Speak, Oracle

"THE INTERNET IS THE COMPUTER: OR SO GOES THE mantra among fanatics who believe the future belongs to simple, cheap versions of PCs run on the Web's powerful backbone. Certainly, Oracle and Sun Microsystems have long bet on this horse, and even packaged software king Microsoft is shifting gears for a Net-based near future. But what if the Internet is the business, too? Rapid, wide-open connections via Internet Protocol (IP) standards means companies can run back-office applications on the Internet, connecting far-flung corporate outposts--and to each other. Gone will be homegrown networks for banking and corporate communications, called electronic data interchange, or EDI. "There's still a lot of EDI out there, and it's an extremely expensive application," says Bob Rouse, president of Optiglobe, which runs data centers--the switching systems of the business Internet-- around Latin America. "Voice telephony and EDI will eventually be riding on IP." Companies will always be loath to share secrets, but where the y can gain they'll open doors--as happened with purchasing-- standardizing information at Internet speed. Soon, software branding will matter no more than copiers and office phones. "The driver of the new Internet will not be technology, it will be globalization. The Internet will just be the new EDI," says Guillermo Almada, COO of Latin America-based i-builder Structured Intelligence. Imagine the Internet as just another utility company, kept up with user fees or taxes but used by everyone. That has the box makers and shrink-wrap software giants quaking, but it's good news for business.

COPYRIGHT 2001 Freedom Magazines, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group