Japanese companies have a similar grip on, for example, bonding material for integrated circuit packages and the lithography machines (called steppers) to make LCD panels.
"High speed connectivity is vital if we are to benefit from the increasing amount of high-quality educational material and multimedia training packages available over the internet, " said Andy Rowland of Ecodyfi.
Already, companies in regulated industries can get packages that monitor the rest of the consumer device for proprietary material (something one hopes they warn employees about).