3Com CEO Eric Benhamou Sees Converged Networks as Next Major Milestone for
Computer Industry; During NetWorld+Interop Keynote, Benhamou Outlines Growing
Influence of Internet
BusinessWire, Tuesday, May 05, 1998 at 12:51
LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 5, 1998--"I believe the change to
converged networks is not a mere incremental improvement but a
fundamental expansion of the role and strategic benefits that data
networks will provide in the future," 3Com Chairman and CEO Eric
Benhamou said today during a keynote address to the NetWorld+Interop
'98 conference in Las Vegas.
"In fact, I view this change as the most significant next major
milestone for our industry as we continue to grow and evolve towards
an era of pervasive networking."
Most corporate enterprises today employ multiple network
infrastructures to support applications, including voice, video and
data transmissions. By converging and integrating the parallel
networks, enterprises will be able to substantially reduce
communications, operations and network management expenses while
increasing the bandwidth available to support new applications that
require different types of transmissions.
3Com Corporation (NASDAQ:COMS), a leader in developing and
implementing next-generation networking technology, recently estimated
the global market for capital equipment to enable convergence
technology in the enterprise to be $15-20 billion a year by 2003.
Calling the Internet now more popular than the Beatles, based on
AltaVista search hits, Benhamou said that networks have become such an
established part of people's lives because, "we have done a good job
of making networks go faster and faster, and reach farther and farther
over the last few years."
Extending the Benefits of Converged Networks to the Community
During his presentation to the annual conference, Benhamou
outlined how converged network technology is changing people's lives
by changing how they work as well as how they interact with
healthcare, government and educational institutions.
Benhamou described how cities such as Winston-Salem, North
Carolina are deploying metropolitan area networks (MANs) that extend a
network backbone across a geographic area to provide Internet access
and the rapid exchange information within the local community. For
example, juvenile officers in Winston-Salem are using the MAN to
crosscheck records with other agencies and to update each other's
files.
"Network convergence will soon allow a case worker to click a
button and speak directly to a student's guidance counselor or social
worker, or view a video history of a child's case," said Benhamou.
"Converged networks will greatly enhance the quality and value of our
interactions with the Internet."
Overcoming Obstacles to the Next Generation Internet
"As our industry continues to evolve toward converged networks,
we are beginning to learn what the next generation Internet will need
to prosper and what it will look like," said Benhamou, who serves on
President Clinton's Advisory Committee on High Performance Computing
and Communications, Information Technology, and the Next Generation
Internet (NGI).
The NGI initiative is a multi-agency Federal program developing
advanced networking technologies, revolutionary applications that
require advanced networking, and demonstrating these capabilities on
testbeds that are 100 to 1,000 times faster than today's Internet.
NGI?s goals include developing digital libraries, distributed
computing, and collaborative research applications for healthcare,
education, manufacturing and other industries.
Benhamou pointed to three obstacles that must be overcome to
realize the full potential of NGI's promise, which are funding the
necessary basic research, completing the telecommunications
deregulation begun with the Telecommunications Reform Act of 1996, and
bringing competition, innovation and goals to our education system.
"Our mission is a collective global mission to create, build and
maintain the greatest communications system the world has ever seen as
a way to permanently and positively impact our human society, the
world of work, our schools and our homes," said Benhamou. "We
collectively have a rendezvous with destiny as an industry to work
together, with speed and a spirit of openness in accomplishing our
goals." |
