U.S. Secretary of Commerce Reaffirms Administration's Support of the Internet - Points to $100 Million Proposed Investment -Speaking at CMP's Networked Economy Conference, Daley Highlights Need to 'Bring Everyone on Board'PRNewswire Speaking at CMP's Networked Economy Conference, William M. Daley, U.S. Secretary of Commerce, reaffirmed the Clinton administration's commitment to the Internet and the development and application of technology. Referring to the need for federal investment, Daley noted President Clinton's proposed $ 100 million Next Generation Internet initiative from his FY'98 budget. "It will ensure that the networks of tomorrow will be faster, more reliable and protect information better than today's Internet," said Daley. "It is an investment from which we will all benefit, but that otherwise might not be made." Daley also said that the government is going to lead the effort to invest in people and open up international markets. "Technology alone win not guarantee us a robust economy. We need workers who possess the skills needed to operate in the electronic environment," he said. In a move to open up international markets, Daley noted that last month Clinton announced a landmark agreement reached by members of the World Trade Organization. "This agreement will liberalize world trade in telecommunications services and bring one million new jobs to America in the next ten years," said Daley. According to Daley, consumers will drive the progress and expansion of information technologies, but getting everyone up to speed is still a hurdle. "Perhaps our biggest challenge is to bring everyone on board, to explain the benefits to be derived from information technology and the way it can change our world for the better," said Daley. Joining the Secretary for the two-day event, which is taking place at The Ritz-Carlton/Tysons Corner in McLean, VA, is a host of industry luminaries. Headliners among the more than 40 CEO speakers include: 3Com's Eric Benhamou, America Online's Steve Case, Bay Networks' David House, Cisco's John Chambers, Lucent Technology's Rich McGinn, Netscape's Marc Andreessen, Oracle's Larry Ellison and Eric Schmidt, CTO of Sun Microsystems, who was appointed Chairman and CEO of Novell today. CMP's Networked Economy Conference is presented by CommunicationsWeek (http://www.commweek.com/), The Networking Newspaper. CommunicationsWeek delivers news and analysis that helps network IT management translate evolving advances in communications and computing technology directly into business advantage. In addition, the newspaper features Web Commerce, a bi-weekly section that provides in-depth features and analysis of electronic commerce products, technologies and case studies. Telepath, a monthly supplement to CommunicationsWeek, is directed to the innovators behind converging networks. CMP Media Inc. provides publishing, marketing and information services to the entire high-technology spectrum -- the builders, sellers and users of technology -- through print and electronic media. All of CMP's publications and online products can be accessed through the company's TechWeb® site on the World Wide Web (http://www.techweb.com/). Print titles include EE Times, Computer Reseller News, InformationWeek and WINDOWS Magazine. -0- 3/18/97 SOURCE: CMP Media Inc. CONTACT: Catherine Jarrat Koatz of CMP Corporate Communications, |