John Patrick: E-business and the Future of the Internet

John Patrick is Vice President, Internet Technology, at IBM. Among other things, he created the alphaWorks Web site which is IBM's on-line research and development laboratory for advanced Internet technology, containing numerous free XML and Java applications.

John distinguished e-Business from e-Commerce. The latter is the click-to-buy mania that has been sweeping the Web. E-Business, on the other hand, is the near future trend, including supply chain inventory flow, virtual bids, and so on. Millions of e-Businesses will emerge. The winners and losers won't be determined by who is on the Internet (since everyone will be), but by who handles all their normal, day-to-day business needs via the Web. Examples of e-Businesses given include IntraLinks which handles document flow for loan syndication ($250 billion worth of loans closed in 2 years), and SciQuest, the "Internet Source for Scientific Products", with 300,000 items to search through. Internet2, addressing the major challenges facing the next generation of university networks, has 40 companies involved, including AT&T, IBM, 3Com, Cisco, MCI, Ameritech, Lucent, Microsoft, and over 150 universities. The mission of International Center for Advanced Internet Research (iCAIR) is "To Accelerate Leading-Edge Innovation and Enhanced Global Communications through Advanced Internet Technologies, in Partnership with the International Community."

The new Killer Apps will be insight through deep computing: e-meetings, collaborative design, Virtual Reality caves. An example given was Java Man, a brain anatomy browser. John predicted that in 2-3 years, PCs will be the minority way to access the Web; instead, TV, mobile devices, pagers, etc. will be the majority. The Wireless Access Protocol (WAP) shows great promise. He encouraged us to think of consumer products as browsers; you never worry about what operating system is running your boombox or your toaster.

John Patrick said that all-purpose portals aren't the answer; instead, industry-specific portals will emerge like e-Chemicals, as will community portals, like iVillage, Tripod, and ThirdAge, that add economic value. "If you build it, will they come?" You need to know what sites your consumers visit most.

Patrick believes that XML will be huge; it is only a matter of a few months. He pointed out IBM's XML web site, soon to be moving to Developers XML Zone, which, I must mention, has a great XML-focused search portal called xCentral. LDAP will also be important for finding people. IBM is building upon Linux and Apache; embrace it. John closed with slides indicating how to survive on the Net.

Check out Patrick's personal home page or browse John Patrick's WWW8 presentation (GIFs of slides).

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