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Technology Stocks : JDS Uniphase (JDSU) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: pat mudge who wrote (11024)	6/24/2000 5:17:00 PM
From: Glenn McDougall	Respond to of 24042

Internet boom bodes well for fibre-optic firms Technology forecast Jill Vardy Financial Post OTTAWA - Bewildered by the array of beeping computer devices around you? Get ready for more, say the authors of PriceWaterhouseCoopers' latest technology forecast. The consulting firm's annual book of predictions, Technology Forecast 2000, released this week, says we'll be using a variety of devices other than our traditional PC to get Internet access and communicate in the next two years. "These include e-mail access terminals, non-Windows-based information appliances and electronic tablets based on mobile flat-panel displays," the report predicts. Outside the home, we'll be using more mobile handheld devices for wireless Internet access. "We'll start to see new variations on the devices hit the field this Christmas," predicts Terry Retter, contributing editor of the technology forecast and a director of strategic technology at PricewaterhouseCoopers' technology centre in California. "We'll see a great deal of proliferation of these devices before we start to see consolidation." That's because no one knows what devices consumers are going to choose as their preferred handheld tool for phoning, accessing the Internet and e-mailing. "What's not clear is if people want increased functionality on a single handheld device, or more simple specialized devices," Mr. Retter said. "Are we going to have more and more specialized devices hanging off our belts, or do we want to reduce the number of devices we carry down to one?" Either way, firms such as Research in Motion Ltd., Nokia and Palm Inc. should expect lots of competition from new gizmos. Many of the innovations will likely come from Europe, where the telecommunications infrastructure is more standardized than North America's, Mr. Retter said. The technology forecast, published annually, is a phone book-sized compilation of predictions for the technology industry over the next two years. The continuing boom in Internet and wireless communications is good news for Canadian companies who supply fibre optic components -- such as Nortel Networks Corp., JDS Uniphase Corp. and others -- and for Ottawa, where many of the fibre optic companies are located. "There is a significant amount of technology innovation, creativity and evolution coming out of here," said Mr. Retter, in Ottawa to discuss the forecast. "This area of the world exhibits the same characteristics as Silicon Valley -- a strong educational base, a smart work force, a positive work environment and a positive non-work environment to retain the workers who settle here." He predicted a continued boom in the demand for fibre-optic equipment. "We haven't even scratched the surface yet of that market ... the backbone of the telecommunications infrastructure has moved to fibre, but at the commercial or consumer level it hasn't started to penetrate in depth, yet." Companies will move quickly to bring the speed and bandwidth of fibre to houses and offices in the years ahead, PricewaterhouseCoopers suggests.