As web usage has boomed, so users demands have increased and in order to satisfy these demands new technologies must be developed. Forrester defines the X Internet “an executable Net that greatly improves the online experience” and an extended net that connects the “real world”.
“The problem with today’s Internet is that it’s dumb, boring, and isolated,” said George F. Colony, CEO and chairman of Forrester. “News, sports, and weather imparted on static Web pages offer essentially the same content presented on paper, which makes the online experience more like reading in a dusty library than participating in a new medium. Now that the novelty has faded, business executives and consumers are going back to reading newspapers and watching TV. Ultimately, the Net hasn’t truly become a part of our real worlds.”
Forrester believes that the first stage in the development of the X Internet is to build an executable net. Disposable code is a key element in enabling real time, interactive experiences for web users.
“Today, users are trapped in Web-only thinking,” said Carl Howe, research director and principal analyst at Forrester. “It’s a little like the early days of television when programming was just radio with pictures of announcers. But executable applications will give users tools to experience the Net in more entertaining and engaging ways. For example, imagine a corporate buyer navigating a virtual marketplace with a Doom-like user interface – buyers could simply shoot the deals they want. That’s a far cry from today’s Web.”
The second half of the reinvention of the web is the connection between the current world wide web and our everyday lives. Cheap chips and new applications will mean that every electrically powered device in our lives will be controllable via the net – both wired and wireless – and Forrester predict that the number of internet devices will grow from 100 million today to 14 billion in 2010.
“The extended Internet will reshape technology’s role in business,” claims Howe, “most firms struggle to understand and act upon what is happening in their business now — they’re lucky if they know what happened last week or last month. Extended Internet devices will provide real-time information about what is going on and provide knobs and levers for companies to control their businesses. A data center business in California might combine real-time data from both the power company and customers to reduce the power consumption of their air conditioners when power demand peaks — all through extended Internet devices.”
