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| ECMgt.com: December Volume 2, Issue 12 - 2000 E-Commerce Recap |
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ECMgt.com:
December Volume 2, Issue 12 - 2000 E-Commerce Recap
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Subject: Dec2000 ECMgt.com: 2000
E-Commerce Recap
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E-Commerce Developments
December 1, 2000 *4,100 subscribers* Volume 2, Issue
12
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Subject: 2000 E-Commerce Recap
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2000 E-Commerce Recap
by Mitchell Levy
Executive Producer, ECMgt.com
Wow, what a year to review! Looking back at our predictions of the Year 2000 Top 10 Trends, the projections were a mix of insight and extrapolation. Here's a quick review of where we hit the mark, and more importantly, the surprises of year 2000!
Y2K didn't wipe out modern civilization, and business went forward, continuing to invest heavily in IT and e-business infrastructure. Driven by the success (and partial frustration) of the 1999 Christmas shopping season, B2C sites are now staffing up for a vigorous Christmas 2000 shopping season, as consumers will be demanding an easier, quicker shopping experience. Web merchants discovered (surprise) that Internet shoppers are more demanding than the population at large. In Spring and Fall, the financial markets made a strong statement that valuation will be based on sustainable revenue and growth, and sound business strategy and execution. Back to real business as usual!
Now for an assessment of last year's predictions in more detail:
10 - Expanded ECM Deployment: Brick-and-mortar companies deployed e-commerce systems that integrated their core business, and that often reached beyond their corporate and physical boundaries. Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) is being combined with efforts to integrate vertically in the supply chain and horizontally through ERP functions. Companies like Exterprise and Extricity are market leaders extending business process thorough network APIs and XML. Among notable B2C migration efforts, Barnes and Noble will be introducing kiosks into their stores this Christmas, which will allow customers to browse the Web as well as the shelves, and pick up the goods or have them shipped per their convenience.
09 - Executive Inability to Morph: While the majority of Global 2000 corporations have recognized that e-commerce is a reality, less than 10% of top executives have embraced "e-business" through strategic and tactical efforts. We see this as a ten-year transition, with 2005-2010 the years when executives have "evolved" or died. The largest corporations are moving toward multichannel-enabled entities that are more holistic, and integrating Internet-enabled networked business process. Today a minority of corporations are looking at their markets, considering B2B integration, and finding new opportunities in global market places.
08 - Customer-Centric Corporate Restructuring: For the Global 2000 companies that adapted and integrated the Internet into their businesses, a customer-centric view reshaped their culture and infrastructure. In the 21st century, the CRM focus means that systems which satisfy customer information needs, enable self-service, and provide intelligent delivery of services will be integrated into an enterprise with mission-critical applications. Going forward, ERP, EAI, exchanges and e-marketplaces are all being designed to maximize and leverage information to benefit service delivery and customer loyalty.
07 - Free Extends into B-to-B Space - not: ". Free dried up as a business model for B2B in 2000, and the stock market correction in May reinforced that free doesn't provide a decent business model in the B2C space either. Valuation based on transaction share, or adoption of new e-business process, does have value. Keeping "free" alive" as the year closes is Napster, where the peer-to-peer commerce model was entangled in music piracy, but peer-to-peer payment for digital goods through networked C2C based FTP might just have a chance in 2001. Free won't disappear from the landscape, but it will need to be integrated with paid business process. We predict a blend of subscription models for low cost Internet services, with easy migration to sustained revenue.
06 - Wireless Applications Exploded in 2000: Wireless Internet access exploded in user adoption in the U.S., with a projected 80 million cell phones in the United States, though Europe still remains ahead in wireless adoption. Wireless technology became more integrated into extended enterprise business operations, and in the B2C space, messaging and remote e-mail contributed to a steep rise in online usage. Palm Computing survived the scrutiny of the financial markets and continued to grow, and today over 50% of enterprise Web initiatives include some aspect of WAP (Wireless Access Protocol). Content and commerce sites now routinely publish to XML first, in order to serve the needs of HTML browsers and WML handheld devices. In three years, the number of new Internet devices will exceed the number of new computers accessing the Internet. The network appliance has appeared, and it's right in our hands.
05 - Capabilities of ASPs Expand: The year 2000 saw ASPs (Application Service Providers) grow from being test beds for outsourcing strategic and mission critical applications, and continue to increase the quantity and quality of their customers. Membership in ASP-Industry.org grew to almost 1,000. Robustness of ASP service offerings grew, and several new acronyms were coined, including MSP, SSP, and WASP, for Managed Service Provider, Storage Service provider, and Wireless Applications Service Provider. The ASP model has become pervasive within data centers, which now derive 25% of their revenue from professional services supporting ASPs. In the bigger scheme, Microsoft.NET launched as the probable infrastructure of Forrester's exT Technology, where services are universally accessed and managed by network APIs to ASPs / eBSPs.
