Status and trends of the computer support for the public and private command and control centers

The PC, which has been considered a toy even until very recently, has now attained the dimensions of an intermediate central computer system with regard to its computing power and storage capacity. The UNIX operating system has become a world-wide standard, with which it is principally possible to implement standardized software of most computers developed by many manufacturers and of most performance classes. The experience gained with local operating computer networks can also be implemented for communication between command and control computers, warning devices and different management computers. One has to be aware of dangers related to the universally implementable software (key word: computer virus), which require special precautionary measures for diagnosis and "hygiene" within security systems. As regards what was previously called "future trend developments", improved graphic systems stand out from the rest. Endeavors to support computerized disaster relief have just begun within Germany. One noteworthy working technique, foreseen for the future as being useful for command and control centers, is that of expert systems.