Building on the visionary design system that architect Fritz Haller and engineer aul Scharer developed in 1965 for Swiss furniture company USM, this title brings together specially commissioned essays and interviews with leading designers, architects and thinkers to present the wide-ranging importance of modular design over the years.
The biggest problems faced in designing, managing and integrating computer systems are often not technical, but 'socio-technical'. Using examples of portals, supply chains, ebusiness and elearning systems, the potential for harnessing 'soft' factors to competitive advantage in distributed networked systems are discussed.