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Bring On the Innovators: Page 2 of 2

But high tech is different, some argue. What of the immense R&D, capital and marketing barriers to entry? That's what the critics said a little over a decade ago about the prospects for Dell, Cisco, EMC and SAP. And that's what the Japanese government said 30 years ago when a motorcycle maker called Honda dared enter the auto business: There were simply too many first-rate, dominant players already slugging it out. Evidently, there's always room for more.

So, too, will you find start-ups challenging current IT industry leaders. Prices will continue declining, not just for PCs and switches, but also for operating systems, enterprise applications and consulting services. Commoditization can spawn more-mundane products--think Ethernet networks and Wintel computers--but at least they're easier to support and tend to work together well. So while we may lament the plainness of a Ford-designed Jaguar, we should be thankful for the simplified, standards-based networking, hardware and application environments inspired by IT industry consolidation. Meantime, however, don't expect innovation to just fade away.

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