Virtual infrastructure: Putting information infrastructure on the technology curve

Abstract

The present debate concerning the National Information Infrastructure (NII) has focused primarily on competition. Although competition will be an important component of the NII, and one which we welcome, we argue that it is inappropriate to frame the debate entirely in terms of competition. Competition can be seen as a consequence of a fundamental development driving innovation within the information industries; namely, the adoption of the digital paradigm. However, digitization offers opportunities for innovation that go beyond competition. We hypothesize that the second wave of the digital revolution will be the virtualization of the infrastructure; that is, the adoption of a software perspective on information and on the devices and channels with which it is processed and distributed. In this paper, we offer a vision of what it would mean for the NII to be a Virtual Infrastructure (VI) that takes full advantage of the digital paradigm. We present a taxonomy for describing alternative infrastructure scenarios and show how the key properties of digital information favor a competitive, generic, and decoupled (CGD) infrastructure. We explore several technical issues, including information appliances and software; the mosaic of overlapping distribution networks; and the brokerage functions that match up suppliers, distributors, and customers. In our treatment of the technical issues, we identify heterogeneity as a key challenge facing computer scientists and offer suggestions for areas of investigation that might prove fruitful. We conclude with a discussion of the policy implications of this work. We are particularly concerned with policies that foster innovation by reducing barriers to the insertion of new technology. Topics addressed include decoupling the regulation of information services from the regulation of distribution, dealing with monopolies and vertical integration, and the publication of interface specifications.