Atlanta - The Internet will become a series of directories that dynamically provide exactly the information you want, Novell CEO Eric Schmidt said.
In a keynote at NetWorld+Interop this morning, Schmidt said the concept of identity, in which users' profiles are stored in online directories, will become the platform of the next-generation Internet.
"Our vision is you live in the 'Net,'' he said.
Profiles will enable ubiquitous data access - the directory will let users get the same desktop and applications no matter where in the world or with which computer they connect, he said.
Identity will let online agents seek out information and resources you really want - moving users beyond today's portal sites. He said Novell will ship products in 1999 that extend its NDS to the Internet.
"The problem is, now that you can get online, you can't find anything,'' he said. "I have five e-mail accounts and five cellular phones and no one can find me. This is horrible. ... The Internet today is like a party where everybody in in separate rooms, standing alone, wanting to connect.''
And profiles become critical to electronic commerce when enabled with authentication, so that buyers and sellers can verify each other's identity - eliminating a major risk of today's cookie-based authentication systems.
He pointed to Amazon.com, which uses cookies for single-click purchasing. "What happens if somebody walks up to your machine and buys $10,000 worth of books - and changes the address to send them to?'' he asked.
Schmidt said this new wave is inevitable, because the Internet itself continues to grow at phenomenal rates. And ultimately, the value of a network will be based not on how many people use it, but on the number and quality of the relationships among its users, he said.
"Think of it as suburban sprawl: It's going to happen, it makes sense and it has a lot of implications,'' he said.
Schmidt said users must retain control of their profiles, to prevent their abuse. He said the threat is not so much from Big Brother, but companies: "In practice, the more likely threat is from corporations that use that information without your permission."
Other Schmidt observations:
- T-1 will become the standard access speed, even on wireless.
- We'll be flooded with bandwidth. "It's like real estate in that it will be overbuilt. Prices will collapse again."
- The real information gap is not between rich and poor, but between teenagers and their parents.
- The Starr report showed the maturation of the Internet. "The fact that the document could lead to the impeachment of a sitting president was first published on the Internet means that this medium has come of age,'' he said. "Imagine if it had had pictures."
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