Z for Zachman Framework

The Zachman Framework is a visual aid for organizing ideas about enterprise technology. It is attributed to IBM professional John Zachman, as presented in the article "A Framework for Information Systems Architecture" published in the IBM Systems Journal in 1987.

IT Experts describe the Zachman Framework as an "ontology" composed of a matrix that orders the aspects of enterprise resources and stakeholders. One axis of the matrix is composed of the traditional "5 Ws + H" model used in traditional print journalism, i.e., who, what, where, when, why and how. The other includes labels such as "scope" and "model" that further define projects.

The name Zachman Framework was trademarked by its original author.

The title "Zachman Framework" refers to The Zachman Framework for Enterprise Architecture with version 3.0 being the most current. The Zachman Framework has evolved in its thirty-year history to include:

• The initial framework, named A Framework for Information Systems Architecture, by John Zachman published in a 1987 article in the IBM Systems journal.^[5]
• The Zachman Framework for Enterprise Architecture, an update of the 1987 original in the 1990s extended and renamed .^[6]
• One of the later versions of the Zachman Framework, offered by Zachman International as industry standard.

Collage of Zachman Frameworks as presented in several books on Enterprise Architecture from 1997 to 2005.

In other sources the Zachman Framework is introduced as a framework, originated by and named after John Zachman, represented in numerous ways, see image. This framework is explained as, for example:

• a framework to organize and analyze data,^[7]
• a framework for enterprise architecture.^[8]
• a classification system, or classification scheme^[9]
• a matrix, often in a 6x6 matrix format
• a two-dimensional model^[10] or an analytic model.
• a two-dimensional schema, used to organize the detailed representations of the enterprise.^[11]

Beside the frameworks developed by John Zachman, numerous extensions and/or applications have been developed, which are also sometimes called Zachman Frameworks, however they generally tend to be graphical overlays of the actual framework itself.

The Zachman Framework summarizes a collection of perspectives involved in enterprise architecture. These perspectives are represented in a two-dimensional matrix that defines along the rows the type of stakeholders and with the columns the aspects of the architecture. The framework does not define a methodology for an architecture. Rather, the matrix is a template that must be filled in by the goals/rules, processes, material, roles, locations, and events specifically required by the organization. Further modeling by mapping between columns in the framework identifies gaps in the documented state of the organization.^[12]

The framework is a logical structure for classifying and organizing the descriptive representations of an enterprise. It is significant to both the management of the enterprise, and the actors involved in the development of enterprise systems.^[13] While there is no order of priority for the columns of the Framework, the top-down order of the rows is significant to the alignment of business concepts and the actual physical enterprise. The level of detail in the Framework is a function of each cell (and not the rows). When done by IT the lower level of focus is on information technology, however it can apply equally to physical material (ball valves, piping, transformers, fuse boxes for example) and the associated physical processes, roles, locations etc. related to those items

Source:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zachman_Framework
 https://www.techopedia.com/definition/30657/zachman-framework

 

Y for YOUTUBE- How it works?

How YouTube works

YouTube began in early 2005 and has grown rapidly. Every minute, people around the world upload more than 300 hours worth of video footage to YouTube.
YouTube has the second-largest search engine in the world, behind Google (which owns YouTube). This means people are constantly searching for information using YouTube and discovering videos relating to these topics.

YouTube videos

YouTube provides a simple way for people to store videos online and share them with others. YouTube videos cover any topic anyone cares to upload a video about. These videos are easy to share via other forms of social media, email and websites and can also be embedded in other websites.
Beside every video on YouTube is a list of 'suggested videos' - videos that YouTube's search engine calculates are likely to interest people who watch the video you are watching.
YouTube encourages viewers to express their opinion of videos they watch, to store videos to watch later and to share videos they like. You can make a video publicly available to anyone, or share it privately with selected people.

YouTube Analytics

YouTube Analytics is a self-service analytics and reporting tool. It provides data about each video you upload, so you can easily track how many views it gets, where people are coming from to find it and what type of people are watching it.

