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Rating: 
Summary: A masterful vision of the Global Info Tech Industry
Review: David Moschella has brilliantly interweaved a historical perspective of the global info/tech industry into a very insightful forecast that can be used by both info/tech and non-info/tech professionals.David's historical perspective includes: well-defined market-based outcomes, insightful global trends, concise strategic consequences, and clear summaries of most important points in time. His global framework helps us to understand countries' competitive strengths and their abilities to adapt to the coming changes in the info/tech industry. Finally, his forecast of the info/tech industry, which has to take into account the ever-changing landscape and the unforeseen innovations, appears to have strong grounding in the history of the info/tech business and other industries that have gone through innovative and strong growth periods. To conclude, Waves of Power is an excellent education in the information technology industry, and will provide insight and ideas to managers and investors alike. John Bagazinski
Rating: 
Summary: Network-Centricity
Review: The past 100 years have been truly remarkable from the standpoint of human advancement through unprecedented technological breakthroughs. The emergence of the computer industry represents perhaps the most significant aftereffect of these recent discoveries, with nearly every innovation since the industry's inception proving to be more awe-inspiring that the last. As sudden as the waves of technological change have transpired upon us, however, the history explaining their materialization has spread its roots into countless factors and interrelated topics that make acquiring a cognizance of the IT revolution and the reasons for today's computer industry structure an irrefutably perplexing task. To David Moschella's credit, such an undertaking is more easily attainable with the help of his text "Waves of Power." Regardless of the era, the technology, or the company being studied, the structure of the IT industry in the U.S. has been subject to the invisible hand of a capitalistic society. Surprisingly, this has not made predicting future business models or sources of power any less challenging. A free, democratic marketplace did not prevent the formation of "monopolies" IBM and Microsoft. The unique aspects of the IT industry, with the enormous economies attributable to some of its sectors and with computer technology still in its infancy compared to most other long-standing products, combine to make it almost immune to natural market forces that typically disrupt monopolistic powers. Success in breaking up those corporate giants that have accumulated an alarming share of an industrial market is often attributable to government intervention or to the corporate giants themselves. This is why the Justice Department's handling of the antitrust case against Microsoft is important to the formation of a technological future that even vaguely resembles the global connectivity envisioned by Moschella in the year 2010. Software subordination to new network-centric devices and peripherals is less likely to happen if more companies (new and old) do not expand the presence of Microsoft independent operating systems or Intel-compatible microprocessors. No one makes this more clear than David Moschella himself who, since the printing of this book, has chastised IT vendors for failing to make a dent in Microsoft's empire. Nevertheless, the network-centric era does present plentiful opportunities for many businesses. Moschella points out that the pace with which network computing transforms a particular industry's business processes is directly related to the industry's proportion of information based products (bits) as opposed to tangibles (atoms). It thus makes sense that the banking industry is one of the first to adopt the network-centric approach out of necessity even as current bandwidth technology remains wanting. But before any company, bit or atom-based, looks to invest in IT to improve its business, Moschella strongly advises that an effective strategic plan be the driving force behind such endeavors rather than peer pressure from industry rivals to acquire and implement a hot new system. Adherence to such principles facilitates wise business strategies. It is precisely this type of philosophy that Moschella believes will ensure a healthy and competitive marketplace where the ideals of a content-centric society are more inclined to be met and the regulatory actions of government agencies deemed less necessary. Such are the overriding points that "Waves of Power" attempts to convey.
Rating:
Summary: Network-Centricity
Review: The past 100 years have been truly remarkable from the standpoint of human advancement through unprecedented technological breakthroughs. The emergence of the computer industry represents perhaps the most significant aftereffect of these recent discoveries, with nearly every innovation since the industry's inception proving to be more awe-inspiring that the last. As sudden as the waves of technological change have transpired upon us, however, the history explaining their materialization has spread its roots into countless factors and interrelated topics that make acquiring a cognizance of the IT revolution and the reasons for today's computer industry structure an irrefutably perplexing task. To David Moschella's credit, such an undertaking is more easily attainable with the help of his text "Waves of Power." Regardless of the era, the technology, or the company being studied, the structure of the IT industry in the U.S. has been subject to the invisible hand of a capitalistic society. Surprisingly, this has not made predicting future business models or sources of power any less challenging. A free, democratic marketplace did not prevent the formation of "monopolies" IBM and Microsoft. The unique aspects of the IT industry, with the enormous economies attributable to some of its sectors and with computer technology still in its infancy compared to most other long-standing products, combine to make it almost immune to natural market forces that typically disrupt monopolistic powers. Success in breaking up those corporate giants that have accumulated an alarming share of an industrial market is often attributable to government intervention or to the corporate giants themselves. This is why the Justice Department's handling of the antitrust case against Microsoft is important to the formation of a technological future that even vaguely resembles the global connectivity envisioned by Moschella in the year 2010. Software subordination to new network-centric devices and peripherals is less likely to happen if more companies (new and old) do not expand the presence of Microsoft independent operating systems or Intel-compatible microprocessors. No one makes this more clear than David Moschella himself who, since the printing of this book, has chastised IT vendors for failing to make a dent in Microsoft's empire. Nevertheless, the network-centric era does present plentiful opportunities for many businesses. Moschella points out that the pace with which network computing transforms a particular industry's business processes is directly related to the industry's proportion of information based products (bits) as opposed to tangibles (atoms). It thus makes sense that the banking industry is one of the first to adopt the network-centric approach out of necessity even as current bandwidth technology remains wanting. But before any company, bit or atom-based, looks to invest in IT to improve its business, Moschella strongly advises that an effective strategic plan be the driving force behind such endeavors rather than peer pressure from industry rivals to acquire and implement a hot new system. Adherence to such principles facilitates wise business strategies. It is precisely this type of philosophy that Moschella believes will ensure a healthy and competitive marketplace where the ideals of a content-centric society are more inclined to be met and the regulatory actions of government agencies deemed less necessary. Such are the overriding points that "Waves of Power" attempts to convey.
Rating:
Summary: A must-have
Review: This is a great book to keep around as a reference. It discusses the early history of the IT industry as well as its future. The author does a great job of rooting out all of the Internet hype and hysteria also.
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