationships that foster cooperation.
The shift to truly intelligent distributed digital systems requires a new generation of architectural capabilities that are designed and built from the ground up. As we end the second decade of the 21st century, many of our biggest challenges with developing digital infrastructure still originate directly from our inability to creatively collaborate to solve diverse technical issues. ◆