** The World According To Gerstner NEW YORK--The future, according to IBM CEO Louis Gerstner: Dot- coms will fall by the wayside. Technology investment will be driven by "real business." Companies will access intelligent, flexible infrastructures delivered by just a couple dozen service providers. And Linux will be the dominant operating system. Apparently, Gerstner, speaking Tuesday at the eBusiness Conference and Expo, really believes this. He said IBM will invest $1 billion in developing and marketing Linux next year. At the same time, he shed light on what IBM is calling the largest Linux implementation in the world--a supercomputer-class installation by Shell Oil in Amsterdam. Gerstner said another $4 billion has been earmarked for opening 50 host centers during the next three years. Observers say Gerstner's emphasis on hosting is hardly surprising, given that it's one of the growth-challenged company's fastest growing units. "They have an E-services business that's growing at 70% a year. You just don't notice it that much because they are a $95 billion company," says John Jones, a Salomon Smith Barney analyst. IBM pegs the current hosting market at $6 billion, but Gerstner forecast that full-blown "E-sourcing" will be a $55 billion market by 2003. Gerstner also shed light on what IBM is calling the largest Linux implementation in the world--a supercomputer class installation by Shell Oil in Amsterdam. Playing to IBM's strength in the large enterprise market, Gerstner said the demise of many high profile dot-coms proves that business-to-consumer E-commerce was a search for fool's gold. "The IPO alchemists have had their 15 minutes," he said. Now, he added, large enterprises are ready to push headlong into true E-business, defined by across-the-board integration of supply chains, customer service, order processing, logistics, employee communications, and numerous other processes. - Paul McDougall http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20001212S0001 *********************************************************** Ing. Juan Carlos Umanzor Administrador de Bases de Datos Ricafoods Inc. Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tel. 298-1783 *********************************************************** -- �Desea desuscribirse? Escriba a [EMAIL PROTECTED] con el tema "unsubscribe".
