America: My Time

Chapter 303 Seize the opportunity
Chapter 303 Seizing the Initiative
For Middle Eastern tycoons, their first priority is building their own military network, not their so-called financial network. Therefore, Dream World has been constantly urged by Middle Eastern tycoons to complete orders from the Middle East first. This is a golden opportunity that is very important to the development of Dream World. Both John and Meg Whitman understand the importance of Middle Eastern tycoons and will not refuse their requests.

"It seems that the Dream World system and the Global Online network are working perfectly together. We no longer need to wait. Let's focus on completing the Global Online layout and create a network that belongs to us across the United States. Let's seize the initiative in the network and mobile communications sectors!"

Although this was part of the plan, Anne Malcasi hadn't expected everything to go so smoothly, and even John himself hadn't anticipated such a success. After all, such high-tech communication systems always have their share of problems, but it seems the collaboration between Dream World and Bell Labs has been successful; the system is perfect, at least in the short term, with no major issues apparent.

If John had to pinpoint a problem, he could say that the server and fiber optic communication capabilities weren't powerful enough to support too many people accessing the internet simultaneously. However, this wasn't a major issue; simply adding servers across the United States could solve it. Besides, the internet was still in its early stages, and there weren't that many internet users yet. Currently, this network system was serving the financial industry and universities, not individuals and businesses across the entire United States.

Anne Malkashi nodded and said, "I agree, but this would put a lot of pressure on Global Online. Even if we were prepared in advance, it would still come at a huge cost. If it weren't for the large orders from Middle Eastern tycoons, we probably wouldn't be able to afford such an expansion, and it's not certain that Global Online would get enough returns!"

Upon hearing this, John gently shook his head and said, "What we're seeking now isn't profit, but market share. As long as we can maintain the normal operation of Global Online, that's enough. We don't need profits in the short term. We'll start making profits when we've expanded and strengthened our market presence. That's why we paid such a huge price to secure the communication band."

"I'm afraid the first-generation product won't last long and will be phased out before it can generate profits. After all, this generation of mobile communication still has many problems. Even the experts inside Bell Labs are not optimistic about its promotion. With such a large-scale expansion, I'm afraid we won't have enough customers. Bell Labs' expertise suggests that there are at most one or two million customers in the United States!"

"No, they underestimate the mobile communications market. Right now it might only be a million or two, but in a year or two, it will be a different number. Moreover, a million or two is enough to support Global Online's expansion. Even if there are some losses in mobile communications, it's not a big deal. The cable TV network can make up for those losses. That's why I put the cable TV network, financial network system, and mobile communications all under one umbrella at Global Online—to ensure sufficient operating funds. Even we are losing money. What do you think it will be like if others enter the mobile communications market? How long can they last? By the time they enter the market and complete their nationwide deployment, our second-generation mobile communications technology will already be mature. Bell Labs is already developing it, isn't it? We have enough strength to crush all our enemies."

As soon as John finished speaking, Anne Malcasi immediately understood his intention. By seizing the initiative, Global Online would have absolute control. Moreover, with Middle Eastern tycoons, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Japan as profit-generating targets, Bell Labs naturally had sufficient funds to continue developing new technologies in the field of mobile communications, while other companies did not have such capabilities. This was the opportunity, and this was Global Online's advantage.

“Annie, relying solely on ASUS in Taiwan to produce mobile phones is far from enough. They don't have the production capacity right now, so we need to acquire a company with manufacturing capabilities. And it can't be in Asia; Europe is a good option. We might be able to use this opportunity to enter the European market. Nokia in Finland is a good choice. Send someone to acquire it as quickly as possible to complete our European expansion!”

Upon hearing these words, Anne Malkashi was first taken aback, then a look of shock appeared on her face. It seemed that her hometown had already made preparations and had thought of the European layout in advance. Moreover, the choice was not Britain, but a small country like Finland. Such an acquisition would not arouse the vigilance of Europe! Just like the previous acquisition of ASML in the Netherlands, it did not attract any attention from Europe. No one cared about this acquisition.

