BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : SEPTEMBER 27, 1999 ISSUE
COVER STORY -- E.BIZ -- THE E.BIZ 25 David C. Peterschmidt DAVID C. PETERSCHMIDT INKTOMI INC. Position: President and CEO Contribution: His search engine makes finding things easier on major Web sites such as AOL and Yahoo! Ambition: Making Inktomi's technology for speeding access to Web information a platform that other companies build upon--like Windows is for the PC. If you wanted an exciting career and had to pick between being an Air Force pilot, working on the original B-1 bomber project, or running a software company, which would it be? For David C. Peterschmidt, 52, who has held all three of these jobs, the answer is easy: software. He's now piloting Inktomi Corp. (INKT), one of the hottest Internet startups around. The Berkeley (Calif.) fledgling isn't nearly as well known as Yahoo! (YHOO), America Online (AOL), or Excite@Home (ATHM), but all three online megastars depend on Inktomi's Net speedup or search technologies to power their Web sites. In fact, more than 50 large Web sites rely on Inktomi's products to stay competitive--making it a key technology arms dealer for the Web. Peterschmidt's goals are as grand as they get: He wants Inktomi to provide the technology foundation on the Net, much as Microsoft's Windows operating system is the crucial software for personal computers. The software may reside largely behind the scenes, but ''we're supplying a unified operating system for getting information on the Web,'' says Peterschmidt. ''This is about dominance.'' That strategy is paying off. Inktomi reported revenues of $19.2 million for the quarter ended June 30, up 212% from a year earlier. It's still racking up losses ($6.3 million last quarter), but investors have pushed the company's market value above $5.5 billion. Inktomi recently added Web-shopping software, which could boost sales growth even more. If so, Peterschmidt will drive Inktomi as fast as he does his mint-condition 1967 270 GBT Ferrari. By Michael Moeller _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP					RELATED ITEMS The e.biz 25: Masters of the Web Universe COVER IMAGE: The e.biz 25 Commentary: The Great Equalizer? Not by a Long Shot TABLE: Who's Lagging in the Net Age [empire builders] Jeffrey P. Bezos AMAZON.COM INC. Stephen M. Case AMERICA ONLINE INC. Timothy A. Koogle YAHOO! INC. [the innovators] Louis H. Borders WEBVAN GROUP INC. Jay S. Walker PRICELINE.COM Margaret C. Whitman EBAY INC. Glen Meakem FREE MARKETS ONLINE INC. James H. Clark MYCFO INC. Christos M. Cotsakos E*TRADE GROUP INC. [bankrollers] Masayoshi Son SOFTBANK CORP., JAPAN Robert C. Kagle BENCHMARK CAPITAL Lawton W. Fitt GOLDMAN SACHS & CO. L. John Doerr KLEINER PERKINS CAUFIELD & BYERS   Bernard Arnault LVMH MOET HENNESSY LOUIS VUITTON   [the visionaries] Mary G. Meeker MORGAN STANLEY DEAN WITTER John Hagel III MCKINSEY & CO. William Joy SUN MICROSYSTEMS [the architects] Louis V. Gerstner Jr. IBM CORP. Pehong Chen BROADVISION INC. David C. Peterschmidt INKTOMI INC. Kevin J. O'Connor DOUBLECLICK Ellen M. Hancock EXODUS COMMUNICATIONS [the pace setters] David S. Pottruck CHARLES SCHWAB CORP. John T. Chambers CISCO SYSTEMS Michael S. Dell DELL COMPUTER INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online

Copyright 1999, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved. Terms of Use   Privacy Policy