New generation architectures

There is a pattern to developments in new generation architectures; an application need or requirement drives an architectural definition which in turn drives technology which may or may not be able to support the requirement. Sometimes the technology provides an opportunity to realize some functionality, previously unobtainable, in the abstract application and thus drives the architecture. It can be a chicken-and-egg scenario. The underlying goal is to close, or at last, narrow the semantic gap. The paper examines various classes of new generation architectures. This division of classes is solely based on answering a fundamental question, what do we perceive as the application level for the system in question?