America's No. 1 financial conglomerate

Chapter 297 The Birth of Aegis

Ernst's attitude towards GenTek was quite open-minded; he stated frankly that he was not opposed to the sale.

However, Ernst had his own insistence on the method of sale.

Either IBM will acquire it through a share purchase, or IBM's software division will complete the acquisition through a stock swap.

Ernst rejected Jerome's proposal for a stock-swap acquisition, primarily involving IBM's hardware division, without hesitation. His attitude was resolute, leaving no room for negotiation.

Seeing this, Jerome said no more and indicated that he would convey Ernst's requests to Lou Gerstner, the head of IBM.

But Ernst knew perfectly well that this matter would not yield any substantial results in the short term.

Despite the impressive market performance of GenTek, its product output is already in short supply. The new production line currently under construction will likely be able to meet the full demand of AITIC alone once it goes into operation. Not to mention other manufacturers that have already keenly sensed the business opportunities in the music player market and are eager to enter this field and get a share of the pie.

The market is always governed by supply and demand. With a little thought, it's easy to see that all the major hard drive manufacturers are working like crazy right now, secretly making the most of every spare moment to research 1.8-inch hard drives.

So, judging from the current situation, GenTek is indeed highly sought after, but Ernst understands that this situation will not last long.

Based on the usual pace of industry development, within a year at most, a large number of competitors will flood into this field, at which point GenTek's advantages will likely be gradually diluted.

This means that ZhenTek is not indispensable to IBM.

Unless GenTek can successfully defeat IBM and Seagate, not only dominating the 1.8-inch hard drive market, but also dethroning IBM in the 3.5-inch hard drive market and taking its place, it will be a long shot.

If this goal can be achieved, GenTek's value will increase exponentially, at which point IBM...

The server business of [Company Name] and ZenTek can complement and match perfectly, making cooperation between the two parties a natural fit.

However, at present, Gerstner is unlikely to agree to the acquisition terms proposed by Ernst.

However, these are no longer the focus. All his attention is now on Gmail. In his words, all the messy things that had been going on around Gmail, this farce-like turmoil, is finally coming to an end.

Inside the meeting room of Google Mail, the atmosphere was both solemn and filled with anticipation.

CEO Bowen Carter sat in the main seat, his expression serious but unable to hide his excitement.

Below him sat Ernst, who had come specifically to listen in, and Hamilton, the CEO of Google.

Before the meeting began, Bowen Carter gestured to Ernst and Hamilton, seemingly asking if they had anything to say at the outset.

Ernst waved his hand and said with a smile, "The two of us are just here to be spectators today, purely to join in the fun. Everything is up to you, so you don't need to worry about us."

Bowen Carter smiled and nodded, then officially began to chair this crucial meeting that was vital to Gmail and could even determine whether it could unify the email market.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I don't think I need to elaborate on the importance of today's meeting, do I? I believe you all understand as well as I do. Gmail has been quiet for so long, it's time to show some real skills and let those who come after us see what the real Google is, what Google's greatness is!" Bowen Carter's words were resounding and instantly ignited the enthusiasm of everyone in the conference room.

He then continued, "Our Shield system, which we've painstakingly developed, is now officially complete, representing a major breakthrough in email security. Therefore, our next strategic focus is to fully develop our corporate email customer base. Through the reach of corporate email, we aim to drive growth in personal email services."

"As everyone knows, email has become one of the core tools for business operations, and almost all business transactions are inseparable from it. For enterprise users, security is undoubtedly their primary consideration when choosing an email service, after all, the company's trade secrets and important data are all contained in emails."

As Bowen Carter spoke, he gestured to the staff member beside him.

Soon, a series of complex data and charts appeared on the large screen at the front of the conference room. The data and charts were so dense that they were dazzling at first glance.

"We have devoted a long time to achieving a breakthrough in email security and have conducted in-depth research and exploration of encryption technology. Our hard work has finally paid off, and we have achieved a qualitative leap in email security."

"The first thing I'd like to introduce is our newly launched end-to-end encryption service. This service completely overturns the traditional concept of email security and ushers in a new era of email security." Bowen Carter's tone was full of pride, as if he were showing off a rare treasure.

"In the past, the security of traditional email relied mainly on a complicated certificate exchange process, which was cumbersome and unfriendly to small businesses and non-professional users. Our end-to-end encryption service not only greatly simplifies this complicated process, making it easy for users to get started, but also improves privacy protection by more than one level, building a solid defense for users' email security."

"Specifically, users only need to select our encryption service with a simple click when sending an email to enable security protection mode. When the recipient receives an encrypted email, they only need to complete a simple email verification to successfully view the email content."

"The entire process eliminates the various cumbersome certificate exchange steps in between, fundamentally blocking the possibility of hackers exploiting system vulnerabilities to steal customer files," Bowen Carter explained in detail the advantages of end-to-end encryption services.

