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Charles Wang scoffs at doomsday forecasters

M. Somasekhar

SHANGHAI, Nov. 6

HAS the dotcom bubble broken? Have we bottomed out on the Internet revolution? Far from it. The revolution is just beginning and the future is bright and exciting.

That was Mr Charles B. Wang, Chairman of the $6-billion Computer Associates (CA), who told a 4,000-strong group of delegates at CA-World Asia to forget the doomsday forecasters who see the spectacular rise and fall of dotcoms and technology incubators in recent times as a clear sign of the end of the Internet revolution.

``Some people are saying the end is near, but I am confident that it is not the beginning of the end, but the end of the beginning,'' said Mr Wang, to cheers from a large section of the IT professionals who gathered at the international convention center in his hometown.

The Shanghai-born Mr Wang, who migrated to the US in 1952, went on to build CA and who recently handed over the reins to the India-born Mr Sanjay Kumar as CEO, said: ``The power of digital technology has added further opportunities to transform business and society. The Internet revolution is here to stay and grow.''

He also said that the telephone took more than 30 years, the personal computer around 16 years and the mobile phone about 13 years. The Internet has, in just seven years, become all-pervasive.

What's his advice to Asian countries? The most important thing for Asian companies is just don't go in for dotcoms or IPOs.

Business cannot succeed if you build prototypes that can just attract investors but lack integration and sustaining power.

Mr Wang saw several merits in the Chinese and Indian models of approaching the IT industry, but felt that in both countries despite high skill to produce technology, the ability to commercialise and make the product a success are weak points.

Similarly, the infrastructure to deliver IT and communication services has to be strengthened.

The CA Chairman saw the Asian region, with China and India playing a major role in the spread and growth of the Internet, as well as the application service provider (ASP) market in the near future.

He said that CA's recently launched ASP initiative, `i Can ASP', which he heads, will grab a major share of the projected $5-billion market for the sector by 2003.

The Asian countries can look forward to increased investments and partnerships to make this realistic, for the company, Mr Wang said.

Already, CA has joint venture with Satyam group in India, Shanghai Telecom and NTT of Japan.

``We want to increase the partnerships through JVs and investments. The strategy is to partner with local companies to build infrastructure and help in the growth of IT applications,'' he said in his opening address.

Looking ahead, Mr Wang said that the concept of an information utility -- the infrastructure that will allow anywhere, anytime e-services -- will become real in a far shorter time than it has taken the Internet to take hold.

``The day is not far off when we will be plugging into an information utility every day just like we do for electricity today.

``In the emerging information age, it would be possible to have digital infrastructure and information appliances that are pervasive, personal and simple.''

According to Mr Wang, an even-bigger revolution than the Internet is the communications revolution that goes beyond business productivity to bring people together for a common good.

``The future of IT is in our hands, people are demanding services and customers want high-quality, quick solutions to their problems.''