1. Howard Anderson, outspoken founder and president of The Yankee Group consultancy, is a writer, commentator and prognosticator on this networked world.
2. Fred Baker, IETF chairman, is the Internet's technical navigator.
3. Brian Behlendorf, Apache Group founder and chief technology officer, is the driver behind the Web's most inexpensive - as in, free - and widely installed Internet server software.
4. Tim Berners-Lee, director of the World Wide Web Consortium and inventor of the Web, is changing the way we work and use computers.
5. Jim Bidzos, president and CEO of RSA Data Security, is a leader in securing the enterprise.
6. Sir Peter Bonfield, BT chief executive, is the man to see for establishing a global telecom presence.
7. Pehong Chen, BroadVision chairman, president and CEO, is personalizing the 'Net for business.
8. Eric Cooper, FORE Systems chairman, CEO and cofounder, is pushing ATM's business case in the face of Gigabit Ethernet's challenge.
9. Esther Dyson, chairperson of EDventure Holdings, provides voice of reason and insight in changing times and is a key player in the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
10. Frank Dzubeck, president and CEO of the Communications Network Architects consultancy, is an insider in an insider's game. He advises a broad spectrum of vendor and big user companies.
11. Scott Eckert, director of Dell Computer's online business, is a driving force behind electronic commerce.
12. Larry Ellison, Oracle president and CEO, is Mr. Network Computer and a thorn in Microsoft's paw.
13. Bill Esrey, president and CEO of Sprint, stayed quiet during MCI/GTE/WorldCom/AT&T/BT buyout hullabaloo. Strong net infrastructure makes Sprint a prime partner for the right company.
14. Kevin Fong, general partner of Mayfield Fund venture capital, directs flow of precious money to networking start-ups.
15. Howard Frazier, chairman of the IEEE 802.3z committee, is raising the Ethernet speed bar to gigabits.
16. Rob Glaser, former Microsoft exec and founder and CEO of RealNetworks, makes good as his RealAudio and RealVideo bring the 'Net alive. Glaser has close ally in Bill Gates.
17. Jack Grubman, all-star telecom stock analyst and matchmaker at Salomon Brothers, talks and stocks move.
18. Mark Hoffman, former president and CEO of Sybase, now leads Commerce One, trying to push Web-based EDI and electronic procurement to the corporate masses.
19. David House, president and CEO of Bay Networks, turned the company around in his first year at the helm, and the company is again a viable competitor to Cisco.
20. Bobby Johnson, true entreprenuer and outspoken president and CEO of Gigabit Ethernet start-up Foundry Networks, was founder and CEO of switching firm Centillion, which was later bought by Bay Networks.
21. John Keller, news editor overseeing telecom beat for The Wall Street Journal, provides insightful business coverage of high-powered carriers/ISPs during time of major change.
22. William Kennard, new FCC chairman, is top regulator at top regulatory agency for new telecom industry. Kennard faces uphill climb but has the brains and backing to pull off telecom reform and kick competition into high gear.
23. Ed Kozel, Cisco chief technology officer and vice president of business development, is the man behind Cisco's breathtaking merger and acquisition activity.
24. Scott Kriens, founder of StrataCom and now president and CEO of next-generation router maker Juniper Networks, is backed by 3Com, Nortel, Lucent and other power partners in bid to topple Cisco from Internet backbone.
25. Ira Magaziner, senior technology policy adviser to President Clinton, authored positioning paper that outlines federal role in promoting and protecting electronic commerce.
26. John Markoff, West Coast correspondent for The New York Times, is the kingpin of Silicon Valley journalists. Truly connected.
27. Craig McCaw, wireless mogul, dreams of delivering global communications through satellite venture Teledesic, cofounded by Bill Gates. McCaw, a big investor in Nextel Communications, puts his money where his visions are.
28. Mary Meeker, influential Internet, new-media analyst at Morgan Stanley, authored "The Internet Report" and "The Internet Advertising Report" and is a pundit on the key players in networking..
29. Robert Moskowitz, Chrysler IT exec, leads the Automotive Network Exchange effort to get automakers and suppliers to exchange data via the 'Net. This pioneering user is pushing electronic-commerce boundaries.
30. Frank Moss, Tivoli chairman, is driving IBM's enterprise management strategy. He is a visionary behind object-based management and leading the industry toward manageable applications.
31. Steve Mott, senior VP for global ventures at MasterCard, and Steve Herz, senior vice president for electronic commerce at Visa, are catalysts behind the Secure Electronic Transaction protocol. If they say the 'Net is okay for business, come on in.
32. Nathan Myrhvold, Microsoft chief technology officer, is defining the next wave of desktop computing.
33. Jeff Papows, Lotus president, is driving IBM's intranet software strategy and is a major obstacle in Microsoft's path to domination.
34. Lewis Platt, president and CEO of Hewlett-Packard, assembled a strong portfolio of network gear and created a powerful channel. He is a key player in net management, and HP is threatening Compaq in servers, working with Intel on 64-bit chip technology.
35. Kim Polese, Marimba president and CEO, is the pull behind push technology. She's forcing people to think of new ways to get information and applications to users.
36. Jon Postel, director of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, is the man to see if you need an IP address.
37. Michael Price, managing director of Lazard Freres & Co., investment banker to telecom/computer powerhouses, helped broker MCI/Worldcom, SBC/Pacific Telesis and other blockbuster deals.
38. Vivek Ranadive, CEO of TIBCO, is pushing the envelope on push technology.
39. Gary Reback, Microsoft nemesis, is the Wilson Sonsini attorney leading the charge for antitrust action on behalf of Gates' rivals, including Netscape.
40. Don Reed, former NYNEX exec and now Cabletron president and CEO, is charged with taking one of the Big Four to the next level. The purchase of Digital's network business is a demonstration of his resolve.
41. Bert Roberts, chairman of MCI and - if all goes well - soon-to-be chairman of MCI WorldCom. Roberts leads one of the telecom industry's hottest properties now, but the big question is, will he stay after Bernie Ebbers comes to town?
42. John Roth, Nortel president and CEO, is extending the company's leadership in voice networking to data.
43. Jeff Schiller, IETF area director for security, is the referee on all IETF security matters.
44. Eric Schmidt, president and CEO of Novell, has the survival of Novell, and it customers, in his hands.
45. John Sidgmore, CEO of UUNET, is building a business case for the Internet through security and service initiatives.
46. Ray Smith, CEO of Bell Atlantic. Want access to Northeast telecom markets? You'll have to get by Smith, who ran the regulatory obstacle course to complete the merger with NYNEX.
47. Peter Solvik, Cisco's CIO, is setting the electronic-commerce pace. Cisco's Connection Online site is expected to rack up $4 billion in sales this year.
48. Gordon Stitt, president and CEO of Extreme Networks, an early leader in the Gigabit Ethernet market. Stitt is cofounder of Network Peripherals.
49. Charles Wang, Computer Associates' chairman and CEO, is a force in enterprise management and a stone in IBM's shoe.
50. Edward Whitacre, tough-as-nails CEO of SBC Communications, is a hardball-playing competitor. He dared to contemplate merger with AT&T and is a wild card in merger-mania reshaping industry. Will he buy or be bought?
