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Information Age Economy
K. Sandbiller
Dezentralitilt und Markt in Banken
1998. ISBN 3-7908-1101-7
M. Roemer
Direktvertrieb kundenindividueller
Finanzdienstleistungen
1998. ISBN 3-7908-1102-5
F. Rose
The Economics, Concept, and Design
of Information Intermediaries
1999. ISBN 3-7908-1168-8
S. Weber
Information Technology
in Supplier Networks
2001. ISBN 3-7908-1395-8
Kurt Geihs . Wolfgang Konig
Falk von Westarp (Eds.)
NETWORKS
Standardization, Infrastructure,
and Applications
With 50 Figures
and 6 Tables
Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg GmbH
Prof. Dr. Kurt Geihs
Technical University of Berlin
Faculty for Electrical Engineering and
Computer Science, Sekr. EN6
Einsteinufer 17
10587 Berlin
Germany
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Konig
University of Frankfurt
Institute of Information Systems
MertonstraBe 17
60054 Frankfurt am Main
Germany
Dr. Falk von Westarp
University of Frankfurt
Institute of Information Systems
MertonstraBe 17
60054 Frankfurt am Main
Germany
ISBN 978-3-7908-1449-1
Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for
Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP-Einheitsaufnahme
Networks: Standardization, Infrastructure, and Applications; With 6 Tables / Kurt Geihs ...
(Ed.). - Heidelberg; New York: Physica-Verl., 2002
(Information Age Economy)
ISBN 978-3-7908-1449-1 ISBN 978-3-642-57476-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-57476-4
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Originally published by Physica-Verlag Heidelberg New York in 2002
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Preface
In 1997, scientists from disciplines as diverse as
• Computer Science,
• Economics,
• Economic Geography,
• Information Systems,
• Labor Sciences,
• Law and Legal Sciences,
• Political Sciences,
• Sociology
set out to lay the foundation for a common theory of networks.
The research program "Networks as a competitive advantage and the example of
the Rhine-Main Region" at J. W. Goethe-University was funded by the German
National Science Foundation (DFG) from 1997 until 2000. In three and a half
hears, we faced the challenge of interdisciplinarity, i. e. the striving for a common
goal amongst most diverse individuals and scientific disciplines. The objective
was to gain a deeper understanding of the mechanisms behind social, economic,
technical and other kinds of networks. Based upon a mutual understanding of
both, the diversity of the network metaphor(s) as well as their common properties,
a unified theory of networks should guide public and private decisions concerning
the planning, operations and controlling of different kinds of networks and con
tribute to a responsible and efficient development of state-of-the-art networks.
The enormous impetus of new technologies pointing to a "network society" had us
agree on pursuing an interdisciplinary research approach as an adequate means of
incorporating the expectation that there is literally no area in the social and eco
nomic world unaffected by the recent advancements of information and communi
cation technologies and their application to real world problems.
While on an abstract layer the project's pace was driven by the common belief in
the necessity of a common (even unified) theory of networks, it was slowed down
by the need to identify mutually agreed upon starting points as well as particular
homogeneous research goals. Research approaches turned out to be substantially
different between the participating disciplines. Fundamental positions as to the
transferability of utility, the applicability of micro-models or the extent to which
individual decision making is (solely?) dependent on the institutional embedded
ness of the deciding agents slowed down the process.
Particular research results from all the different disciplines are documented in
many articles (www.vernetzung.de/eng). As a whole, they provide a broad plat
form of a variety of views towards networks and defme a methodological path for
VI
further research. Within the research program, we focused on two topical do
mains:
• The process of standardization and its implications on (economic, technical,
social) networks. In this context, a network denotes entities (agents, ma
chines) of a system and their relations. The focus was on understanding and
controlling the interaction processes between agents and the mutual implica
tions on network behavior and infrastructure.
• The role of regional (territorial) agglomeration. Here, the focus was on the
role of regional or territorial organization (e. g. metropolitan areas) in the
trade-off between globalization and a supposed increasing importance of re
gional networks, with the example of the Rhine-Main area.
In two books - reflecting the above distinction - we present a condensed interpre
tation of parts of our works towards answering the question "how to structure
further research". The ftrst volume Networks - Standardization, Infrastructure,
and Applications, edited by K. Geihs, W. Konig and F. v. Westarp, aims at con
tributing to the international discussion about networks and standardization.
Therefore, it - as most articles in this part of the program - is completely pub
lished in English.
