Why a modular digital seismograph?
Traditional digital seismographs attempt to cover the whole gamut of users requirements in an “all-in-one” approach, packing a huge amount of functionality into one box. While this appears a very attractive proposition at first sight it does have its drawbacks. Users expect system lifetimes in excess of five years (and have every right to do so); even the best attempts of anticipating technological advance as well as users growing needs will have to fail over such spans of time. A few years down the road, users will find themselves partially stuck with outdated technologies (e.g. in terms of mass storage) whereas other components of their systems are still perfectly viable. A modular approach allows users to get the maximum return out of their investment over a long period of time. It is much easier to keep “in sync” with the radically different paces of innovation in various fields of technology. Case in point: Over the last five years (1994 through 1998), “standard hard disk size” (t
