__ RAW DATA __
__ Auto Electronics Revenue __
In 1994, automotive electronics manufacturers sold more than US$36 billion worth of equipment worldwide. Computers have controlled basic engine functions since the mid-1980s, but air bags have sparked a boom in safety-related electronics. Advanced driver-information systems are expected to become more popular later in the decade.
SOURCE: Dataquest
__ Electricity Generation __
Coal-fired power plants produce cheap electricity, but they also spew smog and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Nuclear power was once seen as a solution to these problems, but opinion shifted after Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. Meanwhile, renewables have been hindered by technological barriers and relatively high operating costs.
SOURCE: Energy Information Administration
__ Electronic Fund Transfers __
Point-of-sale payment systems have become a common fixture in supermarkets, gas stations, and other stores, but shoppers have been slow to embrace the new technology. Transaction fees may be partly to blame, although some analysts fear that consumers are reluctant to entrust their bank cards to anything other than a familiar ATM.
SOURCE: Electronic Funds Transfer Association
__ Encryption Applications __
Once embraced only by the paranoid, digital encryption is now an essential part of the information infrastructure. Many system administrators use encryption as a front-line defense against network intrusions and data rip-offs. Meanwhile, uncertainty over the Clinton administration's key-escrow plan threatens to sidetrack online commerce.
SOURCE: Computer Security Institute