J. Esser and E. W. Schamp edited the second volume titled The Metropolitan
Region in Processes of Networking (Metropolitane Region in der Ver
netzung). New forms of network-building in different industries as well as in a
political context are embedded both in global relations and local context. Still,
local or regional networks in a territorial rather than virtual sense are of tanta
mount importance. That is why this second volume offers various examples of
"glocalization processes", i. e. processes with local agents continuously reinforc
ing their network structure to adapt to international competitive environments and
to survive within global schemes of relations. This volume is solely published in
German.
We are indebted to the German National Science Foundation for daring to support
our broad interdisciplinary project. Although the research program [mds its end
with these books, the German National Science Foundation still funds some par
ticular research groups that emerged from it. I hope that some of the good spirit of
interdisciplinarity together with excellent future contributions from the projects
that found new funding will carry on asking the right questions and help us come
closer to answers.
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Konig
(Speaker of the program's researchers)
Contents
Preface .................................................................................................................... V
I Standardization ............................................................................................. 1
Modeling Diffusion Processes in Networks ............................................................ 3
by Tim Weitzel, Oliver Wendt, and Falk v. Westarp
From QWERTY to Nuclear Power Reactors: Historic Battles for the Standard ... 33
by Tim Weitzel and Falk v. Westalp
II Infrastructure .............................................................................................. 63
Supporting Mobility through Computer Networks ................................................ 65
by Anselm Lingnau, Michael Matthes, and Oswald Drobnik
Quality of Service Management for Middleware and Applications ......................9 9
by Kurt Geihs and Christian Becker
US-American Legislation on Digital Signatures ................................................. 129
by Johann Bizer and Anja Miedbrodt
ill Applications ............................................................................................... 139
Communication on Capital Markets .................................................................... 141
by Michael Stubenrath
Contracts and eContracting: The Case of Forwarding Agents and Carriers ........ 167
by Dorit Bolsche and Christian Becker
Internet Based Management of Distributed Business Processes .......................... 187
by Kirsten Lenz and Andreas Oberweis
I Standardization
Standardization and the emergence and dynamics of communication networks are
strongly interrelated. The following research questions can be identified in this
context. What are the relevant standards in networks and what are the interde
pendencies between them? How do the use and the specification of standards
influences the properties of networks? How do standards change with rapidly
growing networks of today's world? What is the optimal degree of standardization
in networks?
The contributions of this section are focusing on the interdependencies between
networks and standardization from an economical and information technological
perspective.
The first article integrates two recent approaches, the decentralized standardiza
tion model and the network diffusion model of standards, into an interdisciplinary
model of standardization in networks. The second paper gives an overview of real
world standardization practice in markets and in large companies, respectively.
Modeling Diffusion Processes in Networks
Tim Weitzel, Oliver Wendt, Falk v. Westarp
Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University
Institute of Infonnation Systems (Wirtschaftsinfonnatik)
Mertonstr. 17
D 60054 Frankfurt am Main
{tweitzellwendtlwestarp}@wiwi.uni-frankfurt.de
Summwy:
In this paper, some of the main results of the research project "Economics of
Standards in Information Networks" are presented and integrated into a single
fi-amework of technology diffosion. We present an agent-based simulation model
that incorporates structural determinants of networks (centrality, topol
ogy/density) and individual decision making on the part ofp rospective technology
users under realistic informational assumptions. Based upon these models, deci
sion behavior in terms of the selection of standards and the diffusion of techno
logical innovations in networks can be described; the model can serve as a tool
for developing and evaluating various internalization strategies that aim at an
swering questions like how to consider the determinants of an increasingly global
and networked market when choosing cOlporate strategies.
Introduction
The use of common standards generally makes possible or simplifies transactions
carried out between actors or eases the exchange of infonnation between them.
Examples are DNA, natural languages and currency or metric standards as well as
communication protocols (JP, TCP, HTTP) and syntactic and semantic standards
such as XML and ED!. In the context of infonnation and communication systems
compatibility is important: many different computer networks, operating systems,
user surfaces, and application systems have evolved in companies over a number
of years. One of the major drawbacks of this heterogeneous legacy is the fact that
there is no seamless integration of different data and applications. Recently, this
has been discussed in the context of Electronic Business and Enterprise Applica
tion Integration (EAI) focusing on the integration of all actors in a value chain.
Prominent examples are the various incompatible Electronic Data Preface
Interchange (EDI) standards and efforts aimed at the introduction of Web-based
EDI or XMLlEDI [WestarpIWeitzellBuxmann/Konig 1999].
K. Geihs et al. (eds.) NETWORKS
© Physica-Verlag Heidelberg 2002
