Chapter 294 America Online

The United States attempted to devalue the U.S. dollar by signing the "Plaza Agreement" to solve its foreign trade deficit. However, in fact, for a long time after the "Plaza Agreement", Japan's trade surplus with the United States not only did not decrease, but actually increased significantly. Some experts believe that the sharp appreciation of the yen provides a good opportunity for Japanese companies to go global and conduct large-scale expansion overseas.

By mid-November, the U.S. dollar depreciated by more than 20% and the yen appreciated significantly, making Japanese entrepreneurs very arrogant and waving checks to "buy, buy, buy!"

Japanese businessmen have appeared in many places such as Hawaii, New York, and Los Angeles in the United States. They have bought a lot of land and buildings.

In his previous life, Li Zetian only heard that the Japanese were crazy in the 1980s and 1990s, and even threatened to buy the United States. Now that he can experience this era in person, he can't help but be stunned!

The Japanese are so rich, even Li Zetian feels ashamed.

On November 5th, Dongfang Yuqin returned from vacation and started working. With her around, Li Zetian felt much more relaxed.

After more than a year of construction, the NSFNet network has been initially completed. The main communication line has a data transmission speed of 56kb/s, connecting the six major supercomputer centers in the United States and a large number of colleges and universities to realize information sharing.

At this time, Galaxy Network Company launched Galaxy-Model, which can transmit data up to 2400 bit/s, crushing other current modems and becoming a hit in the industry.

Sprint Company begins to provide network access services.

In addition, the nationwide digital optical fiber network that Sprint is building is also connected to the NSFNet network to form a larger network. Of course, the operating rights of the two networks belong to each. NSFNet is geared towards academic research, while Sprint's nationwide digital fiber optic network is geared towards business.

A magnificent picture has begun to unfold slowly!

Li Zetian is not the only genius in the world. There are also people who have seen the development potential of the Internet and are actively involved in it.

In mid-November, when Li Zetian was learning about the development of 32-bit personal computers at Mango Computer Company, he happened to meet this person.

"Mr. Li, I am very surprised to meet you here. I am Steve Case, the founder of AOL!"

AOL! ! !

When Li Zetian heard this, his heart moved and he couldn't help but look at the other person, "He is the founder of America Online. He is so young, only 26 or 27 years old?"

Before the Internet bubble burst, AOL was very powerful. However, in just a dozen years, AOL's total capital has reached 164 billion U.S. dollars. In fiscal year 1999, AOL's revenue was 4.8 billion U.S. dollars, profit was 762 million U.S. dollars, and it had 12,100 employees. The world's largest online service company is also the world's most famous e-commerce platform, and its instant online paging product ICQ dominates the United States. It can be said that AOL is the most famous Internet company representing the "new economy" in the United States. Its market value at the time was equivalent to twice that of the computer giant IBM!

AOL appears to be a formidable rival.

"Oh, hello, Mr. Steve Case! What brings you to Mango Company?" Li Zetian asked.

"That's right, our AOL company has developed an online service system, and I hope it can be installed on Mango Computer!"

At this time, the CEO of Mango Computer whispered to Li Zetian: "Mr. Li, this guy comes here almost every day. It seems that if we don't install their online service system, he will never give up!"

Li Zetian nodded to express understanding, turned to look at Steve Case, and thought to himself, this guy has worked for countless computer companies, and he is still stalking him like this?

"Hello, Mr. Case, I first want to know about the strength of your company. After all, Mango Computer Company is a big brand company, and the companies we cooperate with are very strong, so as to ensure that consumers like our products!" Li Zetian He asked in a calm tone.

Steve Case was a little embarrassed when he heard this, but he quickly covered it up.

"Mr. Li, don't worry, although AOL is a new company, our company is also very powerful!"

Li Zetian smiled and said, "Well, you can go back first. I will send someone to your company to take a look at it, and then we will consider it."

"Mr. Li, why don't you take a look at our company's software first!" Steve Case hurriedly promoted.

"Don't worry, you can watch it later! I'm very busy now, don't worry, I will send someone to your company!"

"Okay then!" Steve Case sighed inwardly.

As soon as Steve Case left, Li Zetian said to Dongfang Yuqin beside him: "Send someone to investigate America Online Company in detail!"

"yes!"

At present, the online services market has no vitality at all, but AOL can focus on this market. It is no wonder that it will be successful in the future!

Afterwards, Li Zetian turned to look at the CEO of Mango Computer Company and inquired about the development status of the 32-bit personal computer.

On January 1st this year, Intel released the 32-bit Intel80386 chip, and Mango Computer Company began to develop a 32-bit personal computer. It took 11 months, and it must have been successfully developed soon.

Once the 32-bit personal computer comes out, it is bound to crush the 16-bit personal computer and become the current mainstream. In the previous life, Compaq Computer Company became an industry giant because it was the first to take advantage of it!

"Four-fifths of the development progress is completed, and it should be available for global sale in April next year!" said the CEO of Mango Computer. "The operating system will use Microsoft's third-generation operating system Windows 3.0."

"Take me to the lab to have a look."

"Okay, Mr. Li, please come with me."

After a while, Li Zetian and others came to a laboratory and saw the 32-bit personal computer being developed.

In terms of appearance, it is similar to the current mainstream computers, and looks relatively bloated.

Li Zetian took a closer look and felt that the main reason why desktop computers were bloated was because the hard drive was too big.

At present, the size of floppy disks has dropped to 3.5 inches, which is okay, and it will continue to be like this in the future until it is replaced by USB flash drives. The hard drive is 5.25 inches, which is very large. It was only then that Li Zetian noticed this problem.

Hasn't Seagate developed magnetoresistive technology?

Although Li Zetian doesn't know much about hard drives, he also knows that magnetoresistive technology is the key to hard drives.

In fact, in the late 1980s, IBM introduced MR (Magneto Resistive) technology, which greatly improved the sensitivity of the magnetic head and increased the storage density of the disk dozens of times compared with the previous 20Mbpsi (bit/square inch). This technology is The foundation was laid for the huge increase in hard drive capacity. In 1991, IBM applied this technology and launched the first 3.5-inch 1GB hard drive. Later, IBM launched GMR giant magnetoresistance technology, which further improved the sensitivity of the magnetic head and thus increased the storage density. Almost all hard drives since then have used GMR giant magnetoresistance technology.