As the U.S. economy surged into overdrive between the mid-1990s and early 2000s, delivering skyrocketing profit margins and profound technological development, economists, business leaders, policy makers, and everyday observers debated the idea of a New Economy. Were there characteristics about the new economic environment that set it apart qualitatively from historical economic conditions? Had th…
Online newsletters, also known as electronic newsletters, became popular during the late 1990s. As the number of World Wide Web surfers using the Internet for gathering information and making purchases increased, many businesses began using online newsletters to promote company Web sites, products, and services; to provide information; and as an additional source of revenue through advertising. Ac…
The Next Generation Internet Initiative (NGI) is a conglomeration of projects funded by the United States government under the rubric of creating an Internet capable of accommodating the demands placed on it in the advanced world of business, consumer, research, and communication networking in the 21st century. The initiative's three primary goals are: the expansion of bandwidth capabilitie…
Nokia Corp. is the world's largest cell phone manufacturer with sales of $27 billion, profits of $3.5 billion, and a 31-percent share of the worldwide mobile phone market. Believing that mobile products will one day replace PCs as the most popular method for gaining Internet access, the Finland-based firm began focusing on developing wireless Internet devices in the late 1990s. …
Raymond J. Noorda, more than any other individual, is widely recognized as the man primarily responsible for the advent of networked personal computers (PCs) in the business environment, shifting PCs from stand-alone tools to interlinked nodes in a larger, more fluid network. While Noorda didn't invent the local area network (LAN), he is considered the figure who created the organization&#x…
Nortel Networks Corp. is world's second largest manufacturer of telecommunications equipment. The Ontario, Canada-based firm spent billions of dollars in the late 1990s investing in Internet technology. The telecommunications industry slowdown that began in North America in 2000 prompted Nortel to take a $19.2 billion loss—the second-largest quarterly loss in worldwide corporate hist…
Novell Inc. is best known for its network server platform, Netware, which links desktop computers with corporate networks. Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Novell's NetWare was the leading server platform, eventually gaining a 65-percent market share. However, competition from Microsoft Corp.'s Windows NT, and from Linux—a network operating system created by volunteers&#x…
Robert Noyce was one of the giants of 20th century high-tech science and the multi-billion dollar business it spawned. Along with 15 other patents, he was a co-inventor of the integrated circuit, a device former National Science Foundation Director Erich Bloch called "the key invention of the 20th century." In addition to his contributions to computer technology, Noyce co-founded two…
While businesses raced to embrace the Digital Age and use its myriad innovations to develop winning business strategies, governments increasingly considered how to utilize information technology, and particularly the Internet, to better fulfill their traditional roles for citizens as well as to develop new services particular to the social, economic, and political realities of the 21st century. As…
Pierre Omidyar is the founder and chairman of eBay.com, the world's largest online auction site, with more than 22 million registered users and roughly 8,000 product categories. As chairman, Omidyar is responsible for planning the company's future direction and growth, as well as developing its business model and the Internet site itself. He holds a 27 percent stake in eBay. After ea…
Database management systems, operating systems, solutions used to manage the performance and operation of computer networks, and a host of other software programs are key elements in the world of information technology. Without them, e-commerce would not be possible. These critical systems and applications are developed by large, powerful companies like Microsoft, as well as by the cooperative eff…
Oprah.com, launched by world renowned talk show host Oprah Winfrey in June 1997, operates as part of the Oxygen Media Group's online division. It is the official Web site of The Oprah Winfrey Show and O, The Oprah Magazine. The site also offers information on Oprah's Book Club and Oprah's Angel Network and vows to help women "Live Their Best Life" by giving advic…
The Internet structural backbone's total carrying capacity in the early 2000s was expected to fulfill only a minuscule portion of tomorrow's requirements. With Internet traffic accelerating exponentially and fiber-optic networks facilitating cheaper and faster transmissions, optical switching was the grand prize for telecommunications firms and Internet operators seeking to keep the …
Oracle Corp. is second only to Microsoft Corp. among the world's leading software companies. Best known for its database systems, Oracle became a major e-commerce player in the late 1990s when it unveiled Oracle 8i, a version of its mainstay database program that allows all of a firm's database functions to be handled on the World Wide Web. In 2001, Oracle 9i helped more than 8,500 f…
Success in the realm of e-commerce requires more than an appealing Web site and a compelling advertising campaign. Attracting online customers is important, but delivering an enjoyable, hassle-free buying experience is another key factor. Online fulfillment is a cornerstone of e-commerce, encompassing all of the steps involved in purchasing a product, from order placement and billing to packaging,…
In the 1990s and into the beginning of the twenty-first century, technological advancements continued to develop at breakneck pace. This was especially true of the Internet technologies used during e-commerce. Keeping up with all these developments and making solid, informed decisions about them became difficult or impossible for many companies, who needed to focus most of their resources on core …
David Packard, along with fellow Stanford University graduate William Hewlett, founded California-based Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) in 1939. Due in large part to their revolutionary management practices, Packard's and Hewlett's brainchild grew from a small testing-device manufacturer into the world's second largest computer company, behind IBM Corp., with nearly 85,000 employees …
Founded in 1992 by Jeff Hawkins and Donna Dubinsky, Santa Clara, California-based Palm Inc. is a leader in the handheld computing industry. In the early 2000s, the company produced five different lines of handheld computers, also known as personal digital assistants (PDAs), for consumers and businesspeople: the Palm m100, Palm III, Palm V, Palm m500, and Palm VII. Although thousands of different s…
Businesses continually form strategic alliances and partnerships with other firms, many times competitors, for a variety of reasons such as growing product and service offerings, gaining access to new markets, and working together on new product developments. The motivation behind alliances and partnerships in the e-commerce arena includes gaining access to cutting-edge technology, building conten…
As online shopping grew in popularity throughout the late 1990s and early into the 21st century, so did the number of methods by which shoppers could make online payments. Some methods were quickly adopted by electronic merchants and their customers, while other methods, due to issues surrounding security and ease of use for both payers and payees, were rather short-lived. By 2001, along with more…
PayPal is an Internet-based payment service that offers increased security for online transactions. Pay-Pal is used, for example, at auction sites like eBay and at many other e-commerce Web sites. In the early 2000s, consumers could use many of the services Pay-Pal offered at no charge. By supplying funds from a credit card, bank account, or PayPal money market account, consumers were able to send…
When Web-based proprietors charge visitors "by the session" to play an online game, access a software application, or view streaming video content, the scenario is referred to as pay-per-play. Payper-play scenarios usually involve micropayments—online transactions for low-priced items on the Internet that range from a few cents to as much as $10.00. In the mid-to-late 1990s, …
The concept of pay-per-view, or paying a fee to watch or obtain specific content, became popular through cable television during the 1990s. By 2000, the pay-per-view cable and satellite industry was securing $1.5 billion per year by charging customers to view certain movies and special events. Believing the Internet would prove a lucrative sales channel for pay-per-view events and content, many fi…
Broadly speaking, peer-to-peer (P2P) technology employs a network to put individuals in direct contact with each other in some form. A simple telephone call to a friend, then, could be considered a form of P2P. In contemporary parlance, however, P2P refers almost exclusively to computer-based systems of sharing information directly with others via the Internet. Peer-to-peer technology has its root…
Pleasanton, California-based PeopleSoft Inc. is a leading developer of enterprise software. Its offerings connect companies and their employees with business partners and customers. In 2001, the company's products included PeopleSoft Customer Relationship Management, PeopleSoft Financial Management, PeopleSoft Supply Chain Management, and People-Soft Human Resources Management. In addition …