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A U.S. organization that is heading efforts to develop a new standard for cryptography may opt for more than one algorithm to serve widely varying global requirements for secure communications in such applications as electronic mail or video. The advanced encryption standard, when it is chosen, will be the successor to a data encryption standard that was developed approximately 20 years ago. It was adopted by users internationally, and the new scrambling code promises to be equally well received.

A new twist on age-old logarithms may hold the key to faster computer microprocessors. An improved approach to logarithmic arithmetic is finally allowing it to compete with current algorithms used in the central processing units of computers.

German technologists are employing commercial off-the-shelf components to develop communication systems for security agencies. Under a single umbrella organization, they are combining networking services and the secure links mandated by government organizations that are potential targets of hostile cyberspace intruders.

In government, industry, the military and society as a whole, technology reigns. Change is coming faster than words can be written to describe it. In virtually every corner of the world, information systems are remaking governments, re-engineering economies, restructuring militaries and redefining societies. Not even the industrial revolution had as far-reaching an effect when it sprang upon the world less than two centuries ago.

The 2020 citizen returns home from an afternoon of outdoor recreation to resume work. Recognizing him as he strides up the walkway to his door, his house's computers unlock the door and activate hallway lighting systems. As he walks through the house, environmental controls that are sensitive to his presence switch lights on and off and adjust each room's temperature. Similarly, his intelligent clothing loosens and thins out for greater body heat dispersal as he cools down from exertion.

Smart mobile mines, underwater attack trumpets and an artificial dog's nose are some of the products that may emerge from a newly reorganized defense research office. The reorganization reflects a growing interdependence among various electronics technologies, according to defense officials.

Virtually any device employing semiconductor technology soon may be able to communicate with its electronic siblings, cousins and even distant relatives. Research underway at an engineering institute, supported by private industry funding, aims to empower electronic components and everyday hardware to communicate with one another during the course of routine operations.

The same wires that carry voice transmissions to individual telephones within an organization are now delivering data, television-quality video and stereo-quality sound directly to the desktop. This allows businesses and agencies to provide multipoint videoconferencing, video-broadcast and video-on-demand capabilities to employees without installing additional infrastructures or overloading existing information technology components or networks.

Internal Defense Department research and development coupled with commercial off-the-shelf technologies is speeding medical care to wounded soldiers on the battlefield. In ongoing programs, scientists are investigating remote health maintenance and trauma care tools ranging from dog tags that hold an entire medical history to diagnostic equipment that helps evaluate the severity of an injury.

Technology providers are responding to the growing demand for telemedicine services by combining individual strengths. Companies that specialize in integration are working hand in hand with medical personnel to determine preferences and needs and then are bringing this information back to hardware and software developers for implementation into products. Individually, these companies could only bring part of the solution to the medical community; together, they are helping to increase the use of telemedicine.