"Yes, boss, I'll arrange it!"

"That's good. What we need now is not the European market, but their patents, R&D capabilities, and production capacity. Once Taiwan has completed its expansion and has sufficient production capacity, we will transfer most of the production capacity to Taiwan, since the costs are lower there!"

Anne Malcasi didn't see anything wrong with her boss's arrangement. Capital is profit-driven. Since there are factories with low production costs in Taiwan, why put production in places with high production costs like Europe? Bell Labs has no obligation to create profits for them!
Of course, such an acquisition cannot be accomplished in a short time, at least not yet at Bell Labs. Anne Malcolm's focus remains on expansion in the United States, overseeing Global Online's nationwide expansion. Only after establishing a nationwide presence in the US can they free up resources to acquire Nokia. Once the nationwide presence is complete, Global Online will be self-sustaining and can even support Bell Labs, providing them with sufficient funds to complete the Nokia acquisition.

Now that the test is successful, more and more financial institutions will join Global Online's network system and become Global Online's clients. With these clients, there will naturally be no shortage of operating funds in the future.

When the test in New York was successful again, the Middle Eastern tycoons became even more anxious, urging Dream World and Global Online to complete the network system for them as soon as possible. Similarly, the guys in Japan were also getting impatient. Some of them originally thought there was no need to rush, but after learning about the test in New York, they were even more tempted.

At this point, Bell Labs made an even more audacious decision: to connect with Japan and have Global Online complete the connection to test trans-Pacific communication. Bell Labs originally planned to test in Hong Kong, but the plan encountered some resistance there. This resistance did not come from Hong Kong itself, but from within. Hong Kong did not have enough information to transmit, so even if it was used for testing, it would not yield much result and would not detect any problems. But Japan was different.

It must be admitted that Japan was very powerful at this time. Japan Global Online had enough customers, which was the best testing environment. Most importantly, the Japanese financial industry had accepted Global Online's network system, so they had enough resources to complete a new round of testing.

There was no concealment regarding the second phase of testing between Universal Online and Dream World. As shareholders of Dream World, Morgan and the guys on Wall Street knew that this test would be completed as soon as possible. After all, Universal Online had already completed its layout in Tokyo and had sufficient testing capabilities.

However, this test will require some time to prepare. After all, Global Online has not yet completed its deployment across the entire country. Most importantly, according to the calculations of Dream World and Bell Labs, completing this test will not be an easy task. At least one auxiliary server needs to be deployed in Japan!

Meanwhile, John and Anne Malcasi wanted to test the connection between the entire US network system and Japan in one go. If successful, it would mean that Global Online could operate freely around the world and control the entire network system.

Yes, it's a monopoly. Once the testing with Japan is completed, Global Online will have absolute dominance in the network system. Unless those Europeans refuse to accept the internet, they'll have no choice but to accept the combination of Global Online and Dream World. Of course, they could develop their own, but bypassing Dream World and Bell Labs' patents is virtually impossible and would come at a huge cost.

In the field of mobile communications, Europe is still qualified to compete with Bell Labs, but in the Internet, they have lost the initiative. Whether it is servers, workstations or professional software systems, they are far behind Global Online and Dream World.

Of course, even in the field of mobile communications, they are now at a disadvantage. Bell Labs' mobile communications are already commercialized and have a large number of customers, which is something Europe cannot do yet. As long as there are no problems in Japan, plus the Middle Eastern tycoons, Bell Labs has seized the initiative and is invincible. The European market is not as large as the Asian market, the Middle Eastern tycoons, and the United States. Therefore, in this competition, Bell Labs has the first-mover advantage. No matter how hard they try to catch up, it will be difficult to surpass Bell Labs. They do not have John's 'vision' to know the future development direction of mobile communications and to make advance arrangements for Bell Labs to carry out research and development.

(End of this chapter)