YouTube Analytics can give you information about:

• the 'firsts' for the video, including the first referral from a related video, first referral from a YouTube search (including the search terms used), first time the video is embedded in another website
• how many views came from each referral source
• which gender and age groups the video is most popular with
• which countries the video is most popular in
• how many comments and ratings it has received.

As an example, the YouTube Analytics for the Queensland Government's video on 'Crab rules in Queensland' on its fisheriesqld channel show that it is most popular with males aged 55-64 in Australia. It also shows that 52.5% of views for embedded videos have come via the website of a commercial crab pot manufacturer that embedded the video in its site.

YouTube channels

You can set up a YouTube channel for your business, bringing all your videos together. This allows you to customise your channel with images representing your firm. Your channel includes an 'About' section where you can provide a short description of your business and a link to your website or contact details.
Your channel is where you group the videos you make and upload, the videos you watch and like, and the playlists of videos you create.
Your channel will have a web address (URL) that you can promote on your website or marketing material. People can subscribe to your channel. This means when they log in to YouTube your videos will be listed on their YouTube homepage.
You can also create 'playlists' within your YouTube channel to organise your videos by subject or type. For example, you could have a playlist featuring videos about each of your product categories, or you might have a playlist for videos contributed by your customers for a video competition you run.

YouTube advertising

YouTube incorporates features that let businesses promote their videos to people who might be interested in them, targeting customers by demographics, topics or interests.
Advertisers pay each time someone views their video. You can choose which locations your ad will appear in, what format it will be, and even how much you are prepared to pay per view (if you want to boost the prominence of your ad over your competitors). YouTube's advertising guide explains how it works.

Other video sharing services

Other examples of video sharing services include:

• Vimeo: a video website popular with more serious video producers interested in higher quality video production
• Facebook video: the most popular social media site, Facebook, allows users to upload, create and send videos as well as photos and text
• Flickr: primarily a photo sharing site, but can share videos up to 90 seconds as well.

Source: 

https://www.business.qld.gov.au/running-business/marketing-sales/marketing-promotion/online-marketing/youtube/how
 

X for XML-RPC ! One difficult alphabet to figure it out

XML-RPC is a simple, portable way to make remote procedure calls over HTTP. It can be used with Perl, Java, Python, C, C++, PHP and many other programming languages. Implementations are available for Unix, Windows and the Macintosh.

Here's a short XML-RPC client written in Perl.

use Frontier::Client; $server = Frontier::Client->new(url => 'http://betty.userland.com/RPC2'); $name = $server->call('examples.getStateName', 41); print "$name\n";

When run, this program will connect to the remote server, get the state name, and print it. (State #41 should be South Dakota in this example.)
Here's the same program in Python. (This time, we use Fredrik Lundh's xmlrpclib.)

python> import xmlrpclib python> server = xmlrpclib.Server("http://betty.userland.com/RPC2") python> server.examples.getStateName(41) 'South Dakota'

In the following chapters, you'll learn how to write XML-RPC clients and servers in a variety of programming languages.

How it Works

XML-RPC is described fully in Dave Winer's official specification. If you're curious, go ahead and take a look—it's a quick and straight-forward read.
On the wire, XML-RPC values are encoded as XML:

sample.sumAndDifference 5 3

This is verbose, but compresses readily. It's also faster than you might expect—according to measurements by Rick Blair, a round-trip XML-RPC call takes 3 milliseconds using Hannes Wallnöfer's Java implementation.

Supported Data Types

XML-RPC supports the following data types:

int

A signed, 32-bit integer.

string

An ASCII string, which may contain NULL bytes. (Actually, several XML-RPC implementations support Unicode, thanks to the underlying features of XML.)

boolean

Either true or false.

double

A double-precision floating point number. (Accuracy may be limited in some implementations.)

dateTime.iso8601

A date and time. Unfortunately, since XML-RPC forbids the use of timezones, this is very nearly useless.

base64

Raw binary data of any length; encoded using Base64 on the wire. Very useful. (Some implementations don't like to receive zero bytes of data, though.)

array

An one-dimensional array of values. Individual values may be of any type.

struct

A collection of key-value pairs. The keys are strings; the values may be of any type.

