Engineering complex computer systems: a challenge for computer types everywhere. I. Let´s agree on what these systems are

We define the engineering of complex computer systems as all activities pertinent to specifying, designing, prototyping, building, testing, operating, maintaining, and evolving complex computer systems. While in the past, relatively noncomplex traditional systems sufficed for most computer control applications, the new and emerging demands of applications and the evolution of computer architectures and networks now essentially force systems to be complex, given our current understanding of how to engineer these systems. Complex computer systems are found in almost every industry. These include industrial process control, aerospace and defence, transportation and communications, energy and utilities, medicine and health, commercial data processing, and others. Unfortunately, the state of the art in research and technology has clearly fallen far behind the requirements of industrial, commercial, and government complex computer systems