Industrial computing. A grand challenge

To make a truly significant impact, integrated industrial computing technologies must be actively transitioned into practice. First, practitioner needs must be clearly articulated at the beginning of RandD projects and throughout the development process. Second, the new knowledge must be codified into engineering procedures for ready use by the industry. Finally. truly significant new technologies should be supported by open standards so that they can be used cost-effectively. Industrial computing touches upon almost every aspect of our daily life and affects our nation´s competitiveness and security. The creation of a renewable industrial computing architecture and transitioning it into practice is a Grand Challenge for computing in the nineties. The author introduces a series of papers which address a ubiquitous aspect of industrial computing: meeting real-time and fault-tolerant requirements.<>