Growth & Success eNews No. 15, September 5, 2000

JimPinto.com - Connections for Growth & Success™
No. 15 : September 5, 2000

Contents:

PC - Circa 2010
The eBusiness-card
eCRM - Customer Relationship Management
ICS(UK) fire-sale saga continues
Favorite Free Net Downloads
Training - How, when and where
Hey! Visit JimPinto.com

PC - circa 2010

Today, a $1,000 laptop computer with a Pentium chip has more computing power than was contained in all the computers in the world about 60 years ago. And, 100 years ago all of the mathematicians in the world together did not have the problem-solving resources of a kid today with a $20 pocket calculator.

I remember being very excited with my new 486 machine, with its 40 MB hard-drive and 1 meg of RAM. And a couple of years later, it was ancient and my 100 MHz PC with a 1 gigabyte hard-drive, 64Mb of RAM and a CD-ROM was dazzling in comparison. Last week, I was helping a friend to buy a computer from DELL (on their website, of course) and we settled on a 733 MHz Pentium-based PC. We decided to think about it - and when we checked back in a couple of days, we found that our selection had been replaced by a 866 MHz unit at the same price. This started me wondering what a PC would look like, and cost, if we waited for a few years....

Of course, all this is brought about my Moore's Law - which has computer power doubling every 18 months. And that means about 100 times within 10 years. What else will change, other than chip and buss speeds and gigabyte storage?

Forbes ASAP takes a look at The Computer of 2010. This interesting article starts like this : For decades, silicon, with its talent for carrying electrons, has been the mainstay of computing. But for a variety of reasons, we're rapidly approaching the day when electrons will no longer cut it. Within 10 years, in fact, silicon will fall to the computer scientist's triple curse: "It's bulky, it's slow, and it runs too hot." At this point, computers will need a new architecture, one that depends less on electrons and more on... well...what else? Optics.

Read the Forbes ASAP article in a special 7-page section

The E-Business Card

InterNet Visioneering, has introduced the e-business card. Used in conjunction with a company's Web site, the e-business card, is a pocket-sized, 50 MB mini-CD that can be cut into almost any two-dimensional shape. It is proving to be a powerful new way to draw business.

When placed in a computer's CD-ROM drive, the e-card launches into a 10-15 second visual promotion and ends with an interactive link to the company's Web site. Used in place of the paper business card, the e-business card has a much higher perceived value in the eyes of prospective clients. Studies show that about 75% of B2B clients who receive e-cards will put them in their CD-ROMs to view.

Go check out Internet Visioneering

e-CRM

Customer Relationship Management: Strengthening the bond with customers-giving them control, personalizing services- and improving your company's bottom line.

Take a look at the companies in eWEEK's e-CRM FastTrack 100 list, and see how what they do applies to YOUR company.

eWeek CRM FastTrack 100

A study by Gartner Group, enterprises engaged in e-commerce should ensure that their call centers are in order before spending time and money on cutting-edge e-commerce applications.

Read a summary of the Gartner CRM Study

ICS(UK) firesale saga continues

Tritax, the Alchemy subsidiary that made a low-ball offer for ICS (UK) currently have garnered about 63% of the equity. ICS is a publicly held company, and is expected to be "de-listed" from the London Stock Exchange on September 13th. Some of the stockholders, who are still withholding their support for what they think is a ridiculous price, suggest that 63% is not enough to enforce a compulsory acquisition and the shareholders can only be forced to sell if Tritax owns 90%.

Invensys is in a similar situation with the purchase of Baan. Invensys wanted 90%, but only got about 75% of the total outstanding shares. It has been reported that Invensys will deal with this standoff by holding a shareholders meeting to vote for "voluntary liquidation". If they own more than 51%, they will win the vote and the remaining shareholders will get a price equivalent to what was offered in the first place. I don't know British securities law, but it seems to me that Tritax can make a similar move with the 63% they already own.

I heard from a couple of ICS people, when I suggested that employees could and should stage a buyout, if they were strong enough or gutsy enough to make a move. But, I haven't heard from them since. A recent press release about completion of the acquisition came from ICS Triplex MD Glenn Cooper, rather than from the group. It seems as if Cooper is attempting to protect his part of the operation by identifying with the change. And, perhaps, as Alchemy's man for the whole operation?

If you have a few minutes to spare, browse around the ICS Shareholder contact site.

ICS Shareholder contact site

Favorite FREE net downloads

Want more speed, power, convenience and fun? Take your pick of 50 free popular Internet downloads on ZDnet's software library. Many of these programs have been downloaded a few hundred thousand times. They include some games and music, but also some nice utilities that you'll enjoy.

Free Net downloads

How do you learn? When? Where?

Most people are surprised that I do my own WebPages, directly in html - which I learned from a book "HTML for Dummies" which I bought in my local bookstore. And, whenever I see a cute web page, with something different, I look at their "source" code (just one click on my browser) and learn how to do it myself. Hey! I enjoy it!

You're never too old to learn! When you enjoy something, you can learn it quickly, and effectively, right on the web. For example, SmartPlanet has more than 350 self-study courses in Office, Java, NetWare, Windows, CGI, Notes, Windows NT, FrontPage, Explorer, and other technology subjects.

Start teaching yourself today

So, how do instrumentation & control people get trained in PID and PLC and DCS these days? IDC Technologies is a specialist in the field of industrial communications, telecommunications, automation and control and has been providing high quality training for more than 12 years on an international basis from offices around the world. IDC has trained about 40,000 engineers and technicians worldwide in the past five years in instrumentation and control and associated topics.

Look at the IDC website

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