A universally workable information infrastructure will pave the way for an entertainment "explosion", according to leading industry analyst, Mr Robin Bloor.

He predicts that the provision of adequate bandwidth worldwide will allow complete visual representation of information.

He says: "History has demonstrated when a new information technology is created it is overtaken by the entertainment industry very quickly. Look at books, phonographs, tapes, film and television."

Originally a maths graduate, Mr Bloor has been watching the IT industry for more than 25 years. Since establishing Bloor Research

a specialist IT research organisation he became a recognised authority on all areas of software development and high level IT issues. His 1996 report, "Ente rprise By Other Means" which espoused the network computing model, has sold more than 35,000 copies and led to a series of follow-up research documents.

According to Bloor Research, the arrival of the Internet and the concept of shared information has had a major impact on corporate IT strategies, forcing them to move away from the traditional PC-based model and look to network computing.

This move back to centralised computing will help achieve better returns for businesses by reducing the total cost of systems ownership. The companies who have most to gain here are those behind the prototypical thin client, the Network Computer designed by Oracle and Sun Microsystems.

"The reality is that the future of maximised computing power lies in the network. In the same way people plug into the telephone network at present, the processing power doesn't need to lie in the computer but in the network. Soon a person can travel from New York to London to Tokyo carrying their PC as nothing more than a card which can be plugged into any terminal," Mr Bloor says.

Computers will become as simple to use as televisions because home users don't want to have to manage their computer, they just want it to work.

"Really the PC is a hobbyist's device which is not very simple to use. It is badly designed for the average Joe Bloggs who simply wants to access media and not care how it happens. You wouldn't accept your car simply shutting down on the road, in the same way computers have to deliver that reliability and ease of use."

The path to achieving this is not the smoothest and several major obstacles lie in the way.

Mr Bloor points to the Year 2000 computing problem as a major stumbling block, which could launch a "digital recession". As the number of transactions being processed are greatly reduced due to computer failures, he envisages the "kind of recession no Minister for Finance has ever faced before" with the onus resting on governments to prepare their economies for what lies ahead.

The World Wide Web is still less than perfect for universal dependency on the network to carry all user information and conduct large scale transactions. Mr Bloor points to problems with security, compounded, he believes, by the US holding on to RSA encryption for too long. However, he sees Java programming as central to the refinement of the Web as it will allow software applications and programs to run anywhere and inter-operate, bypassing the current dependency on the Microsoft standard.

Viewing Microsoft's position in the software market as a monopoly representing a barrier to innovation, Mr Bloor welcomes the current anti-trust case in the US as a very healthy development.

"The software market has very quickly become a fashion market. Engineering should take priority over marketing, and people should focus on solving the problems in their corporations rather than making decisions based on whether Bill Gates or Larry Ellison appear on TV promoting a piece of software."

Already the opportunities provided by new technology are giving way to dramatically different styles of commerce, and this is set to continue.

Mr Bloor warns that governments should prepare through the complete deregulation of telecommunications guaranteeing cheaper Internet access, while widespread IT education will be central to keeping pace with the revolution.

"If you want people to travel on the railway you have to build stations. The US is leading the march in this respect, with Europe lagging, and Ireland in particular needs to do something about its telecommunications infrastructure."

Once the new infrastructure is in place, governments will need to rethink their traditional views of economies. Existing tax regimes are geographically based where you live is where you pay tax but with the arrival of teleworking and Internet commerce people are no longer the kind of citizens they once were.

Mr Bloor believe the UN needs to look at this issue closely and help devise a strategy for governments to take electronic commerce into account, before the US corners the electronic market for itself.

Also on the horizon is a new industry, information banking. Evolving from Internet service providers as people increasingly store all their personal information on the network, it will become impossible to lose digitally stored information.

Soon smart cards could carry their owners iris and fingerprint patterns. Each individual's information will become invaluable to vendors of every type. For example, microprocessors could be embedded in cars to carry sensors monitoring fuel efficiency, while the car maker can communicate with the car at all times and be kept up to date on its requirements.

Mr Bloor, who visited Dublin last week to lay the groundwork for his company's first Irish office, is impressed by Ireland's progress in the software arena, citing Iona Technologies as a unique company. He has written extensively about Object management and views Iona as more typical of a US company which tends to succeed because it has a huge home market to cater for.

Now he believes the large multinational software industry, a high level of education, and the fact Ireland is a small English-speaking country will combine to increase our chances of focusing and maximising on the opportunities ahead.