Stating this at a session on converging technologies at the India Economic Summit, US-based Institute for the Future director Paul L Saffo, said broadband communication was beginning to change the internet usage in the US and it could be even more relevant for a vast country like India with limited infrastructure.

A small KU-band transponder can take care of entire networks and one does not have to bother about restrictions and limitations like the last mile problem which is posed by the surface cables, he observed.

Answering a variety of questions about the growth of internet, Saffo said internet ceased to be a technology in 1999 and became a medium for sensible usage in the day-to-day life. ``Right now, we are on the cusp and next year is going to be one of big change in the shape and future of internet,'' he added.

In response to a query, Saffo said the World Wide Web was not a US phenomenon. Cultural diversity can now be clearly felt on the Net," he added. Institute for the Future is a 30-year-old US think-tank which works upon developing smart new technologies that can be adapted for mass benefit.

It is presently working along with the industry to develop flying robots for surveillance and other purposes which could eventually be operated using a speech recognition command.

However, for real time speech recognition to come of age, it will take at least 15 more years, he felt. "Voice recognition does not just mean giving dictation to your PC. Via Voice (the first speech recognition software product developed by IBM) is only the tip of the iceberg,'' added Saffo.

The next big wave that CEOs have to watch out for, apart from the internet, are the developments in the field of biotechnology. "In the coming decades,biotech would create big changes in the ways business is being done. By 2015 or 2020, the marriage of biotechnology and computers will result in PCs could mean a biological virus,'' said the guru.