Internet to ask, ‘ How may I serve you?’

‘ Interactions Web’ is next phase of Net

SAN FRANCISCO — What’s put the whoopee back in the Internet industry?

To borrow a buzzword coined by Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers: It’s the arrival, after years of expectation, of the “ interactions Web.” This is the Web of M ying through cities on Google Earth; of viewers helping produce segments on Current TV; of applications that run on a server far away but that seem to be right on your computer.

The interactions Web is the next rung up from the familiar pointandInternet, industry executives say. For the past decade on

the Net, you’d click and get a Web

page. If you wanted more information, or to order something, you’d click again. The user has had to do a lot to navigate around.

But now comes an Internet that works on your behalf — D nding or doing things in the with no intervention.

At the same time, the borders between the computer and the Web are dissolving, so you can hardlyte ll if you’re using something that’s running on your processor or on a server thousands of miles away. Often, it’s both. Google Earth is Exhibit A.

Not onlyt hat, but the borders between the Web and its users are breaking down. Websites are increasingly fueled by “ user- generated content,” and the Net is reaching deeper into everyday life. The best examples are some of the hottest young companies, such as MySpace and Thefacebook.com. Both are ways for young people to post personal information and D nd and make friends on line. This new Web is more M uid, helpful and interactive. That’s what Chambers means by interactions Web, a phrase he’s using to rally Cisco.

The industry has been pining for this kind of Internet for years, but it’s “ reallys tarting to happen,” says Zach Nelson, CEO of NetSuite, background,

By Alejandro Gonzalez, USA TODAY