Dedicated to the 'smart' life
Article Abstract:
M. Kenneth Oshman is Chmn and CEO of Echelon Corp, a privately held vendor of control network technology employed to automate industrial tasks and add 'smart' functionality to machines and appliances. The company's LonWorks technology is used to manage inventory functions. After founding ROLM Corp in 1969, the Silicon Valley veteran joined Echelon in 1988 to take advantage of a technological revolution in control networks. While the control market is currently industrial-based, Oshman sees tremendous potential in home automation products, predicting it will pass the industrial market by the end of the decade. Echelon is working with telephone and utility companies to develope products for smarter homes. PC makers are expected to include some home automation features in their products for 1995. Oshman sees many opportunities for 'smart' technology in the home, including an interface that will allow users to control appliances from the TV or PC.
Publication Name: The New York Times
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0362-4331
Year: 1995
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Browsers make navigating the World Wide Web a snap
Article Abstract:
Computer users who want to browse for information on the Internet and the World Wide Web can use new browsing software that makes it simple to navigate the global network. The browse software is making Internet access available to a wider audience by making it much easier to use. Most of the software is divided into programs based on the National Center for Supercomputer Applications' Mosaic interface or programs not based on Mosaic. In 1994, Spyglass Inc became the licensing agent for Mosaic and since then many companies have licensed the software code and made browsing software. Mosaic's main competition is Netscape Communications Inc's Netscape Navigator. Netscape built up its market share by offering the software free while the market was developing but now sells the software on a browse-first basis for $39.95.
Publication Name: The New York Times
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0362-4331
Year: 1995
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Gearing up for interactivity
Article Abstract:
Macromedia Pres and CEO John 'Bud' Colligan says CD-ROM is likely to be the backbone medium for distributing digital information through the remaining years of the 1990s. Interactive television will not begin to be a viable market until at least 1997 because it will take time to build an infrastructure, resolve issues involving privacy and security, and get feedback from field trials. Colligan says interactive entertainment and education will be the applications that will cause interactive TV to become widely accepted. He says multimedia began to take off in 1993 because there finally was both system software and a critical mass of installed CD-ROM drives. A brief biographical sketch of John Colligan is provided.
Publication Name: The New York Times
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0362-4331
Year: 1995
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