CONVERGENCE

Overview
The coming together of distinct technologies will be a boon for customers but create many challenges for suppliers which are badly prepared?

Wireless commerce
After the hype, what of the future? Telcos and TV ‘Content is king’ was always the multimedia mantra now the telcos are acting on it.

Consumer electronics
A combination of disparate technologies may appear sooner than you think.

Internet hotels
The impact of the dotcom fall-out has been much exaggerated, but co-location centres still face a fraught future.

Corporate networks
Unless they start from scratch, most organisations will migrate toward a combined voice and data network.

Case study
Cisco hopes to save money and increase employee productivity through IP telephony.

Digital photography
It gets better each day but the message is not getting through to the average consumer.

Profile
Dig-ePrint hopes to exploit demand for high quality, but fairly priced print-outs.

Wireless Lans
The market finally reached the take-off point last year after a long period of slow growth.

Convergence and divergence
With ‘always on’ access to the internet, a wide range of devices and appliances could interlink at home and office.

E-GOVERNMENT

Overview
Transferring government functions onto the internet could redraw the lawmakers’ relationship with citizens and with businesses.

Country case study
Australia enjoys an enviable lead in conducting public services via the net.

Links with business
Companies that have cut their costs with web-related technology are expecting similar facilities from their national governments.

Civil servants
When the plusses are demonstrated, public sector employees are quick to adopt new technology.

Vendors
From the one-man, one-application enterprise to the multinational giant, the scope for IT vendors is immense.

Local government
Timely services that meet real needs are necessary to ensure widespread adoption.

Case study
The Spanish regional authority Generalitat Valenciana's new e-government services.

Country case study
Awakening the sleeping giant of e-government in the US is one of President George W. Bush's key tasks.

US Census
A new automated approach has saved US taxpayers $800m and may be adopted elsewhere.

Country case study
With an internet-savvy population and high ISDN penetration rates, Germany is well placed to reap the benefits of e-government.

Project management issues
Delays and cost over-runs have plagued many government IT projects. Will it be any different with e-government projects?

Electronic voting
Electronic voting is growing but many governments and their voters continue to prefer the ballot box.

OTHER ARTICLES

Viewpoint
How the UK governemnt can help the software industry

View from the top
Tony Affuso, president of newly-merged UGS, explains his vision for collaborative commerce.

Database management
Start-up Lazy Software is offering an alternative to the long-established relational database model.

Interview
Samir Arora of NetObjects, fast-growing provider of e-business services to SMEs.

Company profile
Factiva provides electronic news and information to global enterprises from 8,000 sources.

Business.eu
Our new monthly study, produced with Online Research Agency, of European business attitudes to the internet.