What is the Future of the Internet

The Internet is a collection of peer-to-peer computers (from your laptop to IBM mainframes) that communicate through a global network of communications computers called “routers.” Each computer is numbered and many are named using a distributed global address book within Domain Name Servers (Computers.)

The so-called Internet economy was an assumption that the economies of scale associated with cheap and ubiquitous communications would revolutionize business and consumer commerce. And so it will, but slowly, over the traditional 20-year technology cycle of adoption.

The Internet will enable enterprises to:

Dramatically lower transaction costs internally within organizations

Dramatically improve communications with suppliers, partners, divisions and the consumer

Reduce applications development costs by standardizing software components that will be snapped together like Legoâ pieces

Facilitate real-time communication and collaboration

Develop efficient businesses based on lower transaction costs, e.g., Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/)

The next generation of the Internet (Internet II) will enable an enterprise to operate in real-time and to communicate with customers, partners and consumers immediately. It will enable individualized marketing and truly personalize customer relationships and support. [1]

For the CEO and CFO, this means focusing on Internet applications that improve:

Shareholder Value

Marketing

Brand Name recognition

Transactions costs

Product Development

Manufacturing and/or Service Delivery

But, these applications must be “bullet-proof,” reliable, and extremely secure. The barbarians are at the gates.

For healthcare and bioinformatics, the key date for the future of the Internet is April 2003. At that time, patients can demand access to their medical records and health insurance data. The Internet will become the preferred means of transferring medical and insurance data.

[1] Forbes, Internet II, Rebooting the Internet (http://www.forbes.com/asap/2001/0910/044.html)