The most influential IT figures of the 20th century

1. John Chambers, President and CEO of Cisco

What more can be said about a man who has been voted the most influential CEO by readers for four consecutive years? ? Because of his enduring business acumen, he has always been the most watched idol figure in the Internet industry and the business world.

2. Bill Gates, Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect

In November last year, Gates delivered his 20th keynote speech at Comdex, although every year in Las Vegas The influence of the exhibition held by Gass is beginning to decrease year by year, but the influence of Gates has not. Although controversial, he remains the most influential figure in the software industry and remains at the helm of Microsoft, a company with $32 billion in assets and a $6.8 billion research and development budget. Sharing his vision for "seamless computing," Gates declared: "In the first decade of the 21st century, we will be able to achieve greater productivity gains than all of the productivity gains that industry has achieved to date."

3. Sam Palmisano, IBM Chairman and CEO

When Palmisano said that IBM will hire 1 more people this year in services, middleware, Linux and software and hardware businesses based on open standards. With tens of thousands of new employees, he gave the Internet industry hope for healthy economic development. This was what he said in mid-October last year when he announced that IBM's third-quarter revenue reached $21.5 billion (an increase of more than 9% compared with the same period last year). Since being promoted to IBM's top executive in March 2003, Palmisano has effectively mobilized the resources of all IBM's hardware, software and services departments around a common central technology vision: e-commerce on demand.

4. Carly Fiorina, Chairman and CEO of HP

Fiorina’s reputation as a capable CEO was hard earned, and she seems to have no intention of losing it. Fiorina has deftly pivoted from yesterday's M&A successes to tomorrow's business plan, a strong plan that includes how to ensure leadership in building the "new data center." HP's $2.5 billion investment in Dynamic Enterprise shows that she is serious about ensuring HP remains at the forefront. In addition, Fiorina seems to be serious about how to compete head-to-head with Cisco. This is what some industry observers learned from her resignation from Cisco's board of directors last November, which has the same significance as her joining the company's board of directors in 2001.

5. Linda Dillman, CIO of Wal-Mart

Dillman’s decision to specialize in leading Wal-Mart’s technology development direction is not only for this giant retailer, but also for Its thousands of suppliers -- and the ripple effects it creates will ripple throughout the networking industry. Take Dillman's announcement in June last year that it would adopt the radio frequency identification (RFID) mark, for example. Dillman told attendees at a retail trade show that Wal-Mart will require its top suppliers to have RFID chips embedded in their items by 2004, and all other suppliers will be required to do so by 2006. It must be so. Analysts believe this alone could create a $2 billion RFID market.

6. Ivan Seidenberg, Chairman and CEO of Verizon

As the leader of the largest regional Bell Company in the United States, Seidenberg had already consolidated his position as Chairman of Verizon in November last year. His position is much more secure than it was eight months ago when he was appointed to complete the 2000 merger of Bell Atlantic/GTE. Seidenberg will continue to be a star on his speaking tours, never without his now-iconic line: Government regulations are stifling innovation and thereby stifling the telecom industry's recovery.

7. Michael Dell, Chairman and CEO of Dell

Dell has entered the list of top figures in the Internet industry, but it is clear that he has not yet reached his peak. He is the fastest-rising influencer in our annual Reader Power Index rankings, and he has become a trusted business figure not just for policymakers in Washington, but for leaders around the world. and technical advisors.

8. John Thompson, Chairman and CEO of Symantec

Thompson has led Symantec through an unusual year and has enabled the company to achieve its second consecutive honor. Check out our list of the 10 Most Influential Internet Companies. Not surprising. Thompson was well placed to achieve a perfect financial position, several major customer deals, and Symantec's market position as the No. 1 security company by revenue. He also completed two all-cash acquisitions, plus a number of other acquisition contracts.

A member of several government advisory committees, Thompson also serves on the boards of UPS, NiSource, Seagate and Crystal Decisions, among others. In 2003, his reputation in the business world rose rapidly. He was the star of numerous exhibitions and business media, and was also one of the keynote speakers at Comdex in the fall.

