The assumption that any person has a finite capacity for information I/O helps define these three models of strategic bandwidth -
Person-to-Person: Communication bandwidth between individuals is rougly equal, and remains at a static limit due to our biological nature.
Person-to-Machine (pre-Internet): Early computer systems used text-based screens, primitive user interfaces and limited graphics to display simple data. Their bandwidth was limited and poorly matched to human ergonomic needs.
Person-to-Machine (post-Internet): During the late 1980s and 1990s, computer I/O capacity increased dramatically and content evolved into wide variety of multi-media products. The Internet boom passed through its inflection point sometime prior to the Dotcom Crash and it's likely that person-to-machine bandwidth is entering a period of saturation.
Machine-to-Machine (M2M): Ultimately, person-to-machine bandwidth may be bottlenecked by human limitations, but machine-to-machine systems may still advance in areas of e-commerce, banking, and inventory via RFID tags, sensors and cameras.
Conclusion: The majority of future opportunities in information technology will be in the machine-to-machine domain. Niche areas will still exist in person-to-machine technologies such as video-conferencing, graphics cards, voice recognition, but the percentage bet for long-term opportunity is M2M.
Goal: Identify areas that push existing human transactions into the M2M domain. Examples are RFID tags for toll roads, CCD cameras for automatic identification or monitoring.