People scoffed. Chief executives scratched their heads and wondered. But technology soothsayers are being proven right after all.

The Internet is dramatically transforming business around the world. It is no longer a buzz word but reality. Innovative e-business strategies are being adopted by the smallest to the largest companies. These plans are global, high-tech and aventuresome in nature.Even the most traditional of companies, seeking to halt the market share gains of dot-com startups, are racing to create new processes that take advantage of the Internet. Everyone seems well aware that firms dropping the ball now may be history in the next century.

As a result, a huge wave of information technology spending is being predicted for early 2000.

"We want investors to realize that the whole e-process evolution is more than automation, but rather taking leading edge technology and fundamentally changing the way businesses operate," explained James Moore, senior analyst with Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown in San Francisco.

Software will play a major role in the transformation.

"People have been afraid to own software stocks near-term because of Y2K fears and the concern that companies wouldn't be buying software," noted Kevin Landis, portfolio manager of the Firsthand Funds in Milpitas, Calif., whose Firsthand Technology Value Fund is up 125 percent this year.

Andrew Leckey answers questions only through the column. Address inquiries to Andrew Leckey, "Successful Investing," 98 Henry St., Dept. 183, Brooklyn, NY 11201, or by e-mail at successinv@aol.com.

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