Michael Dertouzos

No ivory-tower egghead, Dr. Michael Dertouzos is "one of the most influential practical thinkers on the current and future use of network technology," says Frank Dzubeck, president of Communications Network Architects, Inc.

Dzubeck is just one of the many industry luminaries who cite Dertouzos as a thought-shaper and visionary. Dertouzos saw the potential of PCs and networking early on. In 1980 he predicted the emergence of an "information marketplace" where the world would exchange ideas and products via networking. Sound like anything you know today? Maybe the Internet? Dertouzos shepherds the groundbreaking computer and networking research going on in the lab, from which have sprung developments such as Ethernet, time-sharing and RSA public cryptography. The lab also is home to Tim Berners-Lee and the World Wide Web Consortium, which controls the all-important standards for Web technologies.

Dertouzos has shared his ideas and concerns in six books. His latest work, What Will Be: How the New World of Information Will Shape Our Lives, lays out his ideas about the future of computing and communications. His prediction: Never mind all the fluff on the Web today. The real value of networking will be in its ability to vastly improve corporate productivity in the years ahead. How much? Try a 300% improvement by the end of the 21st century - a productivity shift of a magnitude matched only by the industrial revolution.

If you get the chance to eavesdrop on Dertouzos, grab it. Knowledge is power.