Industry enters new era as CD loses its lustre

IN THE cyber world, the compact disc (CD) as a means of storing and transferring data is rapidly diminishing – and in time to come will likely disappear. This is just one of the physical signposts in the evolution of computer systems, according to Arnold Garber, chairman of freight system specialists Compu- Clearing. It’s an evolution which has turned a full circle in the last two decades, he told FTW. In their early days, freight systems were basically central servers, with the personal computers (PCs) in company offices little more than feeder keyboards. According to Garber, the industry then entered the “client/server era” – where most of the processing was done on PCs, and the data fed into a server as a central storage unit. But the internet then entered its latest phase – where, for larger businesses, in-house digital technology and, for smaller businesses, the asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL), took to the fore and opened up cyber-communication to all. And the demise of the CD is a sign of this, with people now downloading systems and communicating 100% on a browser and the internet. “As we enter 2008,” said Garber, “we are now faced with a situation where we have very powerful servers and very powerful communications. “We have therefore turned a complete circle, and gone back to a situation of central servers and PCs under the browsers acting as dumb terminals.”