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Summer Reading

Still time to squeeze in one more good book

"Research is a high-hat word that scares a lot of people. It needn't. It is rather simple. Essentially, it is nothing but a state of mind -- a friendly, welcoming attitude toward change..." -- Charles Kettering

So begins Robert Buderi's new book, Engines of Tomorrow (Simon & Schuster), which chronicles how some of the world's most prominent companies are using their research labs to "win the future." This 400+ page book is a whirlwind tour of some of today's most advanced idea factories. Buderi profiles nine top research labs -- at IBM, Bell Labs/Lucent, Microsoft, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Xerox, General Electric, Siemens of Germany, and NEC of Japan -- to illustrate how these corporations are handling the process of innovation. He also explores a handful of recent strategic battles.

For example, Joel Birnbaum, leader of HP Labs from 1991 to early 1999, helped pioneer the idea of information appliances. His unique management philosophy was behind the company's move into digital cameras and other innovations, and has assisted the firm with tremendous growth, even as competitors such as IBM slashed budgets. But Birnbaum has retired. He left during heated disagreements with company leaders about a decision in spring 1999 to split off HP's original instrument business as Agilent Technologies. Buderi looks at the Labs and new CEO Carly Fiorina's plan to succeed without Birnbaum.

Other tales include: IBM, its near-death experience, and their research division's return to creating key innovations in semiconductors, storage, and "deep computing;" Xerox, its third-quarter 1999 stock debacle and recent foray into "ubiquitous computing;" and, of course, Microsoft, its "monopoly" problems and subsequent need to grow on its own through such technologies as eBooks. It's a book of human drama as woven into the high tech culture.

Beyond these case studies and lab profiles, Buderi explores topics such as information appliances (beyond the Palm Pilot), MEMS devices such as "smart dust," computers that understand gestures, eye movements and facial expressions, and 21st century security such as IBM's digital immune system.

Buderi writes, "As a pivotal force behind a plethora of industries, research can be crucial not only to winning in the marketplace but to national economic viability. Yet, serious discussion of the subject...has been missing from virtually every popular management treatise in vogue today..." Hence this volume. Read it before it turns into an eBook.

--FR

For more information:

Circle 600 - Engines of Tomorrow or connect directly to the website via the
Online Reader Service Program at http://www.1rs.com/009df-600