Mark Bregman

Executive Vice President of Product Operations, Veritas Software Corp.

Most Important Technology of the Last 40 Years:

The integrated circuit.

Most Important Technology for the Coming Decade:

Embedded systems—putting intelligence into your phone or your doorknob.

Technology That has Evolved in a Surprising Way:

Biotechnology.

"Nobody gets excited about the fact that we can arrange atoms to make new hybrid materials. But if I went back in a time machine to the 1700s and tried explaining artificial materials to someone, he might get freaked out. In his mind, making plastic might be manipulating nature, just as biotechnology scares some people today. Ten or 20 years from now, this may not be an issue."