Four panelists at the roundtable entitled "Master of the Future: Turning Visions into Reality" agreed that the future for IT industry will be promising despite the fact that the bubble burst of dotcom has dampened their anticipation about IT industry.

Michael S. Dell., Chairman and CEO of Dell Computer Corporation, admitted there have been big adjustments in telecom and dotcom spending pattern, because of the overcapitalization and tremendous investment on them, and "the adjustment is pretty bitter for a number of companies."

But, on the overall basis, Dell predicted that the spending for technology is going to continue. Companies recognize their activity benefits and they are continuing to look for ways to drive their productivity, he said. If people look at the circles of the development of the technology industry, which are continuing down, but will go up sooner or later, he said.

Jerry Yang, co-founder and chief of Yahoo! Inc. agreed with it saying his company, in its starting stage, experienced faster-than-anticipated growth, and now has entered a transitional phase from the irrational growth to rational growth.

Yang said the Internet is a powerful tool to enhance efficiency and productivity and will widely accepted by people. But he emphasized the importance of integrating the new economy and the old one to add value to the Internet.

Gerald M Levin, CEO of AOL Time Warner Inc., also unveiled rosy future for IT industry, depicting Internet as a magical tool to link people across the world together. "The Internet is a worldwide network with no central control and is the most elegant invention ever seen," he said. "There is huge opportunity for business potential."

As of the next big trend in the IT sector, Dell predicted that wireless technology would be the key to the industry in the next three to five years, and people need to go Internet via various forms, anytime and anywhere.

"Wireless embedded in computer devices. A full computer experience in a wireless fashion is what we see as what people want," he said.

Dell's prediction was backed by Levin and Charles B. Wang, Chairman of Computer Associates International, Inc, who believed wireless is the key for the future IT development. Yang joined them by predicting that "high speed access to all devices" will be the key.

All the four panelists stressed the importance of approaching the IT industry on a global perspective. They expressed confidence in the growing IT market, and particularly, placed emphasis on the fast growing Asian region and the Chinese market.

Dell said his company has a large market share in the United States and is the No.1 server provider in the country. However, its market share growth outside the United States is also big, reaching 50 percent to 60 percent in Asia.

Levin believed in the huge business opportunities existing in China, which he said, "has a grow GDP and opportunities" for IT development.

(People's Daily 05/10/2001)