9.Joseph Tucci, President and CEO of EMC

Last year, Tucci led EMC on a spree of mergers and acquisitions, the last of which was the acquisition of software vendor VMware for US$635 million in cash in mid-December. acquisition. The acquisition follows a $1.3 billion purchase of backup and recovery software maker Legato Systems in July, and follows the $1.7 billion purchase of content management software specialist Documentum in October. And the acquisition of storage resource management vendor Astrum (the contract amount was not disclosed). These acquisitions will help Tucci broaden EMC's technology into the field of high-end storage platforms and ultimately achieve so-called information lifecycle management (ILM). ILM is a strategy that integrates storage technology with content creation and data recovery capabilities.

10. David Dorman, AT&T Chairman and CEO

Dorman has been working hard to stem the decline in AT&T's financial situation. He made a surprising personnel change announcement in early December last year. , that is, replacing AT&T President Betsy Bernard with his old friend and one-time SBC executive William Hannigan, for the same purpose. If Bernard has always been considered a cost-cutting expert, Hannigan is considered a revenue growth expert. The appointment is the last in a series of personnel changes at Dorman last year, which included the appointment of new candidates in sales, network operations and other positions. Dorman, 49, is also an influential member of the business world and sits on the board of trustees of Episcopal High School in Alexandra, Virginia.

11. Ed Whitacre, Chairman and CEO of SBC

As always, Whitacre always shocks the industry. Last July, with great fanfare, he announced a joint marketing agreement with satellite TV provider Echostar, making SBC the first regional Bell company to be tied to satellite and cable companies' mainstay, television services. The agreement creates a so-called "quadruple play" bundle planned to be available in early 2004, in which SBC customers can pay for multi-channel television programming, local and long-distance voice communications, wireless communications and broadband services from a single provider. He made this agreement official by investing $500 million in Echostar. If he can't complete the TV deal, he'll have to criss-cross the city lobbying to end regulators' rules that allow competitors like AT&T to use his network at low prices.

12. Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO

Ballmer likes to joke that he can't remember the name of the open source competitor that bothers him, Linux. In reality, however, for the CEO of the world's most influential software company, the joke was anything but funny. With a slew of antitrust lawsuits behind him, fighting the open source movement will be one of Ballmer's next big battles, at least in the United States. In comparison, the security of Microsoft products is second to none.

13.Tony Scott, General Motors CTO

Scott’s position at General Motors forces him to deal with the technical problems encountered by 340,000 employees every day, and is also responsible for the world’s largest One of the complex supply chains and manages a large distribution network of independent agents. One of the topics that has attracted his attention the most these days is certification management. Scott also represents GM on the Freedom Alliance project management board. One of Scott's first projects at GM last year was the adoption of Freedom-compliant software, including integrating authentication management software with GM's company-wide LDAP directory and employee The portal system is integrated.

14. Doug Elix, Senior Vice President and Group Executive President, IBM Global Services Group

Coming to the United States from his native Australia, Elix has left his mark on IBM and the entire networking industry mark. He led IBM Global Services (IGS)'s 170,000 experts in 160 countries to win contracts from large enterprises one after another. IGS's annual revenue in 2002 was US$36 billion, and in the first half of 2003 it had reached US$21 billion. Elix knows how to play the role of individuals in organizations and how to get challenging IT managers to accept a variety of open standards to make their organizations more influential.

15. Massachusetts Democratic Senator Paul Sarbanes and Ohio Republican Michael Oxley (not pictured)

This pair of legislative officials is the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act The author of this bill stipulates the information disclosure system of enterprises and requires publicly listed companies to publish accurate and detailed financial reports on a regular basis. The purpose of this bill, which originated from the large-scale financial scandals of American companies, is to reform the financial system and restore investor confidence. At the same time, the bill will also promote the modernization of corporate financial reporting systems and encourage companies to invest in areas such as business processes, corporate governance, and consulting services. Compliance is generally considered costly: Overall, Fortune 1000 companies may have spent $2.5 billion in 2003 to comply. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act is one of several legislative controls that force companies to invest in IT.

