Creators and Shapers of the World Wide Web To Assess ''Dot-Com'' Era; Marconi Foundation Hosts ''WWW Redux'' Conference at Columbia University.

Business & News Editors/High-Tech Writers

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 30, 2002

Some of the leading creators and shapers of the Internet and World Wide Web will meet Friday, November 8 at Columbia University to examine the "dot-com" era, and what's in store for the Web in the future.

"WWW Redux: Trends, Obstacles, Potential" is organized by the Guglielmo Marconi International Fellowship Foundation in conjunction with its award of the 2002 Marconi Fellowship to Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web.

"The dot-com fizzle has dampened Wall Street enthusiasm for information technology and telecom sectors," commented Francesco Paresce Marconi, chairman of the Marconi Foundation. "Yet from our unique perspective, we regard Tim Berners-Lee's achievement as a cause for celebration. The World Wide Web is the contemporary successor to such life-enhancing communications breakthroughs as the printing press, telephone and broadcast technology. If there's ever been a symbol for a shrinking world, it's embodied in the universally recognized WWW."

The conference format will trace the evolution of the Web from its roots, with Mr. Berners-Lee presenting his initial 1989 vision of the Web as an Internet-based hypermedia initiative for global information sharing.

A panel discussion on the history and potential of the Web will feature two Internet pioneers who are Marconi Fellows -- Robert E. Kahn, a holder of the U.S. Medal of Technology for his role in developing the Internet architecture; and Paul Baran, chairman of Com21 Inc., the developer of packet switching technology underpinning the Internet. Other panelists in this session are Mary Meeker, the noted Morgan Stanley Internet analyst; James Flanagan, vice president of research at Rutgers University who was named a 1992 Marconi Fellow for his pioneering contribution to speech synthesis and recognition; and Eli Noam, director of the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information.

The afternoon panel, devoted to forward-looking developments, will feature a presentation on nomadic computing by Internet pioneer Leonard Kleinrock, professor of computer science at the University of California at Los Angeles, who directed the first data transmission over the Internet. Andrew Viterbi, co-founder of QUALCOMM, Inc., who invented the signal processing algorithm that is employed by all commercial digital mobile wireless standards, will discuss the global reach of the Internet through mobile access. Other panelists are David Isenberg, founder of isen.com; Rashmi Doshi, chief technical officer at Everest Broadband Networks; and Hennig Schultzrinne, associate professor at Columbia's FU School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, known for seminal research in voice over IP. Tim Berners-Lee will conclude the session with a description of the next phase of the evolution, called "The Semantic Web."

The all-day event will be held at Davis Hall in the Morris Schapiro Center of Columbia University on Friday, November 8, 2002. Online registration is still available at http://www.marconifoundation.org/pages/events/index.htm.

About the Marconi Foundation

With its motto, "Communications for Goodness Sake," the Guglielmo Marconi International Fellowship Foundation at Columbia University is dedicated to nurturing, recognizing and celebrating individuals whose ingenious application of communications technology has a positive and lasting impact on human progress around the globe. Established in 1974 through an endowment raised by Gioia Marconi Braga, the Foundation is best known for the Marconi International Fellowship, awarded annually to an outstanding individual whose scope of work and influence emulate the principle of "creativity in service to humanity" that drove Guglielmo Marconi, the father of modern communications. Additional information is available on the Foundation's Web site, www.marconifoundation.org.