Hamilton, who had been listening attentively, suddenly interjected, frowning as he asked a crucial question: "This end-to-end encryption service sounds really great, and it can provide users with a lot of security."

"But what if those malicious people create phishing emails that are also disguised as our encrypted emails?"

If a user accidentally enters their password, wouldn't that be the same as handing over their bank PIN along with their bank card to the other party?

Upon hearing this question, Bowen Carter showed no sign of panic. Instead, he smiled confidently and replied with certainty, "We had already taken this into full consideration when developing the S.H.I.E.L.D. system and formulated corresponding countermeasures."

"The strength of the Shield system lies not only in its ability to provide end-to-end encryption services, but more importantly, in its powerful risk identification and prevention capabilities. It can effectively and accurately capture web crawlers and various types of Trojan viruses, constantly protecting the security of the email system."

"At the same time, the Shield system will also conduct real-time monitoring. Once any abnormality is detected, such as a suspicious email attempting to impersonate our encrypted email, it will immediately take corresponding measures to block the risk as soon as possible and ensure that the user's information security is not threatened."

"Furthermore, we have adopted a dual-layer protection system, which is equivalent to providing double insurance for the email system. On the one hand, the Shield system will monitor and detect the entire email system in real time to ensure the overall security and stability of the system. On the other hand, when users receive each encrypted email, the system will also perform a special security scan on that email, leaving no potential security risks unchecked."

"If any of these emails are even slightly suspicious, even if it's just a tiny piece of abnormal code, our system will pop up a prominent warning in the email interface, reminding the recipient to handle the email with caution in the most intuitive way," Bowen Carter explained methodically, clearly presenting the security protection mechanism of the SHIELD system to everyone.

Hamilton nodded in satisfaction, then waved his hand, signaling Bowen Carter to continue.

"In addition to the end-to-end encryption feature that I just highlighted, our Shield system is also very effective in filtering spam, which will definitely bring users a clean email experience."

"According to our rigorous internal testing, the Shield system boasts a 99.9% accuracy rate in blocking spam. We utilize advanced sandbox detection technology, which, simply put, places suspicious files in an isolated virtual environment. Even if a file contains malware, it cannot cause actual damage to the user's device, thus ensuring that users will not be infected with malware due to accidental opening of suspicious files, completely eliminating the security risks posed by spam."

"These significant improvements in security features have undoubtedly given us a strong boost and provided tremendous assistance in expanding our enterprise email market."

"Furthermore, we consider that companies of different sizes and in different industries have significantly different needs for email services due to their different business models and operational requirements. Therefore, our tentative strategic plan adopts different business segmentation models and actively promotes a personalized customization strategy."

That was an introduction to the features of the Aegis system. Next, we'll discuss Gmail's specific market operation plan.

"Simply put, it's about tailoring the most suitable email service solutions for companies with different needs, so that every company can enjoy thoughtful and efficient service."

"For example, companies in the financial and healthcare industries often handle emails containing a large amount of sensitive information, such as customer financial data and patient medical records. The security of this information is of paramount importance. Therefore, for these companies, in addition to the robust security protection of the Shield system, we also provide a Security Plus module to further enhance the security level and add an even stronger security lock to their sensitive information."

"There are also the numerous small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). They are relatively small in scale and have limited funds, so their needs for email services are more focused on cost-effectiveness and practicality. For these enterprises, we have carefully designed three levels of office solutions—high, medium, and low—based on their size and business scope."

"Businesses can flexibly choose the solution that suits their own development stage and actual needs. This not only meets their daily office needs but also greatly reduces usage costs." Bowen Carter eloquently introduced Gmail's development strategy and personalized services, showcasing the advantages of Gmail to the fullest.

"Wait a minute," Ernst suddenly interrupted Bowen Carter, who was speaking with great enthusiasm. "The office software we developed is ready for use now?"

As a matter of courtesy, the task of developing office software was initially handed over to Google Mail. Is it finally going to be launched now?

What is an office solution? It's nothing more than project management tools, online document collaboration, and office software applications.

Google does not currently offer this project management tool service, but it can be resolved by purchasing related services or paying usage fees.

Online document collaboration is a technology that Gmail itself possesses and has already been implemented in practice.

So what remains, and is the most important part of the entire office solution, is the office software application.

Without the support of office software, the so-called office solutions are just empty words and cannot meet the actual office needs of enterprise users at all.

But this time no one answered him; instead, they all stared at him with strange looks.

Ernst felt a little uncomfortable being stared at. Just as he was wondering what was going on, Hamilton, sitting opposite him, shook his head helplessly. "Our company has been using this office software internally for a month now, and everyone's feedback has been quite good."

"Is that so?" Ernst's face immediately showed an embarrassed expression.

I don't work at Google, how would I know?

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