16. Rhonda MacLean, Senior Vice President and Enterprise Information Security Manager, Bank of America

MacLean is a long-time leader of enterprise information security processes. Before joining Bank of America in 1996, she guarded the security fortress at Boeing for 14 years. In May 2002, the U.S. Department of the Treasury appointed MacLean as the financial industry representative responsible for safeguarding critical infrastructure and homeland security procedures. She is also known for: leading Bank of America to create a financial industry security testing center, serving on the board of directors of several security organizations; and serving as an advisor to various policymakers in Washington, DC.

17. Charlie Giancarlo, senior vice president and general manager of Cisco's switching, voice and storage division; president of Cisco-Linksys

Giancarlo is Cisco's search engine for new technology areas to be conquered. One of the cavalry scouts. In the areas of voice and storage under his responsibility, he had several great opportunities that gave him a promising future. As president of Cisco-Linksys, which was established after Cisco acquired Linksys, Giancarlo is also responsible for the implementation of Cisco's plan to enter the consumer and home office markets.

18. George Samenuk, Chairman and CEO of Network Associates

When Network Associates was walking tremblingly on the financial tightrope, Samenuk finally announced in March last year that after three fiscal years Then he finally regained profitability, and at the end of the year he played a good hand for the company. He led Network Associates to a healthy financial position by mid-year, which was enough for him to boldly acquire three companies in a row last October, including the $100 million acquisition of intrusion prevention vendor IntruVert Networks. Samenuk also serves on the advisory board of the New York Stock Exchange.

19. Fred Wettling, President of the Network Applications Association; Bechtel Infrastructure System Manager

In his capacity in the Network Applications Association (NAC), Wettling leads a very powerful force Panels of experts with members from giants like Boeing, Chevrolet, Walt Disney, Nike, and GlaxoSmithKline. NAC member companies - whose combined operating revenue exceeds $750 billion - can make IT vendors squirm if they speak with an authoritative voice.

20. Larry Ellison, Oracle Chairman and CEO

No matter what you think of Ellison, this person is by no means an ordinary person. His erratic behavior in 2003 was a high-profile hostile takeover strategy that had not been seen in the industry for many years. Although his "bad faith" bid for PeopleSoft may not be successful, it has clearly kept Oracle and IT infrastructure in the minds of American companies and the attention of the business media. Because of his bold and bold actions, Ellison's influence looks set to continue to grow.

21.Craig Conway, President and CEO of PeopleSoft

In 2003, Conway maximized his influence. The PeopleSoft leader won a battle to merge with J.D. Edwards last June and has since launched a back-and-forth battle with Oracle that has mired the latter's $7.3 billion hostile takeover bid. His defense strategy included drafting a controversial plan that promised its customers that if PeopleSoft was acquired by others and its product plans could not be implemented, the company would give customers 2 to 5 times the license fee. compensation.

22. Brian Roberts, President and CEO of Comcast

This former member of the U.S. squash team (who has won silver medals in many Maccabee Games held in Israel) is now Standing on the podium of the network industry, it also achieved brilliant success in the broadband market. Comcast added 1.7 million high-speed Internet access users in fiscal 2003, bringing the total number of users to 5.3 million. His success is forcing regional bell companies like SBC to take it seriously.

23. Eric Rudder, Senior Vice President of Microsoft Services and Tools Division

Rudder’s status and reputation at Microsoft have been steadily increasing. Today he controls the company’s server business and Coordinating the relationship between the business and the developer community - its fans are looking forward to him taking over Microsoft's .Net "head" affairs. These days, Rudder is responsible for projects such as Microsoft's upcoming Longhorn guest operating system; a next-generation SQL server called Yukon; and a next-generation Visual Studio called Whidbey.

