Benhamou claims IT industry will brush-off recession

NEWS Speaking via video link at the NetEvents Symposium in Sardinia, Eric Benhamou, CEO and president of 3Com, claimed the IT industry has nothing to fear from the global recession. Benhamou, who is also an advisor to the US government on technology issues, claimed despite worldwide instability, Year 2000 problems and euro concerns, the future still looks bright. "I do not believe the global recession will affect the IT industry," claimed Benhamou in his keynote speech. He said that although he would prefer to see stability in the world's financial markets, he remained "bullish" about the networking industry. In a question and answer session after the speech, he claimed the "distractions" of the euro and the millennium bug will encourage people to increase investment in new infrastructure. Banging the drum for converging networks, Benhamou said that by 2000, the majority of networks sold by 3Com will be voice and data. He claimed the first such sizeable IP telephony network will soon be announced. He said the project will have several million nodes, but refused to give further details. Benhamou denied recent rumours that 3Com is a target for takeover, or indeed could be looking to buy into the carrier market.