RE: SIP and Apache

Jim Whitehead (ejw@ics.uci.edu)
Fri, 18 Jun 1999 13:30:57 -0700


> In essence though, the markets right now for services like Internet Call
> Waiting are small. And one or two companies will not be sufficient to
> generate growth, and subsequently to service a developed market. If we
> buy companies at every layer then we are becoming the beast we are
> attempting to destroy. It would be like us buying up web server and
> web applications companies -- imagine how slowly the web would have
> grown if there were only one or two companies around to service it?

Well, there may be a good argument here, but this isn't it. Throughout most
of the Web's development, there have been a relatively small number of
server platforms (1-4 server platforms account for over 90% of the market
throughout the history of the Web).

It seems to me that Cisco needs to find ways to sponsor these standards. It
was NCSA's early sponsorship of the Web, and its technology investment in
Web browsers and servers, in combination with the media hype machine, that
allowed the Web to triumph over Gopher. In many respects, a vital
marketplace for Web browsers and servers wasn't really a major component in
the Web's growth -- there have only been two major browser platforms, and a
small number of server platforms.

- Jim