24. Greg Papadopoulos, CTO of Sun Company

Orion, Kevlar, and Mad Hatter, as the person in charge of technology research and development of Sun Company, these are all new projects launched by Papadopoulos. Orion, released in early 2003, is Sun's code name for its simplified pricing system and release cycle. Kevlar is the code name for Sun's upcoming server partitioning software, and Mad Hatter is the name of its Linux desktop software package development plan. Sitting on top of all these projects is the new generation of UltraSparc server blades, which use multi-core technology to integrate multiple processor units on a single piece of silicon.

25. Scott Griffin, Boeing CIO (no photo)

Boeing’s history as a user is the history of early adopters, cultivators and shapers of various technologies. Under Griffin's guidance, Boeing has recently adopted comprehensive certification management and collaborative computing technologies. In addition to being a technology visionary, Griffin is a popular touring speaker and has a colorful personal history, including a career as a firefighter. He is an active donor to many Seattle-area charitable foundations and serves as an advisor to the University of Washington.

26.Irving Wladawsky-Berger, general manager of IBM e-commerce on demand

When IBM planned to invest US$1 billion in 2000 to support Linux enterprise-class products that were not yet full-fledged at the time At that time, Wladawsky-Berger was the person in charge of this investment. Today, he's responsible for even bigger investments: Wladawsky-Berger, who now leads IBM's e-commerce on demand concept, unveiled a $10 billion plan about 15 months ago to bring IBM's hardware and software resources to the table. Have more intelligence. Wladawsky-Berger, who has served at IBM for 33 years, is now also responsible for evangelizing and promoting technologies such as grid computing and virtualization, and trying to enable enterprises to adapt to changes in the market environment with optimal flexibility to maintain and increase value.

27. Nora Denzel, senior vice president and general manager of HP Software Global Business Unit, senior vice president of dynamic growth corporate strategy

Under Denzel’s care, HP’s software in fiscal 2003 Revenue set a new record with annual growth of 20%, with OpenView growing by 17% and OpenCall growing by 36%. At the same time, Denzel also expanded her software empire through mergers and acquisitions, and she was officially responsible for HP's dynamic growth enterprise strategy. Denzel, 41, already has senior experience in the Internet industry. In 1984, he joined IBM as a storage software engineer and was soon promoted to the global manager responsible for IBM's storage software products. He joined Legato in 1997 and as senior vice president, he increased Legato's revenue from US$50 million to US$250 million within 4 years. He joined HP in 2000, first responsible for network storage, and soon became the leader of HP's entire software group.

28. Nicolas Carr, business writer and consultant

Carr caused a stir with his article titled "IT No Longer Matters" published in the Harvard Business Review With widespread attention from the industry, this article believes that the strategic value of IT is gradually disappearing due to the ubiquity of IT. The article sparked countless debates and made Carr one of the busiest speakers on the circuit. The shockwaves generated by this article may not last until his book on the same subject is published in May of this year, but Carr has clearly left his mark on the evolution of IT in the past year.

29. Darl McBride, President and CEO of SCO Group

The reason why McBride received this year's influence ranking is because of his legal dispute with Linux. The 42-year-old father of seven spent almost all of 2003 betting on claims that Linux had stolen source code from SCO, where he had been at just two years. As this dispute unfolds, McBride not only lets us see his persistence, but also lets us see his efforts to completely get SCO out of the Linux market.

30. Richard Stiennon, Vice President of Research at Gartner

Stiennon shocked the security industry with his report in June last year, in which he said that intrusion detection systems (IDS) It was a "market failure". Few analysts would say as much as he does about an emerging market, especially one crowded with clients waiting for new analytical reports. His attitude strongly influenced IDS manufacturers, forcing them to face their own market failures or dangerous market sales situations. The widely circulated "IDS are dying" report was so influential in the months after its publication that many potential government IDS purchasers invited Stiennon to meet with more than a dozen IDS vendors in October. Conduct face-to-face inquiries.