“Nothing is permanent, but change.” ~ Heraclitus

Automatic doors. Cameras. Cell phones. The things that all of us take for granted now seemed like magic to our parents and grandparents when they were our age. It is amazing how rapidly technology is changing. My father told me the following story expressing his amazement at the technological advancement that we're seeing, and it has really stuck with me. He is the owner of a Heating and Air Conditioning Company which entails making a lot of service trips to customers all over the New England area. Not long ago when a customer wanted a service call, he would have to go through the arduous process of getting a beep on his pager, finding a payphone, calling the operator and getting the address of the customer who paged him, looking up the address in a phone book, and driving there to do the service call. Now, someone can simply call him on his cell and give him their address directly, and he can put their address into the GPS application on his phone and go straight there. With technology changing so rapidly, it’s hard to imagine what the future will hold.

What will technology be like 25 years from now? I imagine everything virtualized. Software is being used more and more as its technology advances. I could see everyone being able to access and work on anything and everything from the comfort of their desk. In fact, this is happening to a certain extent in the current workplace right now with the addition of Virtual Machines and the rapidly growing concept of SaaS (Software as a Service). It’s incredible how fast technology is changing, and I am beyond grateful that I am a part of that here at the UNH-InterOperability Lab (UNH-IOL).

Improving Networks Worldwide. Everything these days revolves around the internet and staying connected, and the UNH-IOL mission statement is something that I truly believe in. I love being a point person for high profile vendors who want to test their equipment before they release it to the world. I truly believe I am making a difference in the internet as we know it today, and that could not make me more proud. Not only am I improving the networking industry today, but the UNH-IOL is preparing to me to be an even more integral part of making the internet a better place as a future engineer. The UNH-IOL has given me a unique insight on the future of technology. The lab constantly gets new hardware and software implementations from many of the most successful networking companies in the world. It is my hope that I will one day invent my own innovative technology, and put my stamp on the networking industry as we know it today. The UNH-IOL has empowered me to be a self-starter, an innovator, a problem solver, and a critical thinker. These skills will stay with me long after my time at the UNH-IOL has come to a close, and for that I could not be more grateful.

Authored by Stephen Chambers, Student Technician, schambers@iol.unh.edu.

As we enter our 2nd quarter century, find out how you can be a part of shaping what the next 25 years bring by contacting Suzanne Snow, Marketing and Communications Manager, at 603-862-1694 or ssnow@iol.unh.edu.