The History of XML-RPC

XML-RPC was inspired by two earlier protocols. The first is an anonymous RPC protocol designed by Dave Winer and announced in an old DaveNet essay. (This is why XML-RPC servers are often installed under /RPC2.) The other, more important inspiration was an early draft of the SOAP protocol.

A longer history of XML-RPC has been generously provided by Dave Winer. This also explains the relationship between XML-RPC and SOAP.

Reference : 

http://tldp.org/HOWTO/XML-RPC-HOWTO/xmlrpc-howto-intro.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XML-RPC
 

W for Wallet - e-Wallet Technology and how it works

The traditional leather wallet is your stalwart companion for safekeeping precious possessions of all kinds. It holds tightly your cash, credit cards, family pictures, driver's license, insurance identification, shopping loyalty cards and more. Alas, your wallet grows thicker and more unwieldy by the day; your spine shrieks every time you sit on it the wrong way.

Oh, and it's entirely unsecure. Any crook that gets his hot little hands on your wallet can easily blow all of your cash and possibly wring your credit accounts dry, too. In spite of that fact, 85 percent of transactions across the globe are still based on cash and checks [source: Yahoo News]. Americans alone wrote around 14 billion checks in 2009 [source: Huffington Post].

To combat theft, simplify your finances, avoid being the "check-writing guy" in line at the store and maybe even ward off trips to the chiropractor, perhaps it's time for a wallet upgrade. For that, you might consider the digital wallet.

Before we go any further, understand that the term digital wallet is a blanket descriptor for a range of technologies that let you perform many tasks. In general, though, a digital wallet (also sometimes called an e-wallet) is a transformation in the way you pay for things.

Many digital wallet services work through apps on your smartphone. At the supermarket, for instance, you might simply tap your phone to a compatible check-out register to pay instantly. For others, all you need to use them is something you know, such as your mobile phone number and a PIN (personal identification number).

No matter what form it takes, a digital wallet is based on encryption software that substitutes for your old, analog wallet during monetary transactions. You benefit from the protection and convenience. Merchants benefit because they're more protected against fraud and they sell more products, faster.
A smartphone digital wallet will help you pay for stuff, but it will also store your concert tickets, bus and subway passes and gift cards. Retailers will reward your loyalty by offering instant freebies, discounts and coupons. Your digital wallet might even unlock the doors to your house.


A digital wallet could alter the way you organize your finances and your life in general.

Source:  https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/high-tech-gadgets/digital-wallet.htm

V for Vodcasting! A step ahead to Video Podcasting

fter podcasting, which lets users subscribe to audio files, comes vodcasting, the easiest way to bring Internet video to your desktop. Here's how it works.

Portable video players make watching vodcasts a snap

 
What is vodcasting? 
 
A step beyond podcasting, vodcasting, also called video podcasting or vlogging, adds video to the downloadable sound files podcast listeners are used to. Download the video files is a simple matter of subscribing to a vodcast in one of the many freely available directory programs.

After downloading and saving them to a portable video player, users can choose when and where they want to watch the video, making them independent of television programming schedules. A number of vodcasting tools also exist to help turn people from mere video consumers to producers
.
Apple added vodcasting support to its popular iTunes software, which lets users subscribe to pod and vodcasts and automatically downloads the most recent updates. Ipodder, another popular service that started with podcasts, also has a vodcast directory.

Vodcasts' large file size makes a flat rate, broadband Internet connection a necessity to speed up downloads and keeps costs down. Watching the video away from the computer also requires a mobile video player, which are often built into newer PDAs and many MP3 players, including the iPod Video.

How does vodcasting work? 

Many vodcasts are listed in the iTunes directory

The RSS feeds, short for really simple syndication, bloggers started using in 2001 to send their entries directly to readers' inboxes are just as useful when it comes to receiving vodcasts. An enclosure feature, standard to RSS feeds, allows links to videos that can be processed by programs like iTunes and Ipodder, which then download the vodcasts automatically, and leaves subscribers only with the work of finding vodcasts that catch their interest.

