(Washington, DC) — At today’s announcement launching ProComp, an alliance formed to promote competition and innovation in the digital age, Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) President Ed Black made the following statement:
“We are very pleased at CCIA to be an original and active member of ProComp. The project’s mission rings similar to the endeavors of CCIA to foster open markets, open systems, open networks, and full and open competition.
“As we make the transition to a digital economy, promoting and protecting competition and innovation in all sectors of our economy has never been more significant. With the computer and communications industry as the driving vehicle of change, potentially every business in our economy will have access to new markets and an expanding customer base. CCIA and the other members of ProComp believe that no single company should be able to set the agenda for the digital age by an improper use of monopoly power.
“CCIA’s longstanding commitment to competition is based on principle and our 25 year history of understanding what really fosters innovation and competition in our industry. This is broader than any single company’s practices. At the moment, much of the discussion about abuse of such power centers on Microsoft’s domination of the computer operating systems market and how the company leverages its desktop monopoly to enter and control other markets. These practices by any company will not produce the digital revolution of global electronic commerce that we envision. CCIA believes that market-access, competition and innovation are the tools of success to the digital age and we are pleased to have ProComp’s voice join this significant policy debate.”
CCIA is an association of computer and communications industry firms. Small, medium and large in size, these companies represent a broad cross-section of the industry including hardware manufacturers, software developers, telecommunications and on-line service providers, re-sellers, system integrators, third-party vendors and other related business ventures. Our member companies employ over a half-million workers and generate annual revenues in excess of 200 billion dollars.