I believe it is wise to keep an eye and ear out for what vanguard companies are saying, especially when it comes to matters of the future. IBM has a view of the near future world as being one that will be driven by what we do in urban environments. I tend to agree on this front. In particular, if you read what the CEO of IBM, Samuel Palmisano, recently wrote in a Newsweek letter, one predominant theme rings true. Urban environments will become the locus of technological advances that will measurably influence the way the human race adapts to a more crowded and complicated planet. Through technology, particularly those that enhance the efficiency of transportation, energy and communications systems, we will make great strides towards realizing a fundamentally smarter, healthier and productive global population. And in my opinion, a leap that could best be compared to the one that we as humans made when Europe catapulted itself out of the Dark Ages and into the Age of Enlightenment.