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To: djane who wrote (46442)	5/9/1998 7:44:00 PM
From: djane	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 61433

AT&T bullish on the Internet By David Needle, ZDNN May 9, 1998 11:31 AM PDT zdnet.com MENLO PARK, Calif. -- A surprisingly aggressive AT&T capped off a week of high profile Internet announcements with an open house preview of various research projects at its AT&T Labs West facility here. The event served as the official public opening of the facility, though its been operating for over a year with a staff of 150 people. AT&T Chairman and CEO Michael Armstrong said the new lab was "significant and symbolic of a new AT&T. The only way we're going to grow is with innovation and there is nothing growing faster than communication applications and IP [Internet Protocol]. Internet heavyweights, including AT&T, fight for portal dominance. AT&T is adding new video options to the broadcast industry. "This lab should have the mission of making the phone the most ubiquitous IP device in the world." Armstrong repeatedly mentioned the importance of AT&T being a leader in IP, but admitted it faced challenges in meeting that goal. "What we offer today in IP as a business meets requirements, but it's not leading edge," he said. AT&T also trails MCI as the leader in IP backbone traffic with what Armstrong says is about 22 percent of the market. "We invested $325 million this past year to expand our presence as a backbone provider, and we'll invest this year and the year after. We want to do the same [kind of investment] in backbone as we've made in ATM and frame relay because it's very important and it can be very profitable." Recalling Darpanet, the precursor to the Internet, Armstrong said that historically users have wanted to do three things online: e-mail, chat and messaging, and that those are still the most popular applications today "and will be ten years from now." He made no mention of e-commerce, which many feel has the potential to be the Internet's so-called killer application. "We think the phone will be the most ubiquitous device for (e-mail, chat and messaging) and I don't need a $3,000 PC to do them," said Armstrong Internet phone booths? He envisions AT&T providing an array of services such as universal mail boxes capable of collecting multiple type of messages -- phone, fax, e-mail, voice, etc. "We might even see Internet phone booths," he said. "There is much more to this than just talking." Armstrong said he expects AT&T to continue to be able to offer flat rate pricing for Internet access through it Worldnet service for years to come. Among the dozen or so research projects shown at the open house was one called Universal Messaging for the Next Millennium. The Internet program includes a "simple decoder" for sending "player" software with various media types from one Internet user to another eliminating the need to manually install plug-ins to use the program. One example shown was a chess program. The initial user with the chess program on his computer makes a move, and sends it to another PC user who immediately is able to play and make a counter move in response even though they didn't originally have the chess program installed. "Anyone can create a new service and distribute it using this," said Gisli Hjalmtysson, a principal staff member in Network Mathematics at AT&T's Florham Park, N.J., office. Hjalmtysson said he's been working with the open source code recently released by Netscape to design the product specifically for the Navigator browser, though no release date has been set. Copyright (c) 1997 ZDNet. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of ZDNet is prohibited. ZDNet and the ZDNet logo are trademarks of Ziff-Davis Publishing Company. For magazine subscription savings, risk-free trial issues, newsletters, and more, click here!