YEAR IN REVIEW 2001: COMPUTERS-AND-INFO-SYSTEMS

Computers and Information Systems The saga of Microsoft Corp.'s legal troubles dominated technology news in 2000, as did the decline of the high-flying stock market that had powered the rise of dot-com companies that for the most part did not earn any money. A much different legal case pitted the music industry against a World Wide Web site called Napster, which allowed the distribution of music for free over the Internet but claimed it was not violating copyright laws. In technology, wireless Internet access emerged as the latest trend; it allowed cellular phones and handheld personal digital assistants (PDAs) to browse the Web and handle e-mail. Microelectronics. Projected worldwide sales of semiconductors grew 37% to $205 billion in 2000, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA). This was the first time sales had exceeded $200 billion. The industry expected to see growth of 22% in 2001 to $249 billion and to $319 billion within three years. Sales of communications solutions for data networking, broadband, wireless, and optoelectronics as well as continued demand for personal computers (PCs) contributed to the record number. The optoelectronics category, including laser devices and image sensors, grew 68% in 2000 to $10 billion and was projected to be $19 billion by 2003. The market for programmable logic devices was expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 17% through 2003. The market for digital signal processors (DSPs), fueled by the use of DSPs in MP3 music players, digital cameras, digital video (or versatile) discs, camcorders, colour printers, and video games, grew 48% to $6 billion, and the microcontroller market rose 35% to $19 billion. Flash memory, the fastest-growing market segment, grew 130% in 2000 to $10 billion and was projected to increase to $23 billion by 2003. The microprocessors usually found in PCs and imbedded applications grew at an 11% rate, with sales of $30 billion. The PC market was expected to increase only 6% in 2001; over the next three years, it was likely to become a $39 billion market. Dynamic random access memory was a big growth area, up 48% to $31 billion. The Americas (North and South) increased sales 34% in 2000 and at $64 billion continued to lead the world markets. This was expected to become a $96 billion market by 2003. The Asia-Pacific region (Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and India) was the fastest-growing microchip market, up 41% in 2000 to $52 billion. The Asia-Pacific market was expected to increase to $85 billion by 2003. The Japan market increased 42% to $46 billion and was projected to reach $72 billion in sales by 2003, while the European market, up 33% to $42 billion, was expected to rise to $66 billion. The SIA pointed out that 10 years earlier the two largest markets, the U.S. and Japan, had constituted about two-thirds of the global semiconductor market. By 2000, however, the Americas and Asia-Pacific constituted less than 60% of that market. Intel Corp., the world's largest chip manufacturer, signed a $1.5 billion deal to supply flash memory to Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson over the next three years. To meet demand, Intel bought two facilities from Rockwell International Corp. in Colorado Springs, Colo., and planned to build another facility in Chandler, Ariz. The shortage of Intel's Pentium III processors continued well into the year. On July 31 Intel introduced the world's fastest chip, a 1.13-GHz (gigahertz) version of its Pentium III processor, but the company promptly recalled all 10,000 of those shipped because of design problems and announced it would reintroduce the chip in the second quarter of 2001. The Pentium 4, a 32-bit chip formerly code-named Willamette, was introduced in November. Running at 1.4 GHz and 1.5 GHz, it consisted of 42 million transistors. Intel planned to retire the Pentium III processor at the end of 2001. Intel also tested Itanium, a 64-bit chip running at 800 MHz and designed to be used in high-end servers and workstations. In October Intel canceled plans for the lower-end Timna chip. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD), the world's second largest chip company, with a 17% market share, signed a $400 million deal in January to supply flash memory to Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. for use in its mobile telephones. Unlike Intel, AMD beat analysts' predictions for its third quarter with revenues of $1.2 billion, double 1999's third quarter. The quarterly profit was $219 million versus a loss of $99 million in 1999. After the recall of Intel's 1.13-GHz chip, AMD's 1.2-GHz Athlon became the new speed leader. A new microprocessor manufacturer, Transmeta Corp., began producing its Crusoe family of low-power microchips for mobile computers. The chip, which ran both the Linux and Windows operating systems, used an advanced power-management feature that could throttle back power and scale performance dynamically with a software application running. Fujitsu, Ltd., and the Sony Corp. announced plans to use the Crusoe chip in some of their notebook computers. Lucent Technologies Inc. announced it would spin off its Microelectronics Group in 2001. This would allow the new concern, named Agere Systems Inc. in December, to sell chips to any company. Motorola, Inc., China's biggest foreign investor ($3.4 billion), announced plans to spend $1.9 billion to expand its electronic chip and cellular phone production in Tianjin, China. In April Motorola announced the purchase of a $2 billion facility in Dunfermline, Scot. The plant, which was built by the Hyundai Motor Co. of South Korea in 1997 but never opened, would be Motorola's largest microchip-fabricating facility in Europe. Thomas E. Kroll Telecommunications. In June 2000 the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved AT&T Corp.'s $44 billion purchase of MediaOne Group, Inc. Along with the company's purchase of