The key to Internet's future: money

The key to Internet's future: money
ATLANTA — Panelists discussing the future of the Internet at this week's Supercomm trade show here boiled the topic down to one blunt theme: Whatever the new Internet is, it has to be a good business.

The panel convened some great architectural minds, who shared a belief that the days of experimenting with technology must give way to a more pragmatic approach. Rather than remain a toy, the Internet must become something business can sink its teeth into, the panelists said. "The single biggest challenge we all face is finding a business model that works," said Fred Briggs, chief technology officer at Worldcom Inc.

The business question was driven by the networking industry's careening to a halt in recent quarters, a fact that some panelists attributed to overinflated hopes from the likes of the dot-com companies. "What happened?," asked Jim Warner, chief executive officer of the TeleManagement Forum. "Basically, no business plan, no business model. Nobody has a clue what the customers want to buy. We're taking a lot of things on blind faith. You invest $1 billion on blind faith, sometimes you get bit."

The key, said Warner, is to treat the management problems that underlie any expansion of the Internet. Rather than expand willy-nilly, the industry must more carefully consider its moves and at the same time develop a better attitude toward business-minded issues such as customer service, he said. "Taking somewhat of a parochial view, I think we have to look at how we manage, look at the management systems we've deployed and do it a different way," Warner said.

Business productivity

From an applications standpoint, the Internet's next step is to become a business-productivity tool, said Worldcom's Briggs. Possibilities include voice-activated services or even online billing — 70 percent of all business-to-business purchases still are transacted by check, he said.

But, said Michael Hill, general manager of global telecommunications for IBM Corp., it's questionable whether such applications can be delivered on the existing Internet. "If it's going to be successful," he said, "it's got to have the quality of service to support real business models, because the next generation of the Internet is about business."

Panelists also called for a continued emphasis on open standards, with Hill even calling for an embrace of the GNU-Linux open-source operating system. Howard Bubb, vice president of Intel Corp.'s communications products group, noted that openness is what helped the PC industry flourish. "The fundamental shift in computing, and the move to a more open model, unleashed innovation," he said. An open platform drove down costs, which made the technology more affordable and reduced the barriers to entry, he said.

But changes will be slow in coming, Bubb said. "You're dealing with capital expenditure cycles, so I can see this taking 10 years," he said.