[3/11/98 Techweb.com article. HWP complains about bandwidth at Spring Internet World conference.]
There seems to be a theme developing...more investments in networking needed before faster PCs/servers can really do their thing
techweb.com
Net Should Target Household Appliances Next,
HP CEO Says
(03/11/98; 4:10 p.m. EST)
By Andy Patrizio, TechWeb
LOS ANGELES -- The next big breakthrough for the
Internet is as a means to control household appliances,
said Hewlett-Packard CEO Lewis Platt in a keynote
here at Spring Internet World '98.
For example, the Internet could be used by power
companies to monitor electrical output or even to
control the climate of people's homes from afar, he
said.
But, Platt said, two technology developments are
needed before this can happen -- an Internet server
has to fit on a chip to move outside the PC domain,
and a persistent connection is needed to maintain
communication at all times.
The problem of keeping a connection that doesn't go
down, Platt said, "is what is keeping us from moving
into a Digital Age."
On the more optimistic side, Platt said he sees a future
where the Internet will transmit at terabyte speed and
deliver gigabyte-per-second performance to the
desktop.
But that's far off, he said. "The Internet needs to be so
dependable we only notice it when it fails, and we're
not anywhere near that."
One area in which Internet applications are succeeding
is in publishing. Instead of the traditional publishing
model in which books and magazines are printed and
distributed, the Internet provides a platform where
books and magazines are distributed, then printed.
Platt gave the example of a newspaper called
InterCommunication Express for riders of
high-speed trains in Germany that prints out the news
they want on the train every day, using a newsfeed
from the Internet.
In some areas, however, the online world has fallen
short of its potential, Platt said. Like television, the
Internet was supposed to offer new methods of
education.
"Instead, it's reduced intelligent conversation to sound
bites and reduced communication to the lowest
common denominator instead of raising the bar." |
