Chapter 873: Down's Law
"Did I hear you right?" John Akers, who was just about to pick out his own ear, had an incredulous expression on his face, "Ibm, which created the ibm-pc standard, abandoned its own standard and invested in a competitor—Fangyuan Personal The embrace of computer standards? Don, how dare you think about it!"
"It's not about daring to think, but about being pragmatic." Tang Huan said leisurely, "Ming people don't say dark words, so you ask yourself, is it necessary to stick to the current ibm-ps/2? As far as I know, you Among the many reform measures, including cutting 40% of production capacity, I am afraid that it will fall on the personal computer department that manufactures more and loses more."
John Akers retorted bluntly: "Even if IBM needs to adjust the personal computer department, it should choose the same ibm-pc compatible machine."
"Compared with the Fangyuan personal computer, I don't need to say which one is better." Tang Huan shook his head and reminded earnestly: "Mr. Akers, your current situation is very delicate. It’s no secret. In my opinion, the predicament that IBM is facing now is the accumulation of history. It’s not someone’s fault. It’s just that you caught up with me unfortunately. , and may not be able to perform better.”
"It must be admitted that the reforms you have provoked in the past few years are a necessary step for IBM to get out of the predicament. But if you are kicked out, you will have to bear the infamy as a wedding dress for your successor; but if If you can persevere and bring IBM out of the predicament, then those offending people will be whitewashed as visionary by hindsight."
"Under such circumstances, you who have already achieved this step, shouldn't you be more aggressive? To hug the thigh of the IBM-PC compatible machine that IBM itself declared to be an obsolete product, isn't it the same as holding on to the handicapped?"
"Mr. Akers, please forgive me for being blunt. If you can't go further and be sensible and pragmatic, you can still sit in your current position for the first half of the year, which is too much."
John Akers' face changed for a while, before he gritted his teeth and said, "Don, last time I sold 20% of Intel's shares to you, I received some doubts; Abandoning ibm-ps/2 and embracing the Fangyuan personal computer standard, are you sure you are not pushing me into the abyss again?"
"What is there to doubt? I bid higher than Siemens. Wasn't IBM's cash flow tight at the time?" Tang Huan laughed dumbly. "As for this time, the patent dispute between the two of us has reached a very ridiculous level. It's time to reconcile. , and you can get a free gift - the authorization of the Fangyuan PC Compatible Machine, isn't that decent enough?"
John Akers stared at Tang Huan closely, and asked slowly: "But I still can't figure out your real purpose and the real benefits you can get, just like the value that Intel is showing now."
Tang Huan looked directly at the other party calmly, stretched out his fingers and counted: "I think, just as personal computers were the center of the IT industry in the 1980s, the Internet will be the major trend of the IT industry in the 1990s and even for a long time to come. Therefore, I hope that more Internet terminals will be Fangyuan personal computers and compatible machines; in addition, once the Internet is really popularized, the server running the background of the website will definitely be a popular necessity, and our patent disputes are mainly concentrated in the high-end field. If A settlement can be reached, and then everyone can travel lightly."
Speaking of this, Tang Huan did not forget to tease John Akers again, "The risc microprocessor power that ibm has developed, and the rs/6000 series workstations and servers that use it as the cpu are really excellent. The future hope of ibm, which is best at operating the high-end market, lies, but if you fail to withstand the current pressure and step down, then it is someone else's performance."
I am the dignified chairman and CEO of ibm,
Being suppressed by Tang Huan all the time, John Akers felt very depressed, so he retorted: "Tang knows IBM so well, he can take my place and come to IBM as CEO."
"Unfortunately, I have my own company, and I'm already too busy." Tang Huan laughed loudly, "So, do you think my proposal is acceptable?"
"How can it be so easy?" John Akers showed a resentful look on his face, "Don, you are like our first CEO of IBM—— Thomas John Watson the Great, with authority unrivaled. Even Wall Street chooses to fully trust, of course you can do whatever you want in the company!"
Tang Huan put away his smile, and reminded again: "I'll give you an oriental saying—a dead horse is a living horse doctor, and there is still hope if you try it out. Otherwise, before you implement this measure step by step, you may be behind your back." The reputation of the most failed CEO in the history of ibm has been sadly stepped down."
John Akers slapped the armrest of the sofa angrily, "Don, you don't need to provoke me with words. I do things in my own way."
"That's good." Tang Huan waved his hand, "Since we have reached an agreement, the next specific negotiations will be handed over to the following team."
...
It is estimated that the situation of John Akers has really reached the point of desperation, so that he went all out and gave it a go. Before the negotiation results were fully released, he briefed the media on the eve of the comdex opening-the personal computer department of ibm, The shift to the Fangyuan personal computer standard has the meaning of creating a fait accompli first, so as to promote the change with the fastest efficiency.
This move naturally stirred up a thousand waves with one stone - IBM actually gave up its own personal computer standards and defected to the former competitor Fangyuan's personal computer standards, which is too incredible! There must be some ulterior transaction in it.
The so-called answer soon surfaced - ibm is in the process of reconciliation negotiations with Fangyuan Computer, Zheru and other companies on the protracted patent disputes, and ibm's authorization of the Fangyuan personal computer standard is only one of the earliest results.
John Chambers, CEO of Fangyuan Computer Company, said when confirming this matter: "The development of the Fangyuan PC standard is no longer the private property of Fangyuan Computer Company, but the result of the joint efforts of the entire Fangyuan PC Standards Alliance. Everyone welcomes ibm to join in, which will help users enjoy the convenience brought by a consistent hardware platform in the future, especially in the Internet era."
