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John Chambers, chief executive of Cisco systems, said that the technology behind sites such as Bebo, Facebook and MySpace would improve productivity and dramatically change the way businesses work.

"We are at the very beginning of the next phase of creativity that will last, I think, a minimum of 10 years," he told the Financial Times. "I'm more probably more excited about

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the business than I've been in a decade," he said.

Chambers added that improved sharing of information between workers, customers and suppliers would increase the speed at which companies carried out their operations and that this would involve "moving towards a more collaborative and teamwork approach from command and control".

He suggested it could bring in a new phase of growth to rival the explosion in internet activity that took place at the end of the 1990s - when hundreds of internet companies sprung up out of nowhere then disappeared when financial reality hit.

"While a lot of people say that's very possible or even [probable], just like in 1996-1997, there's a hesitancy ... about taking risk by some of the established companies," said Chambers, warning that this could see companies losing out to more their adventurous competitors.

"Companies who don't move get left behind just as fast as those who move too aggressively," he said.