Utility Computing
Business Week, 8/25/03: Tech Wave 1: Utility Computing
The idea is to make computing power into another pay-as-you-go service -- like water or electricity. But beware of the hype
The concept is one of the most compelling in the history of computing: Spare corporations a befuddling labyrinth of computers, software programs, data storage devices, and networks. Instead, make information technology as easy to use as plugging into an electrical outlet. This idea is commonly called utility computing, and many experts believe it's going to sweep the infotech world like a digital tidal wave. IBM, for one, is spending $800 million this year on marketing its vision of utility computing, which it calls e-business on demand.
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Help Desk
Tech Republic, 8/6/03: Help desk outsourcing serves company's needs
It's difficult for corporations and companies to acknowledge that their expertise might not extend to a particular area. At Stein Roe Investment Counsel (SRIC), a major independent investment counseling firm, management sat down and took a long, hard look at the company's core strengths—and weaknesses. In 2001, after splitting from a larger entity, SRIC continued to rely on its former parent company for help desk services. The solution, however, was only temporary, and the management team had to quickly determine the best course of action for the company's future.
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Mobile
The Wall Street Journal, 8/8/03: Nimble Giants: Titans Swallow Wi-Fi, Stifling Silicon Valley
By SCOTT THURM and NICK WINGFIELD
In 1994, engineers at Harris Corp. began fiddling with radio technology to beam data from one computer to another without wires. Nearly a decade later, the once-obscure technology they helped invent, now known as Wi-Fi, is all the rage in Silicon Valley. Intersil Corp., the semiconductor maker that Harris spun off in 1999, has become the biggest manufacturer of the chips that make Wi-Fi work.
But Wi-Fi's booming popularity has attracted new competition -- most notably from giant Intel Corp., which is spending $300 million to promote its Centrino line of Wi-Fi chips. Intensifying competition has meant shrinking profit margins. And on July 15, Intersil said it would sell its Wi-Fi unit to another small company for $365 million in cash and stock.
Intel's move into Wi-Fi, and Intersil's retreat, illustrate how a maturing high-tech industry has changed. For all of Silicon Valley's mythic start-ups, sudden billionaires and startling innovations, the advantages of size, longevity and brand identification are now often overwhelming. Giants such as Intel, Microsoft Corp. and Cisco Systems Inc. began as upstarts, but today their sheer size means they don't need to be first anymore. Instead, it's enough for the titans to be observant and nimble, so they can scoop up new ideas before threats develop.
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IT Doesn’t Matter
Business Week, 8/25/03: Nick Carr: The Tech Advantage Is Overrated
With his article in the May issue of the Harvard Business Review, entitled "IT Doesn't Matter," Nicholas G. Carr might as well have painted a target on his chest. The former editor-at-large of the magazine contends that the strategic value that information technology can provide corporate buyers is falling as it becomes more pervasive. That view has elicited howls of protest from many tech execs and buyers, who believe that continuing technology advances provide plenty of potential to achieve a competitive advantage. But Carr hasn't backed down one bit. Now a consultant in business strategy and information technology, he's working on a book that expands upon his article. In an interview in July, Silicon Valley Bureau Chief Robert D. Hof asked Carr to explain himself.
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Optimism
Business Week, 8/25/03: Andy Grove: "We Can't Even Glimpse the Potential"
For someone who stepped down from the CEO's job more than five years ago, Intel Corp. Chairman Andrew S. Grove still has his finger on the pulse of technology. Some 35 years after co-founding the Silicon Valley chipmaker, Grove, who also lectures at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business, believes information technology is far from mature. Here are excerpts from interviews conducted in January and July by Silicon Valley Bureau Chief Robert D. Hof.
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