As John Chambers said, members of the Fangyuan PC standard camp may not be friendly to the "newcomer" IBM, but they are definitely calm—not to mention IBM's qualifications in the Fangyuan PC standard camp To start from scratch, the history of ups and downs of ibm-pc alone proves that Big Blue is not good at managing low-end products.
Some were happy and some were sad, the ibm-pc compatible machine camp couldn't hold back anymore, and unabashedly reprimanded - this is a dirty deal between two giant companies in private, seriously disrupting freedom and fairness in the market order.
In the midst of this spitting quarrel, Comdex Fall 1991 opened in Las Vegas.
It's no wonder that the ibm-pc compatible camp is jumping up and down, their careful preparations, in exchange for this comdex, they received an obvious cold reception.
Instead, Fangyuan workstations and servers, ibm's rs/6000 series workstations and servers, sun servers and workstations and other high-end products have attracted much attention.
The so-called "high-end" is difficult to explain to non-professionals in a simple and general way, but an example can be used to describe it.
For example, the requirements of major US banks for computer systems are: 365 days a year, the downtime should not exceed 5 minutes.
It can be seen that not everyone can do such demanding application solutions. In the past, only mainframes and minicomputers were able to undertake such tasks, but now microcomputers with relatively low cost can also be used without any dispute. Here comes the top.
However, the most eye-catching technologies and products are Fast Ethernet, which has a transmission speed increased by 10 times, as well as supporting network cards, routers, software and so on.
Of course, as in the past, the summit forum where comdex invites industry leaders to give speeches is the most professional and the most prestigious. What's more, the richest man, who hadn't shown up for a few years and left the limelight to others, also showed up.
According to predictions from various parties, judging from the activities of Tang Huan, a Silicon Valley leader in the past two years, his first speech at the Comdex summit forum in the 1990s was very likely to revolve around the Internet.
This is indeed the case. Mr. Richest Man made a bold prediction at the beginning.
"This year, the number of computers that make up the Internet is close to 400,000; I believe that after five years, this number will exceed 10 million. In other words, the development speed is even faster than Moore's Law predicts the development speed of the semiconductor industry."
Scanning the whisperings in the audience, Tang Huan stretched out two fingers and said confidently: "This forecast of doubling every year seems too bold, but according to the two laws I discovered and summarized, there are still traces to be found. of."
"It is precisely because of the significant development achievements of the semiconductor industry under the guidance of Moore's Law that it provides a solid foundation for the computing performance necessary for the Internet."
"In the next period of time, maybe 30 years, the growth rate of the bandwidth of the Internet backbone network will be at least three times that of the computing performance growth rate, that is to say, it will double in about half a year."
"Let's look at a vivid real-life example. The backbone network created by the National Science Foundation of the United States in 1986 is used for the interconnection between universities. The transmission speed was initially 56kbps; in the summer of 1988, it was increased to 1.5mkbps; This November when we held comdex, the transmission speed of 45mkbps has already started to be put into service.”
"Among all of you here, the proportion of access to the Internet should not be low. You may wish to think carefully about whether you have shared your feelings about the Internet with your family, friends, and colleagues around you, and then unintentionally became propagandists who helped the Internet expand. "
After the warm applause subsided gradually, Tang Huan continued to explain his second research result.
"The continuous increase in the network bandwidth of the Internet backbone network means that it is more likely to promote the emergence of various new network application methods and the continuous reduction of network users' usage fees."
"And behind this, the law of value must play a role. Just like a shopping mall, the more customers it cares about, the lower its operating costs and the greater its commercial value. The value of the Internet is most appropriately reflected by its user scale."
"The data analysis I gave is: the value of a network is equal to the square of the number of all nodes in the network, and at the same time, it is also proportional to the square of the number of connected users."
"This also means that the greater the number of users on a network, the greater the value of the entire network and each computer within the network."
...
The splendor of Mr. Richest’s speech overshadowed the other speakers, and the attention of the participants and the media were all attracted to the concept of the Internet, which became more and more popular.
This made the interpretation of the patent disputes between IBM and Fangyuan Computer, Zheru and other companies reach a final settlement, and industry observers naturally added an Internet perspective.
This reconciliation result is understood as: the two giants decided to abandon the dispute over personal computer standards that has become a thing of the past, and actively plan for the coming Internet era with a broader market. In particular, after ibm miraculously embraced the Fangyuan personal computer standard, although it was tantamount to admitting defeat, it was very embarrassing, but it also jumped out of the quagmire of the personal computer standard dispute, and then had more resources to operate rs/6000 series workstations and servers. Emerging high-end products.
No matter how much you say it is false, the market's reaction is the most real - since Tang Huan's speech at the comdex summit forum, companies that have nothing to do with the Internet in the stock market have been favored by investors without exception, and their stock prices have continued to rise , including the sluggish IBM, also reveals a vitality.
It has to be said that John Akers' risky gamble has received the reward he wanted, and he has withstood the attack of the forces who wanted to oust him from power.
The chairman and CEO of ibm seemed to show that ibm's defection to the Fangyuan personal computer standard did not mean surrender, and he issued an impassioned challenge - the high-end field is what we are good at, and the real competition is also here.
Letting go of this hysterical Internet concept, following the vigorous promotion of industry leaders, has ushered in major good news at the national level.