FVC.COM Is A Major Player of E-Learning Business Infrastructure
Cisco CEO sees e-learning as next wave
By Mary Lisbeth D'Amico
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 3:46 PM PT, Nov 16, 1999
LAS VEGAS -- Just as electronic commerce exploded over the past two years, the stage is
now set for "e-learning" to become the next big wave in Internet-based applications,
according to Cisco Systems CEO and President John Chambers. Such a move will also help
close the divide between rich and poor, he added.
"Education and the Internet must go hand in hand," Chambers said in a keynote speech here
Tuesday at Comdex. "It will serve as one of the great equalizers."
In his speech Tuesday, Chambers pointed to a host of other ways in which he sees the Internet
changing people's lives and making companies more productive over the next two years. These
ways range from allowing companies to monitor their financial health to letting people conduct
most of their errand running over the Internet, he added.
"It will change the way we work, live, play, and learn," Chambers said.
Of course, Cisco has a vested interest in the growth of these Internet-based applications. The
company is one of the largest manufacturers of routers, switches, and other equipment that
provide the plumbing for the Internet.
Chambers identified Web-based learning as one of the hottest new applications in coming
years. He showed a video on cutting-edge universities, such as University of California
Berkeley, in California, that offer students Web sites for each separate course offered, and
integrate the Internet into the learning process.
He admitted, however, that the market for Internet-based learning has not taken off as quickly
as some observers had predicted. Although the technology exists, roadblocks still exist. Many
teachers, accustomed to what Chambers called "command and control," do not like to give up
the power to students to decide what they learn, and are not yet comfortable with Internet
collaboration, he said.
When e-learning does take hold over the next two years, however, education will become a
continuing process, as companies educate their employees via the Internet, Chambers said.
He also predicted that companies will reap the productivity benefits as their employees
increasingly take care of all their errands over the Internet, thus freeing them up for other tasks.
He explained that he would prefer to see employees taking care of tasks such as shopping and
laundry at work via the Net, rather than have them leave early to attend to those errands.
Chambers demonstrated one new application, a gas pump with Internet access that will be
launched in North Carolina in two weeks. Customers run their credit card or customer card
through the a smart-card holder installed at the pump. They then receive a personalized Web
page with news and other information, can look at a Web-based map for directions, and can
even order goods online while waiting for their gas tank to fill.
The Internet will also change the way companies handle internal information, Chambers said.
He sees a big future for what he called "virtual close" -- a company's ability to assess their
own financial health on a daily basis using Web-based applications. Such a move will allow
chief executive officers to avoid being surprised by their results at the end of a quarter, he
added.
One user listening to the keynote, who identified herself as a broker with Smith Barney, said she
was really inspired by Chamber's comments, calling him a "visionary" speaker.
Another attendee, a student at Stanford University, said Stanford already has the same type of
Internet applications as those shown during the keynote. He was a bit more skeptical about how
much that transformed the education process, however.
"We have it, but it doesn't really change that much about your life," he said. |
