"Look at these materials first so that you can understand the company's situation."
Henry smiled, motioning for Helen Wheeler to sit down as he handed her an information file.
Helen nodded in response and carefully accepted the data file.
Noticing her restrained and uneasy demeanor, Henry said, "Your primary job will be to help me organize daily documents and remind me of important tasks. By the way, your office is on the right side of mine, so feel free to call me at any time. For now, take some time to browse through the information, and we'll go out for dinner later."
Helen glanced to the right, noting a small, elegantly decorated room with glass windows. Upon hearing Henry tell her to browse the information, she immediately responded and stood up, preparing to walk over.
"Wait a minute!"
Helen stopped abruptly, turned around, and asked, "Chairman, is there something else you need to tell me?"
"This is the mobile phone the company is providing you. Please take it." Henry handed her a "brick" mobile phone, the latest model from Motorola, worth three to four thousand dollars. He himself didn't own a mobile phone as he found it inconvenient to carry around.
Henry had always given his full-time driver a mobile phone, directing anyone who needed to reach him to call the driver instead. However, that arrangement proved to be less than convenient. Thankfully, with a personal secretary like Helen now in place, if someone needed to contact him, they could just call her.
Helen was taken aback; the company's benefits were excellent, providing her with a mobile phone right from her first day!
"Thank you, Chairman."
"Go get acquainted with the company as quickly as possible." Henry said, looking down at the file in his hands.
The material detailed the establishment status of Global Online, which was taking shape. The email development team, website development team, news and entertainment editorial department, among other roles, had recruited a total of 95 people across various functions.
Henry had positioned Global Online as an online service platform, and he knew it would be advantageous to build a portal for such services. AOL was merely offering service functionalities but had not yet developed into a full-fledged portal site. In Henry's past experience, AOL and Yahoo were the two largest portals of the time.
Indeed, developing a full-fledged portal at this time seemed premature—there were simply fewer Internet users and websites. However, Henry was undeterred and determined to cultivate Global Online into a portal site. It was clear that a portal site would overshadow ordinary websites and capture netizens' attention.
While aiming to create a global online portal site, it would also provide various online service functionalities like email, effectively competing with AOL.
To establish a portal, it was crucial to determine which websites had higher traffic and popularity, enabling Global Online to provide users with accurate, pertinent services. Therefore, Henry recognized the need to develop a software tool to track website traffic.
In Henry's past life, Alexa had published global website rankings along with their Alexa Toolbar, a tool embedded within Microsoft Internet Explorer. This tool notified Alexa every time a user visited a webpage, sending back a string of codes that conveyed browsing information. Users would see the ranking of the sites they browsed in relation to all websites globally via the toolbar.
This prompted Henry to instruct the development of software akin to the Alexa toolbar for Global Online.
After Henry shared his vision with Gili Hutt, he noted it was almost half-past five, and most employees had already clocked out for the day.
Seeing Helen engrossed in reading the material, Henry approached her and called out, "Helen, I'm off work. Let's go have dinner together."
"Chairman, I... I can't join you for dinner," she stammered.
"Why not?"
"I have to go home to take care of my mother."
Henry suddenly realized his oversight.
"Well, then, you should head home first."
"Thank you, Chairman." Helen's face brightened. "I'll be leaving now!"
"Okay. Oh, wait a moment!"
Helen turned around, looking at him curiously.
Henry pulled out a stack of money from his drawer and handed it to her. "This is an advance of one-third of your salary."
"Chairman, thank you so much!" Helen exclaimed, unable to contain her emotion as tears welled in her eyes.
Henry smiled and offered her a tissue. "Work hard in the future; don't let your boss down! Quickly wipe your tears before someone sees you. They'll think I'm 'bullying' the new secretary!"
"Thank you, Chairman!"
"Make sure to hurry home; your mother may be waiting for you."
Helen nodded, turned, and left, walking lightly like a cheerful skylark.
Henry shook his head with a laugh. "I still have an uncle's mentality; how can I be in charge with a girl around?"
---
Over the following week, Henry and Helen grew closer as colleagues. She proved to be a hardworking and dedicated employee. Although occasional mistakes occurred due to her inexperience, her progress was remarkable.
