With predictions that the Internet industry will top $1 trillion by early 2001, researchers have come to the not-too-surprising conclusion that the Internet is responsible for the nation’s businesses becoming more and more productive.

A recent report on measuring the Internet Economy Indicators as they affect U.S. businesses was commissioned by Cisco Systems, Inc. and performed by a team of research experts, which included graduate faculty members from the University of Texas at Austin Business School. The group examined 3,000 U.S. companies that generate all or part of their revenues from selling goods, creating hardware or software, or acting as support or intermediaries for transactions on the Internet.

An interesting finding in the study is that although high-tech companies have formed the core of Internet commerce to date, corporate giants, such as Wal-Mart, Sears, UPS, Citigroup, and General Electric are expected to play a most significant role in shaping the Internet Economy in the near future by selling products and services online.

The study also found that the number of people employed in Internet-related jobs doubled in just the last year to 2.5 million, and the industry fueled by the Internet saw an overall 62% increase in revenues.