Fascinating Chambers speech
americasnetwork.com
Mozart, money & Mom
Annie Lindstrom, May 15, 1998
Name three things the Internet can give you. (See the
headline of this column for answer.)
Cisco Systems president and CEO John Chambers steers
clear of any talk about frame relay reliability. Instead, at
Andersen Consulting's Global Communications Forum last
month, Chambers chose to sermonize about how the Internet
is changing the world (and enhancing Cisco's bottom line). But first, he
demonstrated his enthusiasm by staging a few parlor tricks.
Jim Grubb, Chambers' technical advisor, tried to place three phone calls to his
boss from a cellular phone, an Internet phone and a regular telephone; the
audience had to decide which was which. It didn't quite work. The cell phone
couldn't summon a signal from the nearest cell (we later learned that the cell
was filled to capacity). The audience was divided over which call was placed
over the Internet phone. The demo proved that your Mom definitely will
recognize your voice when you call her on an Internet phone.
The second trick involved a grand piano, linked via an MIDI interface to a PC,
which in turn was connected to the Mozart home page. Grubb selected
Symphony No. 40 in G Minor from the MIDI archives, hit Enter, and the piano
began to play. It wasn't like Kittyhawk, but watching an Internet piano play
Mozart for a roomful of telecom execs seemed to mark a moment in history
that I'll someday recall by saying, "I was there."
Chambers predicted that the Internet's impact on society and business will
dwarf that of the mainframe computer, mini-computer or PC. He went on to
claim that by implementing six Web-based apps last year, Cisco saved $360
million and reaped a 18% productivity gain. "We saved more money than our
nearest competitor spent on research and development," he quipped. Cisco
saved $125 million alone by letting its customers access the company via the
Internet.
Indeed, the Internet is generating revenue for Cisco. Chambers pooh-poohed
the 'experts' claims that electronic commerce will be only a $250 million market
by 2001-much too conservative, he said. Cisco itself will be doing $20 billion
in e-commerce by then, he noted.
Yankee Group's Howard Anderson drove the point home, by saying that the
Internet will deliver 195 billion e-mails in 1998-eclipsing the 190 billion pieces
of first-class mail delivered by the USPS. This I believe-after four days out I'll
probably be facing at least 200 of them when I return to the office.
May 15, 1998 table of contents
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