Internet Throwing Up New Breed Of Cos: Intel Official

According to Sean Maloney, senior vice-president and director _ sales and marketing group, Intel Corp, the Internet is throwing up a new breed of companies that will take businesses successfully to the Net. These are, in Intel lingo, e-business solutions providers (eBSPs). Excerpts from a interview with BS.

What are the objectives behind the eBSP programme?

The main purpose is to get the best solutions available on Intel architecture. If you buy an Intel-based machine, its main benefit, versus a proprietary system, is that it is open. The danger of a proprietary machine is that you are locked in for the next 15 years. So, we want to get as many different solutions on the Intel architecture as possible. That is I guess the main reason.

 

Also, it is absolutely true that we are trying to spread ourselves across the Internet. And you will see us invest in India in a lot of Internet companies, I am sure.

Why launch this now?

Y2K is out of the way. And a lot of companies are thinking about e-business deployment, and Internet security. These are the two big issues for companies. The paranoia has moved from Y2K to security. it took about 5 weeks. That is going to be the theme for the next five years.

Aren't PCs going to fade away, ever?

The PC market is much maligned. There are people always saying that the PC is dead. Three years ago, they were saying that the thin client would take people away. The current `PC is dead' hyperbole will fade away in the next few months.

You have to look at what you need in an Internet device. You need a processor, some local storage and a monitor. That is a PC. Some people say you don't need local storage - you can have a stupid terminal connected to a mainframe. That is not possible, communications infrastructure is not reliable enough yet. Anything that wants to replace the PC as an Internet access device still needs these three basic components.

The revolutionary nature of the medium is its interactivity. You have to retain that, nothing does that as well as the PC. Things like the Cellphone are good only for little bits of information. It doesn't convey the richness of the medium.