Ubiquitous Computing (Ubicomp)

Ubiquitous Computing (Ubicomp)

Ubiquitous Computing  also called Ubicomp (a concept in computer science) can occur using any
device at any location and in any format. A user interacts with the computer (which can be in many different forms like laptops, computers, glasses, watches, refrigerators, terminals etc) constantly. Simply the computing is made to appear anywhere and everywhere.
Ubiquitous Computing employs internet, middleware, operating system, mobile code, sensors and other technologies to support and operate the system.

Putting it together, Ubiquitous Computing  aims to provide small, inexpensive and robust network processing devices.



Source:
http://lmeasy.blogspot.in/2015/11/ubiquitous-computing-ubicomp.html


Read More:
Google Glass
Wearable Computers

Airtel Free 3g Trick (personally tested) Oct 2015

Cathode Ray Tubes

Flat Panel Display
Modem

Local Area Network

Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)
Wide Area Network (WAN)
Personal Area Network (PAN)

Technology Trends that dominate 2018 and going forward

In the age of disruption, businesses and their leaders will rise or fall based on their ability to spot and creatively respond to rapid technological change. Some companies notice an emerging technology and take a “wait and see” attitude. Others see a new technology and take action. They begin experimenting, making small bets, and learning.

Their attitude is that it’s never too early to start. It’s never too early to begin looking at what others are already doing. It’s never too early to engage the imagination to conceive of how the new technology could be used to create competitive advantage.

These "fast movers" often jumpstart creative applications by asking themselves leading questions such as:

• Where is this technology likely to be in five years?
• When will it become mainstream?
• How might it help us differentiate, and to add value to customers? To improve speed of satisfaction, manage choice and complexity, and enhance customer experience?
• How will/could this new technology help us gain productivity and become a better place to work?

With such questions in mind, what follows are eight technologies that are ripe for exploitation by your company in 2018, and beyond:

1. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is about to go mainstream.
Real Estate giant Coldwell Banker is experimenting with AI to target classes of likely buyers for a specific property, and piloting new AI software that helps identify likely sellers. Leading law firms use AI to scan thousands of legal documents in minutes, rather than weeks, to build stronger cases at a fraction of the cost.
While Netflix, Amazon, Google and Facebook pioneered artificial intelligence, AI is beginning to be deployed by increasing numbers of mid-sized and even small businesses. Here, the applications are exploding.  At Coldwell Banker, when their data shows a confluence of events, the software alerts the company to a likely new prospect. For example, the homeowner’s youngest kid just went off to college. The couple has been in their home beyond the average of 10 years.  And it sees that the couple has been online browsing for properties in North Carolina. AI brings these data-points together and concludes that this household is likely to be selling soon. “If we can find those people before they even know they’re selling, we’re that much ahead,” Coldwell Banker CEO Charles Young tells Chief Executive Magazine.

2. Apps are becoming essential tools for boosting customer convenience and employee productivity. What are you app to do next?
Fort Worth, Texas-based startup Booster Fuels saves time-strapped motorists a trip to the gas station. When you order fuel on your Booster app, they bring the gasoline to you. Startup businesses like Booster Fuels are taking advantage of the app trend to address unmet customer needs. And established companies like Safeco auto insurance are finding new ways to use apps to add value to customers — and improve worker productivity.
Safeco’s auto insurance customers can now report an auto accident using the company’s app. Right from the accident scene, customers can submit photos, report what happened, and arrange for a tow — all by using Safeco’s innovative app. Fast movers will increasingly use mobile apps for on-the spot-troubleshooting, managing inventory, providing on-site estimates, generating invoices, and gathering data that can be used to better understand customer preferences.
Pest control operator Rentokil uses a proprietary app to give its field technicians a productivity edge. When confused by a type of bug or rodent, they simply snap a photo and run the app, which sifts through a data-bank of pest images to quickly identify the intruder. The app even suggests remediation solutions. Voila, problem solved.

