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Five years ago: Intel's Grove: UK must use IT better

Arif Mohamed ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 06 Feb 2002 07:01 GMT

First published 6 February, 1997

"I'm envious of the widespread availability of technologies like ISDN and GSM in Europe," said Grove, president and CEO of the chip maker. "Something like GSM is only a dream in the US. It's the utilisation in Europe that's a problem. If we had GSM in the US, everyone would be using it for data communications."

Grove slated European telecomms companies for hindering the adoption of high-bandwidth technologies: "What is important is increased bandwidth and lower costs. Neither is being served [sufficiently] by the [European] telecomms industries. The telecomms industry [in Europe] has a large government monopoly legacy, and it is still in that mode. The sooner it is rid of that, the better."

Grove predicted a spectrum of networked PCs embracing the desktop PC, the managed server and the NetPC all on the same network. He said Intel's recent deals with Danish network specialist Case Technologies and mobile connectivity firm Xircom were key to laying the infrastructure of faster networks. "Millions of consumers will be able to access companies' main databases directly. The Internet will cause the transformation of the service industry," he added.