Last night I cleaned my book shelves after a long time. I found books that I had bought but had not got time to read, books that were old and not very relevant now, which I did not have a heart to throw, and of course, found the challenge of accommodating all the books in the available space insurmountable. In the end, however, I did manage to do that as well as find enough space to tuck in a corner a couple of CDs with hundreds of e-books on them!

The printing paradigm has shifted dramatically over the last decade. If there is one field where disruptive technology is going to play a key role, it is printing. Digital printing and presentation will completely change the shape of things to come, and there are two products using these technologies that lead the innovation wavecrest - the e-paper and the e-book. Both are reusable and refreshable versions of their traditional predecessors that can acquire and hold information electronically. Information can be downloaded through a wireless internet connection. The prototypes developed can be reused thousands of time, do not require back lighting or refreshing, are much brighter than today's reflective display and run on low power.

Two contemporary technologies in the running areXerox's Gyricon and that of E-ink. Gyricon is a thin layer of plastic, full of millions of tiny two-coloured beads in oil filled pockets. Text or image display takes place in response to electrical impulses - full rotation displays images that are black or white and partial rotation displays grey shades. E-ink uses electronic ink and an active matrix of thin plastic flexible transistors and the electronic ink consists of millions of tiny spheres or microcapsules filled with light and dark dyes that change colour when exposed to electric charge, thus creating the required image or text. Sony launched their first e-book (incorporating the e-ink technology) sometime back. Appropriately called the LIBRIe, it has a similar look and feel of a paperback book (p-book!), allows users to download published content (up to 500 books) and take it with them anywhere to read it anytime! Four AAA alkaline batteries can last more than 10,000 hours since power is used only when image is changed!

For the Harry Potter generation it could be a killer app that makes virtual reality come true - the news papers will have moving images of the event not unlike those seen in The Daily Prophet. For the even younger generation,Siemens is launching digital labels that would potentially replace traditional labels on packages. Kids seeing flashing labels would find a compelling reason to want it. However, for the older generation like me, the touch and feel and smell of books is very important, be it in the book store or in the mahogany book shelves of the library. For me, p-book would continue to be a preferred option. There is still the lingering romance of being able to curl up with your book on a lazy Sunday afternoon which an e-book will never provide!

Rahul Swarup

President

- Sify Enterprise Solutions