3. Wearable technology. Already enhancing guest experience at Carnival Cruise Lines.
Modern cruise ships carry over 6000 passengers and offer everything from violin concerts to bungee jumping to belly dancing classes. But there’s a problem. Carnival Cruise Lines’ research showed that so many choices were overwhelming guests and creating an anxious-prone customer experience. So, Carnival created a wearable technology to help customers avoid “over-choice.” Passengers are given the option to wear a wristband device synced with a companion app on their smartphone to serve as a kind of constant guide while onboard. As you partake of various onboard activities, the wearable tool responds by guiding you to activities that you’re bound to like, providing a new level of customized service for passengers. Result: Carnival customer data shows that guests come away happier, less stressed, and more apt to return to Carnival for their next cruise.

4. Big Data is empowering Starbucks’ location scouting. What’s your next move?
Ever wondered how Starbucks can open multiple shops in the same neighborhood without cannibalizing existing store traffic? Answer: they use big data.
Until now, big data was available exclusively to big companies. No longer. As more and more digital data gets collected (as when you give your phone number to the clerk at the grocery store), mid-sized and even small firms are now able to tap the power of big data analytics to carve out new strategic advantage: to lower the cost of customer acquisition, find new ways to cut costs, increase sales, personalize product offerings, and enter new markets.
Starbucks was a first mover in using big data to give their location scouts a tool to reduce guesswork. Big data — the technology that allows more people to analyze more information from more sources in more ways than ever before — helps Starbucks’ staffers crunch data on foot traffic patterns, area demographic trends and customer behavior profiles, greatly reducing the complexity of decision making.

5. Amazon’s Alexa is bringing the Internet of Things (IoT) to consumers living rooms. Now may be your time to jump aboard.
In November 2017, Enrichment Federal Credit Union became the first credit union in the United States to link to Amazon’s Alexa voice-controlled smart speakers. Members of the Oak Ridge, Tennessee-based credit union can now move money between accounts, make loan payments and access balances and account histories using convenient voice commands.
Enrichment’s move is just the latest application of an exploding techno-trend where tiny sensors embedded in homes, buildings, and everyday objects such as smartphones, are connected via the internet, to comprise what is being called The Internet of Things (IoT). While Alexa is out front, Google’s Assistant is coming on strong, followed by a host of others just now entering the race to wire the living room.
IoT technology first burst on the scene in 2015, when a startup called Nest reinvented the thermostat and made it “smart,” which is to say programmable, and connected via the internet to the consumers smart phone, and voice-controlled speaker. Nest went on to reinvent smoke alarms, home security and a growing list of other products, and the technology is exploding. In home security, for example, for a fraction of the cost of traditional home security- service, consumers can set up the new do it yourself system — you set up the alarm system yourself by placing the easy to use sensors and cameras and motion detectors around your home, and connect to a control hub, and an app on your smart phone.
Look for ever increasing numbers of homes to be united with the IoT, and new entrants wishing to dance in Alexa's space.

6. Advanced robotics. Not just for factories now.
Hotel chain Aloft uses robotic bellhops to supplement their bell staff — delivering extra towels, keys and whatever else to guest rooms without delay. Suddenly, agile, trainable, lightweight robots aren’t just found on the factory floor, they’re showing up everywhere. And they won’t replace workers in most cases, they will enable smarter labor deployment by taking on repetitive, backbreaking and higher risk tasks and introducing logistical efficiency. In many a business, the question is not: will we or won’t we? The question is: where will we and when will we deploy robots, and in what kinds of uses do they make the most sense?

