Online credit card transactions are vulnerable. As AOL Time Warner consolidates its servers and networks for massive e-commerce, it will have to assuage nervous customers that its systems are safe. The new organization will also have to address privacy concerns. It's no secret that a major advantage delivered by such mergers will be found by integrating customer data. Case and Levin, who seem to sense the social responsibility implicit in their new power, will have to lead an honest debate about the rights and wrongs of using customer data.
Scalability remains the toughest design and performance issue in e-business.
Speaking of scalability, I'd like to close with a quick plug for Richard Winter, one of Intelligent Enterprise's contributing editors. Richard is inviting readers to participate in his Database Scalability Program, the only survey to focus on this critical element of e-business success. David Stodder is editorial director of Intelligent Enterprise .