1. John Chambers, President and CEO of Cisco

What more can you say to a person who has been elected as the most influential CEO by readers for four years in a row? Because of his enduring business wisdom, he has always been the most concerned idol figure in the network industry and the business world.

2. Bill Gates, Chairman and Chief Software Architect of Microsoft

Last November, Gates delivered his 2th keynote speech at Comdex. Although the influence of this exhibition held in Las Vegas every year is beginning to decline year by year, the influence of Gates has not declined. Although controversial, he is still the most influential figure in the software industry, and he is still at the helm of Microsoft, a company with $32 billion in assets and $6.8 billion in R&D budget. In order to share his idea of "seamless computing", Gates declared: "In the first decade of the 21st century, we will be able to achieve greater productivity gains than all the productivity gains achieved by industry so far."

3.Sam Palmisano, Chairman and CEO of IBM

When Palmisano said that IBM would recruit 1, new employees in services, middleware, Linux and software and hardware services based on open standards this year, he gave hope to the healthy development of the network industry. This was when he announced in mid-October last year that IBM's revenue in the third quarter reached $21.5 billion (an increase of more than 9% compared with the same period of the previous year). Since he was promoted to the position of chief executive of IBM in March, 23, Palmisano has revolved around the same central technical vision: e-commerce effectively mobilized all the resources of IBM's hardware, software and service departments on demand.

4.Carly Fiorina, Chairman and CEO of Hewlett-Packard

Fiorina's reputation as a capable CEO was hard won by her, and she doesn't seem to intend to lose it. Fiorina has deftly turned from yesterday's successful merger to tomorrow's business plan, which includes how to ensure the leading role in building a "new data center". Hewlett-Packard's $2.5 billion investment in "dynamic growth enterprises" shows that she is serious about ensuring that HP can always stand in the forefront. Besides, Fiorina seems to be serious about how to compete with Cisco face to face. This is what some industry observers learned from her resignation as a director of Cisco last November, which has the same significance as her joining the board of directors of Cisco in 21.

5.Linda Dillman, CIO of Vuormaa

Dillman decided to specialize in leading the technological development direction of Vuormaa, not only for this huge and friendless retailer, but also for its thousands of suppliers-its ripple effect will spread to the whole network industry. Take, for example, Dillman's announcement in June last year that it would adopt the RFID logo. At a retail trade show, Dillman told the audience that Vuormaa will require its top suppliers to implant RFID chips in their articles in 24, and all other suppliers must do the same by 26. Analysts believe that this alone may create a $2 billion RFID market.

6. Ivan Seidenberg, Chairman and CEO of Verizon

As the leader of Bell, the largest regional company in the United States, Seidenberg had consolidated his position when he was officially appointed as the chairman of Verizon last November, which was much more stable than when he was appointed to complete the merger contract signed by Atlantic Bell /GTE eight months ago in 2. Seidenberg will continue to be the star of his speaking tour, and his conversation will never be without his iconic words: government regulation is inhibiting innovation, thus inhibiting the recovery of the telecommunications industry.

7.Michael Dell, Chairman and CEO

Dell

Dell has entered the top figures in the network industry, but obviously he has not reached his peak. He is the fastest-growing influential figure in our annual reader power index ranking, and he has become a trusted business and technical consultant not only for policy makers in Washington, but also for world leaders.

8.John Thompson, Chairman and CEO of Symantec

Thompson has led Symantec through an unusual year, which has made the company rank in our "Top 1 Most Influential Internet Companies" list for the second time in a row. Not surprisingly. Thompson has achieved a perfect financial situation, several large customer orders and Symantec's market position with the highest income in the security field. He also completed two all-cash acquisitions, plus other acquisition contracts. As a member of several government advisory committees, Thompson also serves on the boards of several companies such as UPS, NiSource, Seagate and Crystal Decisions. In 23, his reputation in the business world rose rapidly. He was the star of numerous exhibitions and commercial media, and was also one of the keynote speakers of Comdex in autumn.

9.Joseph Tucci, President and CEO of EMC

Last year, Tucci led EMC on a merger spree, and the last time was in mid-December, he bought VMware, a software manufacturer, for $635 million in cash. This acquisition is not far away from the purchase of Legato system, a backup and recovery software manufacturer, for $1.3 billion in July. In addition, he also completed the acquisition of Documentum, a professional content management software company ($1.7 billion), and Astrum, a storage resource management company (the contract amount was not announced) in October. These acquisitions will help Tucci broaden EMC's technology into the field of high-end storage platforms, and finally realize the so-called information lifecycle management (ILM). ILM is a strategy that can integrate storage technology with content creation and data recovery capabilities.

1.David Dorman，AT& T chairman and CEO

Dorman is always trying to stop at&; T's financial situation is declining, and he made a surprising personnel change announcement in early December last year, that is, he replaced AT&; Betsy Bernard, the president of t, is also for the same purpose. If Bernard has always been regarded as an expert in cost reduction, Hannigan is regarded as an expert in income growth. This appointment is the last of a series of personnel changes in Dorman last year, including the appointment of new candidates in sales, network operation and other positions. Dorman, 49, is also an influential member of the business world. He is also a board member of Episcopal High School in Alexandra, Virginia.

