Question:
Digital technologies are advancing very rapidly. Would you tell us about their relationship to Internet development?
There are two basic principles supporting the rapid development of the new information technology industry. One is Moore's law, which predicts that IC scale will double every year and a half. The other is Guilder's law, which predicts that transmission capacity of optical fiber will increase by four-fold each year. Infrastructure cost will be decreased dramatically by combining these two technologies even as computer cost is also decreased (as we can see by the many free PCs on the market now). As a result, the cost of Internet substance, its content or applications, is more significant than that of the medium. In the new communication age, it is not communication among people, but communication among computers that will increase. Communication among people cannot expand unless the number of people increases, but communication among computers can grow limitlessly according to the laws of Moore and Guilder.
Question:
What are your thoughts about the relationship between the automobile industry and the Internet?
Currently, we are offering Internet service only to people who are interested in automobiles. Each company is providing a salon for car users. I think that the next step is to connect moving cars to the Internet. As for broadcast-type service, it will be implemented as multimedia car navigation, as standard, using S-band satellite networks. Map or other information can be updated in real time. IMT2000 will enable this expanded mobile communication.
However, our real goal is beyond that. All car components will be controlled and managed by (Internet Protocol version 6) IPv6. Machines or components will start talking to each other and tell us, for example, "battery fluid level is low". These technologies will enable us to create the ultimate safe car.
Introduction of Internet Research Institute, Inc.
Internet Research Institute, Inc. (IRI) was listed as the first listed company on Mothers at the end of 1999 and gathered all investors' attentions.
According to the Nikkei Newspaper of December 23, 1999, IRI buy orders were 4926 shares and sell were 14 shares and total IRI prevailing market price at closing of 22nd was 273.4 billion yen.
IRI, who is leading the development of Internet industry, has been gathering great expectations from investors or industries.
(Interviewer :Yokogawa Electric Corporation Vice President T&M Division Manager Mr. Hitoshi Inomata)
