GET prepared for an information technology revolution over the next 10 years. Professor Wendy Hall, British Computing Society president and chairman of the Prime Minister’s Science and Technology Council, told local IT professionals that they must keep abreast of advances if they are to maximise opportunities.

She said that the pace of change would be even greater than the last decade.

‘Information technology is at the centre of what we do. It is important to look at how IT is changing. Companies, organisations, governments and states have to be aware of changes in technology to be able to plan for future development and maximise their opportunities,’ she said.

‘We are about to enter an era of ubiquitous computing. We will have small wireless devices which will enable us, if we so wish, to enter the network wherever we are.’

Prof. Hall said that in the future software will be personalised so that people could organise their whole lives through their computer network.

For example, it will be so intelligent that searches for information would automatically prioritise those results that match a person’s individual profile.

Seven specialists spoke on the future of IT at a conference organised by the Guernsey Training Agency and the British Computer Society.

It was opened by Commerce and Employment minister Stuart Falla.

‘About 18 months to two years ago it became evident that in the island we needed increased information technology and e-commerce training and education opportunities for our workforce,’ said agency chief executive Professor Richard Conder.

He added that it had been working very hard to procure training opportunities which now range from a masters degree in e-commerce to a wide range of short-course programmes and other qualifications.

‘This conference is the culmination of a long and demanding planning process to bring high quality speakers to the island so that we can give people the chance to hear and explore new developments and initiatives in the field of IT.’

Data protection commissioner Dr Peter Harris, who is also BCS chairman in Guernsey, said that this was an important conference for local IT professionals.

‘Most people are immersed in their day jobs and are unable to find out about advances in technology and make use of them. Hopefully this conference will give them a vision of how technology could help them further in the future.

‘All the time there are advances in systems and applications which improve the way we could do business and in all sorts of areas there are developments which will be common in the future.’

Dr Harris said that technology could be used to improve security and help create a more trusted and secure environment to make transactions. For example, fraud prevention could be improved through advanced technological techniques of identification.

‘The protection of data is of course particularly important to me and is an area we will be looking how we can apply it and develop it for the island in the future.’

Professor Mike Fairhurst told the conference that technological improvements over the next few years would extend the use of biometrics.

This sought to use measurements of physiological characteristics, such as facial recognition, fingerprints or scanning iris pattern to identify or to verify a person’s identity.

‘My message is that we have technology today which has reached a level that makes this more feasible.

‘Having said that there are still many difficulties partly because there are some issues that are not solved and also because we have yet to win the hearts and minds of individuals because of their quite legitimate concerns about privacy, personal data and intrusion into private life.’

He said the technology was already being used, for example in the protection of data, but could be extended.

‘There is already extensive use of biometrics on a localised level for entering geographical locations and access to sensitive data. We are already seeing developments in the use of this technology for ID cards, passports and driving licences.

‘At the moment there are trials to eradicate problems and improve the systems so that they can be used more in the future. It will be on the national scale that these systems have the most impact next.’