Tele-Communications, Inc. (TCI), in 1999, this further increased AT&T's presence in the cable television market. The FCC also required that AT&T meet the 30% ownership limits for cable providers. On October 25 AT&T announced its intention to split into four separate companies. With AT&T's consumer long-distance voice service in a rapid decline and stagnant growth in its business services unit, the company's chairman, C. Michael Armstrong, abandoned his vision of one-stop shopping for telephone, cable, and Internet services. The four new publicly traded companies would provide business services, consumer services, wireless, and broadband (cable). In 1996 AT&T had split into three companies-Lucent Technologies, NCR, and AT&T. On November 1 WorldCom, Inc., the nation's second largest long-distance phone company, announced its own restructuring. This would create two tracking stocks and separate business customers and data and Internet services from the consumer long-distance business, which would be renamed MCI. A proposed merger of WorldCom and Sprint, the third largest long-distance provider, was blocked by the U.S. Department of Justice on the grounds that it would reduce competition in the telecommunications industry. Rebounding from the failed Sprint merger, WorldCom announced it would acquire voice and data network operator Intermedia Communications Inc. and a controlling interest in Digex, Inc., a World Wide Web site hosting operation, for $6 billion. Lucent (the former AT&T equipment manufacturer), which was plagued by a falling stock price, failure to meet forecasts, component shortages, and a product line that had not kept up with the fast-changing technology, replaced its CEO, Richard McGinn, with its original CEO, Henry Schacht, until a permanent replacement could be found. Lucent spun off Enterprise Networks Group, the division that provided office telephone equipment, during the year and formed Avaya, Inc. Lucent was also proceeding with plans to spin off the microelectronics division into a separate company. Iridium LLC, the bankrupt $5 billion satellite communications system backed by Motorola, Inc., was purchased for $25 million by a group headed by former Pan Am executive Dan Colussy. Prior to the sale's approval, there were plans to decommission the 66 satellites already launched and dispose of them by using the reentry heat of the atmosphere. Owing to industry consolidation and an FCC ruling allowing only one wireless phone license in any market, two new major wireless companies were formed. Verizon Wireless was formed from the cellular resources of Bell Atlantic Corp., British-based Vodafone AirTouch PLC, and GTE Corp., which had bought Ameritech Cellular when Ameritech Corp. was purchased by SBC Communications, Inc., in 1999. Verizon had 25 million customers in 96 major markets and joined AT&T Wireless, Sprint PCS, Nextel Communications, Inc., and newly formed Cingular Wireless for nationwide service. Cingular, a $12 billion company with 19 million customers, was formed in 2000 by merging the wireless services of SBC (CellularOne) and BellSouth Corp. In August Verizon purchased digital subscriber line (DSL) provider NorthPoint Communications Group, Inc., for $800 million and broadband-data provider OnePoint Communications for $250 million. In July the FCC authorized a new nationwide three-digit code, 511, to be used for telephone numbers that provide traffic reports and travel information. The FCC also decreed that all telephone companies had to provide local number portability, the option to keep one's telephone number when switching service providers, for wireline phones by the end of 2000 and for wireless phones by 2002. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld an appeals court ruling that would allow telephone companies to use customer information to market other services to their customers without their consent. This decision was contrary to FCC rules implementing the 1996 Telecommunications Act. In May the FCC and AT&T announced lower long-distance telephone bills made possible by reducing access charges that long-distance carriers paid to local telephone companies. At the same time, AT&T filed with the FCC for other rate increases. Owing to a deluge of consumer complaints, however, AT&T backed off and deferred the rate hikes. After the FCC received 2,900 complaints, WorldCom agreed to pay $3.5 million for "slamming"-switching customers' long-distance provider without their permission. Vodafone acquired the German firm Mannesmann AG in May for $170 billion in stock. This constituted the world's largest corporate takeover. The agreement headed off a potential hostile takeover by Vodafone and created the world's largest mobile communications company. Japan's largest mobile phone company, NTT DoCoMo, Inc., attempted to purchase VoiceStream Wireless Corp., the eighth largest provider in the U.S., but was outbid by Deutsche Telekom AG, which offered over $50 billion for the company. Mexican telecommunications giant Telfonos de Mxico requested the overturn of a ruling by Mexico's federal telecommunications regulators (Cofetel) that reduced by 63% the interconnection fees the company's competitors were required to pay for international calls originating or terminating in Mexico. As the Internet and wireless telephony began to merge, mobile phone giants Motorola, Sweden-based Ericsson, and Nokia of Finland announced plans to develop standards jointly for the security of electronic transactions over mobile devices. In May the European Commission created the Wireless Strategic Initiative, a consortium of four leading telecommunications suppliers in Europe-Ericsson, Nokia, Australia-based Alcatel, and Siemens AG of Germany-to develop and test new prototypes for advanced wireless communications systems. After meeting with an international think tank, the consortium partners in December invited other companies to join them in a Wireless World Research Forum to be held in 2001. Thomas E. Kroll