Reuters, Wednesday, August 20, 1997 at 13:15
SAN JOSE, Calif., Aug 20 (Reuter) - The number of personal
computers connected to the Internet will rise 71 percent this
year to 82 million, driven by demand by businesses to stay in
touch with their customers, a report by a market researcher
said Wednesday.
The rush to connect to the global computer network also
will generate $12.2 billion in software and service sales this
year, up 60 percent from last year, the report from Dataquest
said.
Until now, most of the Internet's growth has come from
consumers plugging in through online services. Now, companies
are tweaking their internal corporate computer networks so that
they can communicate through the Internet with the networks of
their customers.
With these so-called extranets, companies can take orders
for products from customers, order raw materials from
suppliers, send billing invoices and manage logistics.
By 2001, 268 million computers will be connected to the
Internet, generating $32.2 billion in revenue for the software
and computer services industries, Dataquest said.
In the past two years, most of the largest software and
computer companies -- including Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT),
Netscape Communications Corp. (NASDAQ:NSCP), Cisco Systems Inc.
(NASDAQ:CSCO) and Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC) -- have concentrated on
developing products to help companies conduct business through
the Internet.
(--Kourosh Karimkhany in Palo Alto, 650 846 5401)
Copyright 1997, Reuters News Service
Dam those windmills |