7. Drones. Not just for the military anymore.
While Amazon's drone delivery seems to be stalled by regulators and other hurdles, last year, a New Zealand couple became the first persons to have a pizza delivered by drone. The successful delivery came just three months after Domino's announced a partnership with a local drone delivery service. Suddenly drones — aircraft without a human pilot aboard — are everywhere. The commercial drone industry already touches almost every sector of the economy, 38 types of businesses have already been approved for drone operations, and the industry is poised to be one of the fastest-growing sectors in the U.S. From inspecting infrastructure, to providing farmers with aerial views of their crops, to enabling rescues of swimmers in heavy surf, to allowing law enforcement agencies greater access to monitor criminal behavior, it’s no wonder businesses — small and large are clamoring to use this technology.

8. Virtual Reality. The possibilities are virtually limitless.
Home improvement pioneer Lowe’s created Holoroom, where customers plug in the dimensions of a room and can then see a VR mockup of their renovation plans, transfer design to Google Cardboard and take the VR mockup home. Cirque du Soleil’s traveling Kurious exhibit puts VR users in the center of the action via a 360-degree camera in the center of the performance. North Face brings the Yosemite wilderness to retail stores. Thomas Cook, Europe’s biggest tour operator, uses VR headsets to show customers what certain vacations would be like.
Virtual reality — computer technology that uses special headsets or multi-projected environments, sometimes in combination with physical environments or props, to generate realistic images, sounds and other sensations — is poised to take off, and not just in the consumer space. Increasingly, firms are using VR to lower the cost of training.

Source:  Article from Robert B Tucker
https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertbtucker/2018/01/29/eight-technology-trends-ready-for-exploitation-in-2018/#24c9f31c343f

Robert B. Tucker is a keynote speaker and consultant to over 200 of the Fortune 500. He's written seven bestselling books on innovation, including the latest, Innovation is Everybody's Business
http://houseofbots.com/news-detail/2653-4-top-8-technology-trends-for-2018-you-must-know-about
 

S For Search Engine Optimization Process

Nowadays we hear so much about this term search engine optimization ‘SEO’. People have been spreading the word that SEO is actually a magical tech tool that can take the traffic of your website to impossible highs. But let’s get behind the popular Notion and understand what exactly ‘SEO’ is? 

 

SEO is the short form for “search engine optimization.” In layman’s terms, it is the process of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic/views to your website through organic and natural search results. Definitely, search engine optimization can do that but only if it’s properly done in the right manner and in the sync with the data or products available on your website.

 

Whenever someone looks up for an answer on search engines such as Google or Yahoo, these search engines show most relevant results. SEO helps in gaining placement for your data over other options available. It does this work by using most appropriate keyword phrases making search engines believe that your results are better than other website’s and making your site visible to others.

 

For example – If We have typed a search request for “HOW TO DO ANCHORING” on google. It will display many results. Now if the site’s SEO is good then it will make blog visible  to the top of the results or may be amongst the top.

 

There is a step by step process that is used to optimize the search engine results.

1. Keyword analysis

Keywords analysis is one of the most important activities of SEO process. Appropriate keywords and their ranking could be the deciding factors for your website’s success. The whole exercise of SEO actually starts with a well-curated analysis of keywords.

2. Website content

 It’s a myth that SEO can improve the ranking of any website whatsoever irrespective of the quality of content. It’s extremely important to alter the content in sync with SEO strategy.

3. Website code

 SEO optimizes the source code of a website too. A source code of a website is the code that web browsers and search engines read and analyze to display the webpage’s contents. It helps them figure out what the website’s genre is and showing the result on the basis of that.

4. Backlink Building

 It’s a widely known fact that link building is one the most sought after skill in SEO. In order to optimize the website, one is required to excel at data, marketing, programming etc. If a venture wants other people to link to your site. If you want a hike in site traffic then attention must be paid to link building.

P.S. Backlinks are one of the top 3 Google ranking signals.

5. Visitor tracking

 There are various steps that speed up the process of Search engine optimization but then one also needs to keep a regular check on how such tips are actually yielding results? Visitors and site traffic is thoroughly tracked and analyzed to figure out the necessary adaptations.

6. Search Result analysis

 Lastly, and most importantly A large chunk of time is being devoted towards search result analysis because it’s one of the most decisive factors to plan for a website’s SEO strategy. Each and every website is different from others and needs a personalized SEO plan in order to achieve the targeted internet presence. And the needs can only be figured out after a thorough analysis of the search results both before and after SEO.