During their conversations, Henry learned that Helen's father had abandoned her mother and daughter years prior and was nowhere to be found. Her mother had worked tirelessly to raise Helen, only to fall seriously ill and bedridden. The $3,000 advance salary Henry had given her was essentially spent on her mother's medical expenses. Helen had not splurged on new clothes, cosmetics, or high heels; she remained as innocent and pure as the Cinderella he had first encountered.
However, Helen now wore a more confident smile on her face!
As 1987 drew to a close, Henry began pondering the impending tax obligations. He recalled Helen's family situation and considered the tax advantages of charitable activities in the United States. Charity is a more beneficial route than paying taxes. Not only does it provide tax deductions, but it also enhances the company's reputation and positive public image.
So, Henry reached out to Cisco to establish a charitable fund. Although the annual financial statements had yet to be released, he estimated that Cisco's revenue for the year exceeded $100 million, warranting significant tax payments. He discussed the notion with the Posacks, only notifying Sequoia Capital about the project. Regardless of their opinions, he resolved to establish the Cisco Charity Foundation and initiated a $10 million donation.
Henry decided to designate Helen's mother as the foundation's first recipient. Helping Helen's mother was a slight endeavor for Henry, but a tremendous favor for Helen and her family!
One day, Helen rushed into Henry's office, tears streaming down her face. Henry was shocked to see her so upset and quickly asked, "What's wrong?"
"Chairman, my mother received help from a charity fund! It made me so happy that I couldn't hold back my tears!" Helen said excitedly. She hadn't yet examined the documents that Henry had earlier entrusted her with, but soon she would.
"That's wonderful! Since you're happy, remember to smile more. Now, prepare to call Gili Hutt in for me."
"Okay, Chairman."
Before long, Gili Hutt arrived.
Helen served him a cup of coffee, and as Gili took a sip, he grinned and said, "Miss Helen, your coffee-making skills improve daily."
Helen flushed and quickly stepped back.
Henry shook his head in amusement; Gili Hutt always enjoyed making jokes.
"Gili, when will Global Online officially launch?"
Gili replied, "It's expected to launch on January 1st next year."
Henry calculated. It was currently November, so that meant just over a month until the launch. Following this, he discussed various specific issues they encountered and explored future development directions with Gili.
In the afternoon, Henry's office phone rang. It was Bob Gallagher calling about Noah's Ark Company. Henry had kept a hands-off approach when it came to managing the company, leaving CEO Bob Gallagher to oversee operations. After being disconnected for some time, Henry anticipated hearing good news regarding their web server development.
Feeling a surge of excitement, he answered the phone, and Bob Gallagher's energetic voice, tinged with excitement, filled the line!
"Chairman, we've developed a web server!"
"Excellent! You're doing a great job!" Henry praised. "I'll come over right now. I want to witness the world's first web server for myself!"
"Alright!"
Henry hung up and called out to Helen's office, "Helen, we're heading out now."
"Okay, Chairman. I'll be right there!"
After over an hour in the car, they arrived at Noah's Ark Company. Bob Gallagher and several company managers were there to greet Henry.
"Welcome, Chairman!"
Henry nodded and followed Bob as he led him to the laboratory to see the web server.
This web server resembled a minicomputer, much larger than a typical personal computer. It operated on a Unix system, utilizing Intel's 16-bit processor, the 8086. The server was rack-mounted, while the technology for blade servers had not yet been developed.
As the staff explained its features and functions, Henry began to understand the capabilities of this web server. Notably, it offered enhanced reliability: websites using this server would not crash easily. Additionally, managing websites in the background became simpler through the server's interface. Finally, the server exhibited a level of "scalability." If a website experienced increased traffic, a new web server could easily be added to share the load.
This server was quite mature and ready to be introduced to the market.
Henry was thoroughly impressed, praising everyone in the room, and then he decided to name the server.
"Let's call it Web Ark One!"
Thus, the name of the world's first web server was born—Web Ark One!
That evening, Henry treated everyone to dinner at the most prestigious hotel in the area.
Once the server debuted, the first customer would be Nicholas Group. As a major shareholder in Noah's Ark, the internal purchase price for Nicholas would be significantly reduced. Bob Gallagher proposed a sale price of $100,000 per server, with an internal price of $60,000 and a cost price of $50,000. In one go, Nicholas Group purchased five servers, while Cisco bought only one, as they required fewer units!