Sun's Eric Schmidt to keynote at ComNet '96; 'Evolving the Internet into the Network Decade'

Business Wire, Nov 29, 1995

NORWOOD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 29, 1995--Eric Schmidt, chief technology officer of Sun Microsystems Inc., will look at the potential of the computer network that will blossom from the Internet, and the role of Sun's Java, in his keynote address at ComNet '96.

Schmidt's keynote will take place on Tuesday, Jan. 30, at Washington, D.C.'s Renaissance Hotel at 1 p.m. ComNet, the industry's leading communications and networking exhibition and conference, runs Jan. 29 - Feb. 1, 1996 at the Convention Center and the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, D.C.

Schmidt will analyze the Internet's potential effect on commerce via digital cash, 3-D interactive on-line catalogs, full-frame videoconferencing, electronic purchase orders and more. But first, Schmidt poses the challenges of accessibility, security and interactivity must be solved. He will also focus on the challenge of running and managing applications on network computing's different platforms. Schmidt will also discuss why the cost and burden for corporations has been high because of `operating system lock,' where all applications are tied to the operating systems, which in turn are tied to the computer's processor. He believes the Web Revolution has changed all that, delivering, for the first time, a standard, universals interface to data, hence becoming the universal interface to the world's digital library.

Schmidt will discuss the drawback of only being able to access static data. In juxtaposition, he'll continue with a look at Java and its new launches into network computing by augmenting the Web and providing universal access to programs. Java provides the interactive richness of CD-ROM with the reach of the network. This universal access over the network breaks the operating system lock of the past 15 years and Schmidt illustrates why the '90s will be remembered as the "Networking Decade."

Schmidt is currently responsible for coordinating all aspects of Sun's core and emerging technologies. He joined Sun in June 1983. Prior to Sun, he was a member of the research staff at the Computer Science Lab at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center and has also held positions at Bell Laboratories and Zilog.

ComNet's keynote lineup also includes MIT Media Labs founder, Nicholas Negroponte; CEO of Prodigy Services Inc., Edward A. Bennett; and Netscape Communications Corp.'s CEO and President, James Barksdale. All four keynoters will address different aspects of converging and emerging technologies and their impact on communications.

ComNet '96 will feature over 140 educational conference sessions, tutorials, keynotes and plenaries organized into nine "views" and 13 "threads." Two "views," Electronic Commerce: Business on the Internet and Enabling Technologies, are focused on the Information Superhighway and will include sessions on everything from cybercash to network security. In addition, ComNet will cover the network evolution in the public and private domain, new network service options, collaborative computing, multimedia, wireless and deploying specific technologies in technical and hands-on sessions.

The ComNet exhibition, which is expected to attract 45,000 attendees, will feature more than 500 companies in 170,000 net square feet of exhibition space showing the latest networking and communications tools, technologies and services. Over 350 new products are expected to be introduced at ComNet '96.

ComNet is owned by International Data Group (IDG), the world's leading provider of information services on information technology. ComNet '96 is produced by IDG/MHA Event Management, producers of MACWORLD Expositions (Boston and San Francisco), DV/CD-ROM Expo, IMA Expo and Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). IDG/MHA Event Management shows host more than 2,000 exhibitors and 200,000 attendees annually. For more information on ComNet, call 800/545-EXPO or visit ComNet on the World Wide Web at http://www.mha.com/comnet/. -0-

Note to Editors: To register for ComNet '96 contact Cress O'Brien at 617/440-2830 (phone) or 617/440-0357 (fax).

CONTACT: MHA Event Management

Cress O'Brien, 617/440-2830

cobrien@mha.com

or

Rourke & Co.

Maria Salomao, 617/267-0042

msalomao@rourke.com