Mike:
I was quite struck by the Intel announcement, but what startled me is the notion that Intel is indicating that it wants to transition a major part of itself into a service company. I do have Intel in my long term portfolio, but it's there because the company is clearly the volume and technology gorilla as a manufacturer. My reaction to the announcement does not question the Server Farm concept (which certainly fits in with the evolution we've been discussing), but questions whether the corporate culture of Intel is one which can adapt to being a service company, rather than a manufacturer and product innovator. The company's management, however, is not generally known for going into things without having researched and planned them (recent PR mis-steps and judgement lapses on expected reactions to serially-ID'd processors excepted).
I have not yet tried efax, but will. I find WinFax and the like so cumbersome that I have almost never used it and usually rely on an old fashioned, non-flexible, non-compromising, non-adaptable fax machine.
Although I can't comment on Citrix, I agree that we will be finding that many IT functions that one could not previously find acceptable to be outside one's immediate physical access will be moving out to other locations in the generalized network. The prerequisite for such, however, is establishment of not only the capability, but also the reliability and security of the network itself and of the new service entities. I guess, in a way, its the more sophisticated version of people's willingness to accept the Telcos' provision of "Call Answering" and other messaging services and being willing to give up their little at-home answering machines which are right there in there houses under their own physical control.
Steve |
