The value-added of the network will so exceed the value-added of the CPU that your future computer will be rated not in mips but in gigabits per second. Bragging rights will go not to the person with the fastest CPU but to the person with the fastest network – and associated database lookup, browsing and information retrieval engines.
Predictor: Schmidt, Eric
Prediction, in context:In a 1994 article he wrote for Forbes ASAP titled “The Bandwidth Tidal Wave,” George Gilder looks at the technology involved in the networking revolution. The article is a portion of his 1996 book “Telecosm.” Gilder quotes Eric Schmidt: ”One thing is certain. Over the next decade, computer speeds will rise about a hundredfold, while bandwidth increases a thousandfold or more. Under these circumstances, the winners will be the companies that learn to use bandwidth as a substitute for computer processing and switching. The winners will be the companies that most truly embrace the Sun slogan: ‘The network is the computer.’ As Schmidt predicts, over the next few years ‘the value-added of the network will so exceed the value-added of the CPU that your future computer will be rated not in mips but in gigabits per second. Bragging rights will go not to the person with the fastest CPU but to the person with the fastest network – and associated database lookup, browsing and information retrieval engines.'”
Biography:Eric Schmidt was chief technology officer at Sun Microsystems from 1983-1997, where he earned international recognition as an Internet pioneer. He was also instrumental in the development and widespread acceptance of Java – Sun’s highly successful 1990s Internet programming language. He later worked as chief executive at Google. (Pioneer/Originator.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: Internet Appliances
Name of publication: Forbes ASAP
Title, headline, chapter name: The Bandwidth Tidal Wave
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.seas.upenn.edu/~gaj1/bandgg.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney