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 ex-cited. Just as water will always find its way to a rive 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.

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}

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, malware and substandard sets of data play the role of storm surges and floods. They must be contained. Even today, there are already such barriers in place in many companies but these ‘dikes’ are usually there for economic reasons. Apple and Google, both pioneers of the liquid software idea, with products like Apple’s Handoff (Continuity) service and Android’s Lollipop, are fighting doggedly for market share – but the days of data monopolies are over.

Keeping your users locked up within the walls of your own company network is the direct opposite of liquid software. It takes away the key advantages for the user and puts the whole idea of liquidity in danger. In my opinion, IoT dams and weirs should not be built by stock market analysts and CEOs, but by CTOs. There should be a coherent technical need for barriers to minimise security issues. Sandboxing of unknown data is one way to minimise risks but clear requirements for structure and security checks for incoming updates and new applications would also help.

Technically, this is no longer a problem for machine tools whose AI intelligence always assumes a defect is imminent, based on conspicuous fluctuations in measured parameters. These predictive systems can not only inform service departments, without being told to do so, but can also automatically determine the availability of spare parts and the maintenance personnel waiting in the background. Edge systems can then autonomously calculate the team’s arrival time and determine when things will be running smoothly once again. All this without the maintenance or security teams needing to pick up the phone or for an employee to send an email to alert them.

The IT support world is full of data: information about traffic flow, the number of service vehicles on standby, the location and condition of necessary spare or replacement parts. All we need to do is unlock this treasure trove of information and let the data flow. When that happens, we’ll be amazed to find what opportunities we’ve been missing just because phone providers, internet service providers, equipment manufacturers and operators, service companies, and application distributors have been jealously protecting their sinecures instead of networking in a purposeful way.

Today, service technicians have to identify themselves to the gatekeeper, even though their IDs may have been established long ago and the exact time of their visits would already have been noted in all the company’s IT systems. Unfortunately, gatekeepers don’t know any of this. Too bad!

Of course, nobody should jump blindly into the flow. As always, prudence and precautions are necessary. New management tools, like ‘scrum’ software which helps teams to learn from shared experiences, will make IT security easier to achieve – there’s still no substitute for the human brain if we want to take IoT to the next level. In the end, it means that someone has to accept responsibility for any system. But as for the software? Just let it flow.

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