By Johan Rindegård
echnology
movers that span scientific and technical fields predict these key developments
to drive business in the next millennium, and suggest you keep them on your radar
in the
coming years.
* Internet commerce. "What's going to be key is, of course, expansion
of the Internet," says Debora Wilson, executive vice president and
general manager of online services at The Weather Channel, in Atlanta.
"The more the Internet is accessible for consumers, the more they will
use it and incorporate it in their lives."
* Higher bandwidth. "Higher bandwidth has got to be on everyone's
top 10 list," says Beth VanStory, vice president of Office Depot Online,
in San Francisco. "This will have the greatest impact on the most people."
* Security. "There's no universal, unique ID -- that structure
to truly enable I-commerce is still not there," explains Eva Chen, chief technology
officer at Trend Micro, in Cupertino, Calif. What's needed, she says, is security
that is both easy to deploy and provides highly secured links.
"[Business on] the Internet is just like opening up your borders," Chen
adds. "On the borders,
you need to check visas and passports, and you also need to check people's luggage."
* Extensible Markup Language (XML). "XML we see as a key technology,"
says Jackie Fenn,
vice president and research director of Advanced Technologies at the Gartner Group,
in Stamford,
Conn. "The promise of separation of content from format is very appealing."
* Wireless networking. Wireless technology is key to leveraging all
the communications over
the Internet, Wilson explains. In the next couple of years, we will see more widespread
access to
information, she predicts.
"What's
important is to create ubiquity for everyone to communicate
anytime, anywhere," says Roselyne Genin, vice president of Optical
Networks for Ericsson, in Richardson, Texas.
* Portable devices. Wilson says she believes mobile devices will be
driven by the development of what she calls "utilitarian appliances."
These types of devices -- combined with wireless connectivity -- are the
way of the future, according to Angela Kapp, vice president of Special
Markets and New Media for Estee Lauder Companies, in New York.
"The concept of `always on, anywhere' will dramatically change our
lives."
* Set-top box technology. "This is a longer-term development,"
Wilson says, "but the
technology will evolve significantly. [Future set-top boxes] will allow programmers
to introduce
[true] interactivity to the viewing experience."
* Photonics. "There has been a lot of evolution in this field,
and fiber optics have been a catalyst
for immense changes," Genin says. "Photonics are used in many areas that
affect people's lives,
and it might help bring about a new generation of the Internet. One can do routing
and switching
optically, and provisioning to carry many large quantities of information."
* Biometrics. "This is one area that's pegged as long-term, but
it will move quite fast," Fenn
says. "By the end of this year, you will likely be able to buy a PC with a fingerprinting
reader
embedded in the keyboard."
* Relational databases. This is a crucial field, according to Kapp.
"Being able to get information
out of the database -- the concept of [data mining] -- is vital as we create more
relevant
information to users," she says.
One more to keep an eye on: Replication. On a lighter note, technologies
can have more benefit
than meets the eye. "I think biotechnology will change everything," Chen
says. "We'll be able to
clone our CEOs, and make doing business 10 times more efficient -- or inefficient,
depending on
what kind of CEOs you clone."
Copyright
© 1999 InfoWorld Media Group Inc.
