BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : JUNE 19, 2000 ISSUE
COVER STORY How Four Pioneers Are Turning on the Tech Tap They may not all be winners ultimately, but these companies are showing the way to info tech's new age The Internet, five years after it burst into the mainstream, is fundamentally changing the way technology is deployed, sold, and used. We call it Technology on Tap: a new approach in which technology is delivered over the Net in the form of easy-to-use services, rather than complex, hard-to-learn software programs. In this new world, most computing occurs not on your desktop PC, but out on the Web and in huge data centers. When you want to do something, whether it's to use a heavy-duty accounting program or play an online game, those big computers will serve up the applications and zip it over the Net to either a PC or Web terminal on your desktop. And rather than pay hefty prices to buy computer gear, companies and consumers will increasingly be able to instead pay for what they use -- just like the monthly phone or electric bill. WHOLE NEW CATEGORIES. If this trend is good news for the companies and the consumers who use technology, it's a potential gold mine for the tech sector -- easily the biggest opportunity since IBM unveiled its PC in 1981. While the PC industry has grown into a $240 billion business in some 19 years, the Net -- with its potential to reach every person on earth -- could drive $3.5 billion in sales by 2003, according to International Data Corp. Not all companies will prosper. The industry leaders will likely look far different as a result. While the old-guard technology companies are rushing to adapt, whole new categories of companies are taking shape -- armed with huge funding from an investment community convinced that the Technology Tap is where the future is. These new companies are adopting radical, powerful approaches to solving big problems -- and they're making fast progress. Here's a look at four members of this new generation of upstarts and how they intend to change the high-tech world. By Peter Burrows in San Mateo _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP					RELATED ITEMS Technology on Tap COVER IMAGE: The Info Tech 100 TABLE: The Leading Public Info Tech Companies TABLE: The Leading Private Info Tech Companies TABLE: Who Wins When the Web Is On Tap TABLE: As PCs Take a Back Seat, New Technology Drivers Emerge TABLE: Three Who Are Tapping In ONLINE ORIGINAL: How Four Pioneers Are Turning on the Tech Tap ONLINE ORIGINAL: Yipes Communications: Bandwith on Demand ONLINE ORIGINAL: Equinix: The Mother of All Hosters ONLINE ORIGINAL: DiCarta: Providing "Apps on Tap" ONLINE ORIGINAL: Everdream: Turning on the Tap for Small Biz INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online

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