Source: http://desipandora.com

R for Robotic Process Automation

Robotic process automation (RPA) is the application of technology that allows employees in a company to configure computer software or a “robot” to capture and interpret existing applications for processing a transaction, manipulating data, triggering responses and communicating with other digital systems.

Any company that uses labor on a large scale for general knowledge process work, where people are performing high-volume, highly transactional process functions, will boost their capabilities and save money and time with robotic process automation software.

Just as industrial robots are remaking the manufacturing industry by creating higher production rates and improved quality, RPA “robots” are revolutionizing the way we think about and administer business processes, IT support processes, workflow processes, remote infrastructure and back-office work. RPA provides dramatic improvements in accuracy and cycle time and increased productivity in transaction processing while it elevates the nature of work by removing people from dull, repetitive tasks.

The technology of RPA can be applied specifically to a wide range of industries.

Process automation

Technologies like presentation-layer automation software – a technology that mimics the steps of a rules-based, non-subjective process without compromising the existing IT architecture – are able to consistently carry out prescribed functions and easily scale up or down to meet demand. Process automation can expedite back-office tasks in finance, procurement, supply chain management, accounting, customer service and human resources, including data entry, purchase order issuing, creation of online access credentials, or business processes that require “swivel-chair” access to multiple existing systems.

IT support and management

Automated processes in the remote management of IT infrastructures can consistently investigate and solve problems for faster process throughput. RPA can improve service desk operations and the monitoring of network devices. Separating scalability from human resources allows a company to handle short-term demand without extra recruiting or training.

Automated assistant

As in voice recognition software or automated online assistants, developments in how machines process language, retrieve information and structure basic content mean that RPA can provide answers to employees or customers in natural language rather than in software code. This technology can help to conserve resources for large call centers and for customer interaction centers.

As RPA brings more technologically-advanced solutions to businesses around the world, operating models that adopt automation, whether in-house or offshored, will cut costs, drive efficiency and improve quality.

Q for Quantum Computing!

Quantum Computing

Ø Quantum Computer

Ø A computer that uses quantum mechanical phenomena to perform operations on data through devices such as superposition and entanglement.

Ø A quantum computer is a machine that performs calculations based on the laws of quantum mechanics, which is the behavior of particles at the sub-atomic level.

Ø Classical Computer (Binary)

Ø A computer that uses voltages flowing through circuits and gates, which can be calculated entirely by classical mechanics.

The Need for Speed:

Ø Classical Digital Computer

Ø Moore’s Law: # of transistors on chip doubles every 18 months—microprocessor circuits will measure on atomic scale by 2020-2030

Ø Downscaling of circuit board layout/components is leading to discrepancies.

Ø Copper traces are actually crystallizing and shorting out!

Ø Emergence of quantum phenomena such as electrons tunneling through the barriers between wires.

Ø Serial Processing – one operation at a time

Ø 64-bit classical computer operates speeds measured in gigaflops (billions of floating-point operations per second).

Ø Quantum Computer

Ø Harnesses the power of atoms and molecules to perform memory and processing tasks

Ø Parallel Processing – millions of operations at a time

Ø 30-qubit quantum computer equals the processing power
of conventional computer that running at 10 teraflops
(trillions of floating-point operations per second).

Classical vs Quantum Bits

Ø Classical Bit

Ø 2 Basic states – off or on: 0, 1

Ø Mutually exclusive

Ø Quantum Bit (Qubit)

Ø 2 Basic states – ket 0, ket 1:

Ø Superposition of both states –
(not continuous in nature)

Ø Quantum entanglement

Ø 2 or more objects must be described in reference to one another

Ø Entanglement is a non-local property that allows a set of qubits to express superpositions of different binary strings (01010 and 11111, for example) simultaneously

Quantum Computing Power

Ø Integer Factorization

Ø Impossible for digital computers to factor large numbers which are the products of two primes of nearly equal size

Ø Quantum Computer with 2n qubits can factor numbers with lengths of n bits (binary)

Ø Quantum Database Search

Ø Example: To search the entire Library of Congress for one’s name given an unsorted database...

