No recovery this year, says Fiorina
By IAN GRAYSON
27mar01
THE IT industry is in for a tough time in the next 12 months, with the impact of the US economic slowdown reverberating around the world, a senior executive has warned.
At the CeBIT trade fair opening in Hannover, Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina added to the sense of foreboding felt by many in the industry.
"I'm not optimistic about recovery in the second half of this year," she said. "It's a bit like navigating through fog."
To succeed, IT companies had to focus on real-world needs rather than simply creating products and technologies, she said.
"Technology for technology's sake is not the definition of great invention."
Ms Fiorina said wireless data was an area that should expect growth during the next 12 months.
"There is a tremendous opportunity when you look at how mobile appliances might link up with other appliances in a given environment to complete a task," she said.
"It's about the physical world being intertwined to deliver what you need, where you are."
Ms Fiorina pointed to the vast array of new wireless devices and services being launched at CeBIT as evidence of this trend.
All major vendors are rushing to launch mobile handsets based on GPRS technology to take advantage of new networks.
In Australia, Telstra announced commercial operation of its GPRS network earlier this month.
But Fujitsu-Siemens chief executive Paul Stodden rebuffed Ms Fiorina's negative outlook, at least for Europe.
Also speaking at CeBIT, Mr Stodden said he could see no evidence of an economic slowdown in European IT. While the United States was problematic, there was still room to move in Europe, he said.
finance.news.com.au |
