Information infrastructure

The delivery of information where it is needed, when it is needed and in the form it is needed is among the most valuable functions that can be provided by an information infrastructure. Indeed, once the economy has become dependent on such functions, it is also strongly affected by the strengths and weaknesses of the technology underlying the infrastructure. Loss of power service, telephone service, access and use of roads and freeways, even for brief periods of time, serve as vivid reminders both of the utility and of the potential fragility of economic dependence on infrastructure.