Long abstract

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As information technologies become more ubiquitous, their economic impact becomes both more significant and more diffuse. The 1997 Information Technology Outlook analyses several relevant issues.

Major IT market trends (in hardware, software and computer services, with a special focus on semiconductors and networked computing and servers) are identified and set in the context of OECD Member countries' overall economies. The impact of IT networks on firm structures, the globalisation of IT industries, and the use of information technologies in the home are examined in some detail.

The use of electronic information systems by government to deliver services and the use of information and communication technologies as a tool for life-long learning are the focus of a discussion of IT policies.

Some major developments affecting the IT sector are examined: Internet congestion, recent software developments (component software, data mining), and IT's effect on the packaged goods industry (supermarkets, department stores, specialty retail).

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

As the word "Internet" becomes a common part of our vocabulary, it is a clear indication that OECD economies are well into the third stage of computing: network computing. The first stage used mainframe technology and the second involved widespread use of microcomputers. The third stage has not meant a radical shift in computer design but rather changes in how the existing computing infrastructure is interconnected. The word Internet comes to denote this shift with good reason, as it was its development that made it possible to connect computers of whatever design or operating system at a relatively low price, largely using the existing information and communication infrastructure. As the shift to network computing diffuses, the IT industry, government policies and the economy as a whole are affected. While it is premature to declare the arrival of the cyber-economy, it is not too early to trace its outlines.

The 1997 Information Technology Outlook examines the information technology sector and some of the impacts of network computing from three different perspectives. Part I provides a quantitative overview of the IT sector, Part II looks at IT-related policies, and Part III analyses recent IT-related developments that have implications for the future.