  Using an analogy between the Brauer groups in algebra and the Whitehead
groups in topology, we first use methods of algebraic K-theory to give a
natural definition of Brauer spectra for commutative rings, such that their
homotopy groups are given by the Brauer group, the Picard group and the group
of units. Then, in the context of structured ring spectra, the same idea leads
to two-fold non-connected deloopings of the spectra of units.
