Smart Industry No.1 2022

Column Bernd Schöne
Liquid Software
Wetware Revisited
There was a time when ‘wetware’ was a
geek word for the part of the body
that computer scientists use to
gather and modify their thoughts.
But jargon moves on and the new
buzzword is ‘liquid software’, which
stands for a system that can be updated
and modified at any time without
interrupting its flow. So, it isn’t all that
different from wetware, is it?
Agreeing on a definition for the new
buzzword, on the other hand, is tricky. If
you ask me, it simply represents a cautious
step forward, albeit in the right general direction,
with many more to follow.
Software for IoT has very specific requirements. The
market is fast-moving, unit volumes are high, and
prices are manageable. The need to transfer large
amounts of data across device and network boundaries
is essential – as is the distribution of updates.
Without software that is up-to-date, seamless interaction
between sensors (acquiring data), data centres
(crunching data), decision-makers (evaluating
data) and actuators (controlling data) is impossible
– and, without it, so is IoT. It comes as no surprise that
the concept of ‘liquid’ has caused quite a flurry since
its introduction to IT in 2014, even though, or maybe
because, no one can say precisely what it is.
The water analogy helps us understand what it is
everybody’s talking about – and why they’re so excited.
Just as water will always find its way to a river
Dams and dikes
are barriers
that keep water –
and data – from
flowing freely.
Bernd Schöne
is a veteran German Internet
journalist and an expert on
cybersecurity
and the sea, data and applications should be
able to flow steadily and independently to
where they are needed throughout the
IoT network. The latest software versions
running individual IoT components
should autonomously go with
the flow, with error corrections and
new features being automatically
patched-in on the way.
This is not a new concept. The internet
itself, and the World Wide Web, have
been connecting computer systems for
years, and ‘patch days’ are as old as the
first servers. Before now, automatic updates
were always instigated by specific applications,
such as a browser or an email programme.
Everything else required actions by the user. That's
about to change. In the future, streams of data, applications
and updates will find their own way to
their destinations without a single click of a mouse.
So far so good but experience has taught us that
where liquid flows are concerned, dikes and weirs
are essential to the successful co-existence of water
and people. No one knows this better than the
inhabitants of Europe, who were hit by horrendous
flooding in 2021. The Dutch know better than most
how to handle water: After a devastating storm
surge in 1953, they sealed off the entire country from
the North Sea within 30 years.
Weirs and dikes are barriers that keep water – and
data – from flowing freely and out of control. In IT,
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