Recession woes? Why not try building up your e-business? That’s what Intel Corp. executive vice-president and director of sales and marketing Michael Splinter suggested during a speech Wednesday at TechXNY, the trade show formally known as PC Expo.
Hitting a sore spot at this year’s noticeably shrunken show, Splinter encouraged the audience to continue to move their businesses online, not only despite current economic conditions, but in order to improve those conditions.
“We all know that recessions will end, and you don’t save your way out of a recession,” Splinter said. “We build our way out of a recession with new products and capabilities.”
During his speech, Splinter noted how Intel is moving forward with its recently unveiled 0.13 micron Tualatin processor, which operates at faster speeds and consumes less power than previous Intel processors. Splinter also said that the company plans to launch a new 1.8GHz processor next week, and a 2GHz model in the third quarter of this year. Both processors will be Pentium 4, an Intel spokesman said after the speech.
“And in Q4 (the fourth quarter), we’ll go beyond that,” Splinter said.
Hitting the theme of growing through e-business, Splinter noted how Intel moved from having no online customers in 1998 to doing business online with over 95 per cent of its customers currently. The company’s online transactions now amount to US$2 billion a month, he added. This figure includes both sales Intel makes to customers and purchases Intel makes from its suppliers, an Intel spokesman said after the speech.
Still, Splinter warned, just participating in the e-economy is not enough to make a successful business.
“The Internet didn’t turn lead into gold or water into wine, or change basic economics,” Splinter said. “You have to create value to be successful.”
Scanning around the sparsely dotted exhibition floor, his point was clear.
Intel, in Santa Clara, Calif., can be reached at http://www.intel.com/.
