Prof. Dr. Franz J. Rammig teaches Practical Informatics at the University of Paderborn, the University of the Information Society. His current research areas are design techniques for embedded real-time systems, ranging from abstract specifications (especially using Abstract State Machines) via modeling, analysis, software synthesis (with special emphasis on real-time operating and communications systems) to hardware synthesis (especially using reconfigurable devices).

F. Rammig: TC10 was established 1976. Since then an unbelievably rapid development took place in the entire area of computer systems technology and the topics covered by TC10 and its working groups did change frequently.

The oldest, still existing, working group is WG10.3 on concurrent systems. When the group was established concurrent systems were an exotic field for a few academics. Now we rarely see systems that are not concurrent. Centralized systems were replaced by client-server architectures, later by multi-peer approaches and today peer-to-peer architectures are emerging. The field of concurrent systems is fascinating and changing rapidly.

WG10.4 was established in 1980, two years after WG 10.3. Its field is dependable computing and fault-tolerance. Informatics is everywhere today, in CD-players and cameras, in airplanes and automobiles, in production plants and communications systems. Applications on general-purpose computers became a minor part of informatics activities. But most of these embedded applications are safety-critical by nature. We cannot afford a power plant to be blasted due to a computer failure or a car crashing into a tree, just to give some examples. So the area of WG10.3 got central importance for the entire area of computing.

WG10.5 (design and engineering of electronic systems) has an interesting history. In 1981 it was founded as a working group (WG 10.2) in the area of digital systems design. Later a special aspect, namely VLSI design, was separated and formed an own working group (WG10.5). Both WGs became extremely active and successful. Finally, however they recognized that there was a big overlap of their activities. This observation resulted in a re-merger of the two groups. Its number was decided by the toss of a coin in favor of 10.5. Today WG10.5 covers the entire area of digital systems design, from abstract specification down to silicon technology. That this is a field that had and still has a dominating impact on the entire development of technology needs no further explanation.

In 1994, it was observed that the technical aspects of computing, as covered by TC10, need their own theoretical foundation and WG10.1 (computer-aided systems theory) was created. Of course there is a need for application-neutral basic research in theory (perfectly covered by IFIP TC1). But in addition, the background from the specific application area of theory is important as well.

To sum up, it is hard to mention several single developments as the most significant ones for TC10. TC10 is in such a fascinating and rapidly evolving area that all of our developments are highly significant.

F. Rammig: There is a long lasting dispute whether technology drives social/economical developments or vice versa. From my opinion both are true. If we look at the activities of TC10 then we are the technological pacemakers. Moore’s law usually is cited as the example of a rapidly developing technology. But observing that chip complexity doubles only every 18 months while the complexity of embedded software doubles every 10 months, one can conclude that the main challenge originates from applications. We need more powerful design technology, we need new computing paradigms (concurrently acting, intelligent, and self-adapting peer-to-peer systems?), and we must be able to build safe systems, systems that do not harm mankind and the environment. I think that TC10 is attacking these challenges, however from a technology driven point of view.

F. Rammig: Today there exist 20 billions microprocessors, i.e. more than 3 times more than men on earth. What we experience is a complete "informatization" of our technical and non-technical life. In the moment we do not understand what it means that completely decentralized, peer-to-peer systems come into existence. We do not really understand what safety risks will be created by this development. We do not really understand in which direction system design will go, how the design effort can keep track with the pace dictated by both, semiconductor technology and the even faster growing demand from embedded software. So from my point of view it is exactly this total informatization which drives TC10 and in turn is driven by research supported by TC10 and its events. But this trend is not restricted to the scope of TC10. From our point of view IFIP has to be aware of the potentials and risks of this development. IFIP should encourage scientists from all over the world to cope with various aspects of informatization, from various points of view. E.g. the opportunities and risks may look different for a highly developed country than for a less developed one.