11. Ed Whitacre, Chairman and CEO of SBC

As always, Whitacre always brings shock to the industry. In July last year, with much publicity, he announced a joint marketing agreement with satellite TV provider Echostar, which made SBC the first regional Bell company to be bundled with satellite and cable companies' main TV services. The agreement created the so-called "quartet" bundled service planned to be provided in early 24. SBC customers can enjoy multi-channel TV programs, local and long-distance voice communication, wireless communication and broadband services provided by a single provider for a fee. He put the agreement into effect by investing $5 million in Echostar. If he can't complete this agreement tied to the TV business, then he will have to travel to and from major cities to lobby to stop regulators from allowing their competitors such as AT&; T and other provisions for cheap use of its network.

12.Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft

Ballmer likes to joke that he can't remember the name of his annoying open source competitor, namely Linux. In fact, however, for the CEO of the most influential software company in the world, this joke is not ridiculous at all. Because there are a lot of antitrust lawsuits behind him, at least in the United States, fighting the open source movement will be one of Ballmer's next major battles. Comparatively speaking, the safety of Microsoft products is second.

13.Tony Scott, CTO of General Motors

Scott's position in General Motors makes him have to deal with technical problems encountered by 34, employees every day, and he is also responsible for one of the most complex supply chains in the world and manages a huge distribution network of independent agents. One of the topics that attracts his attention most these days is authentication management. Scott is also the representative of GM in the project management board of Freedom Alliance. Last year, Scott started his first project at GM by adopting software that abides by freedom rights, including integrating the certification management software with the company-wide LDAP directory and employee portal system of GM.

14. Doug Elix, Senior Vice President and CEO of IBM Global Services Group

came to the United States from his native Australia, and Elix has left his mark on IBM and the whole network industry. He led 17, experts from IBM Global Services Group (IGS) in 16 countries to win contracts from one big enterprise to another. The annual income of IGS IGS 22 was $36 billion, which reached $21 billion in the first half of 23. Elix knows how to give full play to the role of individuals in the organization, and how to make challenging IT managers accept various open standards in order to make their organizations more influential.

15. Senator Paul Sarbanes from Massachusetts Democratic Party, a pair of legislators from Ohio * * * and Republican Michael Oxley (no photo)

were the framers of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 22, which stipulated the information disclosure system of enterprises and required publicly listed companies to publish accurate and detailed financial reports regularly. The purpose of this bill, which originated from the large-scale financial scandal of American companies, is to reform the financial system and restore the confidence of investors. At the same time, the bill will also promote the modernization of enterprise financial announcement system and encourage enterprises to invest in business processes, corporate governance and consulting services. It is generally believed that the cost of complying with the Act is high: overall, Fortune 1 companies may have to spend $2.5 billion in 23 to meet the requirements of the Act. Sarbanes-Oxley Act is the representative of several legislative regulations that force enterprises to invest in IT.

16. Rhonda MacLean, Senior Vice President and Enterprise Information Security Manager of Bank of America

MacLean is a long-term leader in enterprise information security process. Before joining Bank of America in 1996, she was in charge of guarding the security fort at Boeing for 14 years. In May 22, the U.S. Treasury Department appointed MacLean as the representative of the financial industry responsible for safeguarding critical infrastructure and homeland security procedures. Her lofty reputation also includes: leading Bank of America to establish a security testing center for the financial industry and serving as the director of several security organizations; She is also a consultant to various policy makers in Washington, D.C..

17. Charlie Giancarlo, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Cisco Switching, Voice and Storage Department;

Giancarlo, president of Cisco-Linksys, is one of the cavalry scouts searching for new technical fields to be conquered in Cisco. In the field of voice and storage under his charge, he gained several great opportunities that made him have a bright future. Giancarlo, as the president of Cisco-Linksys, which was established after Cisco acquired Linksys, is also responsible for the implementation of Cisco's plan to enter the consumer and home office market.

18.George Samenuk, Chairman and CEO of Network Associates

When Network Associates was walking on the financial tightrope, Samenuk finally announced in March last year that he had finally achieved profitability after three fiscal years, and he also played a beautiful hand for the company at the end of the year. He led Network Associates to achieve a healthy financial situation in the middle of the year, which was enough for him to acquire three companies in a row in October last year with confidence and boldness, including the acquisition of IntruVert Networks, an intrusion prevention vendor, for $1 million. Samenuk is also a member of the Advisory Committee of new york Stock Exchange.

19.Fred Wettling, Chairman of Network Application Association; Bechtel Infrastructure System Manager

As a member of the Network Application Association (NAC), Wettling leads a great group of powerful people, whose members come from giants like Boeing, Chevrolet, Walt Disney, Nike and GlaxoSmithKline. NAC's member companies-whose total operating income adds up to more than $75 billion-can make IT vendors restless if they speak with an authoritative voice.

2.Larry Ellison, Chairman and CEO of Oracle

No matter what you think of Ellison, he is by no means an idle person. His strange behavior in 23 is a very striking hostile takeover strategy, which has been unknown to the industry for many years. Although his "malicious" bid for PeopleSoft may not be successful, IT obviously keeps Oracle and IT infrastructure in the eyes of American enterprises and the attention of commercial media. Because of his bold and presumptuous behavior, Ellison's influence seems to continue to be strong.

21.Craig Conway, President and CEO of PeopleSoft

In 23, Conway brought his influence to the extreme. The PeopleSoft leader won an offensive in the merger with J.D.Edwards last June, and then began to cooperate with Orac.