Anything related to the Internet, from electronic commerce to intranets promises to be a hotbed of investment for some time to come. Other related networking domains (TCP/IP in particular) are also bubbling with activity. Technologies, for instance that add speed and capacity or provide remote access to enterprise backbones are brimming with investment action.

Electronic commerce
"The value of business electronic-commerce transactions will hit $120 billion by 2000, according to some optimistic analysts' assessments."

Having proved itself for electronic publishing and entertainment, the Internet is finally poised to take on true electronic commerce-- especially the more complex, business-to-business variety. The value of business electronic-commerce transactions (including business-to-business and business-to-consumer) will hit $120 billion by the year 2000. But not without the production of many new products and services. So-called "extranets" which connect a company to its suppliers and customers, are relatively straight forward to wire up.

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Business commerce In dollar terms business to business commerce outweighs the retail market. For example, GE will surpass a billion dollars worth of business with its suppliers this year through its web-based system, single handedly greater than all of consumer spending in 1996. Cisco Systems, a network-equipment company, also sells $1 billion a year from its Web sites. Dell computers selling over $1 million a day from its web site. Yet Forrester's numbers show only 3% of business-to-business Web sites are designed for selling. Read more, Source: CyberAtlas

Other articles:
SURVEY   TELECOMMUNICATIONS : A connected world Read more, Source: The Economist

Market Forecast
Based on present business-to-business commerce forecasts for 2000 for business traffic range from $60-$160 billion, depending on how business to business is defined. Read more, Source: The EconomistDate: 10/16-May-97

Intranets: Market Size
According to a recent study by Computer Intelligence, nearly 50% of 150 large companies surveyed said they are reconsidering their entire network infrastructures to take into account intranets. More than 66% are increasing their intranet budgets and over 17% will spend at least $1 million on an Intranet this year. More than 33% said they would be willing to invest before industry standards are set. Read More, Source: CyberAtlas