You may have heard that the original author of Executive Boardroom has taken a new job at Sun. After 22 years as the CEO, our founder Scott McNealy is stepping up as Chairman of the Board. For this, my inaugural edition of the Executive Boardroom newsletter, I'd like to recognize that while the tone of these letters may be subtly different, Sun's viewpoint remains the same.
Now more than ever, the Network Is the Computer. The revolutionary vision articulated so many years ago — of everyone and everything participating on the network — is coming to life. Let's face it, the network is transforming all of our businesses, growing opportunities, and driving the Participation Age. An age where those who differentiate their business through innovation will thrive.
I spoke to a large customer recently (as you may have read in my blog) who made an interesting point — his job was getting more technical. The customer was a technologist to start, so he was in his comfort zone, but it had become increasingly clear that the next generation of differentiation on the Web was going to come from technology innovation.
We can all agree that next year, the year after that, and for as far as we can see, you and your customers will only require more than they do today — a more content-rich environment, more interactivity, more transactions, more photos, more security, more throughput, more data, and more choice.
In addition, three million more people are getting online each week. Many of these people will access the network through a mobile phone or one of the hundreds of other mobile devices, rather than a traditional computer. The market opportunity and need for innovative new solutions will grow with this additional demand.
