A FOURTH WAVE OF SYSTEMS IS AFFECTING THE AUTOMATION COMMUNITY. THIS FOURTH WAVE IS DOMINATED BY POWERFUL DESKTOP COMPUTERS WHICH PROVIDE HIGHER THRESHOLDS OF LOCAL PROCESSING AUTOMONY. THE WAVE HAS INTRODUCED CONCEPTS SUCH AS GROUPWARE, CLIENT/SERVERS, AND DATA NAVIGATION. THIS PAPER EXAMINES THE FOURTH WAVE FROM ITS TECHNOLOGY TO NEW GROUPWARE APPLICATIONS. WORKSTATIONS, WHICH ARE THE HEART OF THE PROCESSING POWER, ARE EXPLORED IN DEPTH. ALTERNATIVE STRATEGIES ARE PROPOSED. BY THE MIDDLE OF THE NEXT DECADE, DESKTOP COMPUTERS WILL PROVIDE MODELING SUPPORT ONCE RESTRICTED TO LARGE PROCESSORS. EVEN TODAY, AGGREGATE PERFORMANCE AVAILABLE ON A DESKTOP CAN EXCEED MAINFRAME PROCESSING EXPECTATIONS. ADVANCES IN AUTOMATION SOFTWARE TOOLS PROVIDE ADDITIONAL CONTROL ACROSS ADVANCED PROCESSING LINES. THE PAPER EXAMINES HOW THESE TOOLS ARE MERGED THROUGH THE INTEGRATION PROCESS.