Ø Classical Computer – 100 years

Ø Quantum Computer – ½ second

Practical Quantum Computer Applications

Ø Quantum Mechanics Simulations

Ø physics, chemistry, materials science, nanotechnology, biology and medicine.

Ø Computer can compute millions of variables at once.

Ø All are limited today by the slow speed of quantum mechanical simulations.

Ø Cryptoanalysis

Ø Capable of cracking extremely complicated codes

Ø RSA encryption

Ø Typically uses numbers with over 200 digits

Quantum Computing History

Ø 1973 - Alexander Holevo publishes paper showing that n qubits cannot carry more than n classical bits of information.

Ø 1976 - Polish mathematical physicist Roman Ingarden shows that Shannon information theory cannot directly be generalized to the quantum case.

Ø 1981 - Richard Feynman determines that it is impossible to efficiently simulate a evolution of a quantum system on a classical computer.

Ø 1985 - David Deutsch of the University of Oxford, describes the first universal quantum computer.

Ø 1993 - Dan Simon, at Universite de Montreal, invents an oracle problem for which quantum computer would be exponentially faster than conventional computer. This algorithm introduced the main ideas which were then developed in Peter Shor's factoring algorithm.

Ø 1994 - Peter Shor, at AT&T's Bell Labs discovers algorithm to allow quantum computers to factor large integers quickly. Shor's algorithm could theoretically break many of the cryptosystems in use today.

Ø 1995 - Shor proposs the first scheme for quantum error correction.

Ø 1996 - Lov Grover, at Bell Labs, invents quantum database search algorithm.

Ø 1997 - David Cory, A.F. Fahmy, Timothy Havel, Neil Gershenfeld and Isaac Chuang publish the first papers on quantum computers based on bulk spin resonance, or thermal ensembles. Computers are actually a single, small molecule, storing qubits in the spin of protons and neutrons. Trillions of trillions of these can float in a cup of water.

Ø 1998 - First working 2-qubit NMR computer demonstrated at University of California, Berkeley.

Ø 1999 - First working 3-qubit NMR computer demonstrated at IBM's Almaden Research Center. First execution of Grover's algorithm.

Ø 2000 - First working 5-qubit NMR computer demonstrated at IBM's Almaden Research Center.

Ø 2001 - First working 7-qubit NMR computer demonstrated at IBM's Almaden Research Center.
First execution of Shor's algorithm. The number 15 was factored using 1018 identical
molecules, each containing 7 atoms.

Candidates for Quantum Computers

Ø Superconductor-based quantum computers
(including SQUID-based quantum computers)

Ø Ion trap-based quantum computers

Ø "Nuclear magnetic resonance on molecules in solution"-based

Ø “Quantum dot on surface"-based

Ø “Laser acting on floating ions (in vacuum)"-based (Ion trapping)

Ø "Cavity quantum electrodynamics" (CQED)-based

Ø Molecular magnet-based

Ø Fullerene-based ESR quantum computer

Ø Solid state NMR Kane quantum computer

 Quantum Computing Problems

Ø Current technology

Ø ≈ 40 Qubit operating machine needed to rival current classical equivalents.

Ø Errors

Ø Decoherence -  the tendency of a quantum computer to decay from a given quantum state into an incoherent state as it interacts with the environment.

Ø Interactions are unavoidable and induce breakdown of information stored in the quantum computer resulting in computation errors.

Ø Error rates are typically proportional to the ratio of operating time to decoherence time

Ø operations must be completed much quicker than the decoherence time.

Research References

Ø http://www.qubit.org

Ø http://www.cs.caltech.edu/~westside/quantum-intro.html

Ø http://computer.howstuffworks.com/quantum-computer1.htm

Ø http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_computers

Ø http://www.carolla.com/quantum/QuantumComputers.htm