04 - Dynamic Pricing Reaches Most Industries: The impact of dynamic pricing has only just begun to extend into vertical industries via the explosion of e-marketplaces and public and private exchanges. Gartner and IDC are estimating that 500 to 2500 exchanges in all verticals will be built in the next two to three years, and that these will facilitate almost 40% of the $3 trillion in B2B trade by 2005 ($1.4 trillion). Collaborative commerce, a new e-business innovation, creates efficient many-to-many buyer-seller interactions in e-marketplaces, where dynamically matching suppliers and buyers for provisioning of complex products and services will drive new market efficiencies. Collaborative commerce functions also allow multiple channel partners to configure unique offerings for buyers; and this information transfer in e-marketplaces will be as important as transactions.
03 - Privacy Concerns Increased, as did "Security": Privacy concerns continued in the U.S., but more in the area of capturing, and sometimes selling, personal transaction data to third party marketing firms. Even TRUSTegot caught violating its own privacy agreement. Enhancing security, Congress passed legislation enabling digital certificates and signatures, bring one step closer the era where non-repudiation, security and encryption are enabled across the Internet with reasonably open and federally certified standards. Tacitly, our real concerns have shifted to topics like securing websites from network attack, authentication of users and merchants, and adoption of secure encrypted transaction contracts. As we go to press, Microsoft is unraveling hacker invasion of its internal networks, leaving us all a little nervous.
02 - M&A Activity Escalates, but financial markets demand solid revenue: What a year! The financial markets brutalized the B2C space in May, venture funding has become leaner and more difficult to obtain, and now the B2B space is also affected. Private, public, traditional and newly created corporate venture capital funds now look much harder at mergers and acquisitions. Many large B2C portals saw resignations at the highest level, including Web MD (Healtheon). The B2C space saw a wave of layoffs that typically approached 25% staff, with some firms closing. We see this as a reality check, not a correction. Natural selection applies to business models, sound strategy and execution included. The rapid ride that many B2C firms experienced in late 1999 and early 2000 is over. Nasdaq is responding by slashing capitalization in firms that do not have sound strategy and probability of revenues.
01 - B-to-B Growth Continues its Dramatic Pace: B-to-B growth continued its dramatic 1999 pace, leading to more liquidity in the B-to-B exchanges and inter-organizational virtual enterprises. Part of this growth stemmed from the B-to-B practitioners borrowing successful techniques already proven in the B-to-C marketplace. Research from ActivMedia projects that for firms that do business both on and offline, by the end of 2000, 25% of their revenue will come from the Web. This number will rise to 34% in 2001 and 50% by 2002. eMarketer reported that B2B revenues will represent 77% of total e-commerce in 2000. B2B websites will generate $134 billion in revenue by 2001. The average B2B website will generate $445,000 in revenue in 2000 -- a number which will increase to $2.3 million by 2002.
Our bonus prediction for 2000 remains an elusive agenda item in online consumer commerce. Electronic wallet acceptance and SET still remain more promise than reality. Not surprisingly, wireless commerce will probably be the driver for secure and authenticated payments using "wireless digital cash". Better luck in 2001.
Summary:
Our management trends and predictions for 2000 revolved around executive strategy and adoption of a net-centric enterprise, expanded e-commerce deployment, and customer-centric restructuring. Closely related technology trends included investment in ASP technologies and outsourcing, wireless applications, and privacy concerns. We predicted an escalation of M&A activity, and dramatic B2B growth.
Our predictions, both strategic and tactical, were widely recognized, and we are not surprised by the mid year scrutiny of overvalued stocks and firms without sound strategy and vision. This theme continues in 2001, as "the more things change, the more they stay the same". Business basics will apply to discarding old fashioned and antiquated paradigms, as companies race to stake claim for customers and eProcess share (transactions share) as the networked economy continued to expand.
The Internet-enabled world will see migration of business process to all layers of the infrastructure, from smarter browsers to intelligent phones and appliances. But the customer rules, not the technology, and CRM becomes a requirement. Customers and partners will seek new value, both in products and services and the relationship they form in the value Web. Price won't always be the detriment, as best-fit solutions deployed faster and more efficiently &emdash; choreographed through e-marketplaces and collaborative commerce &emdash; shape the form and selection of new business models. Continued transformation of supply chains, logistics, and disintermediation will reshape the architecture of the coming extended enterprise, all deployed in the value Web of e-business. New standards and rules will attempt to keep order as legislation struggles to merge 20th century law with 21st century commerce. An evolving infrastructure and new tools will help collaboration and integration of processes, now emerging as foci in ASPs and BSPs in data centers, the peering points of e-business. We predict that marketing will continue to grapple with issues of online and offline branding, effective messaging, and CRM in an Internet-enabled world.
Our final trend summarizes all of it, "New dimensions for growth and evolution", as we, today's pioneers and leaders, make decisions about our business strategy, adoption of technology at an ever increasing pace, and creating a global e-marketplace with no geographic boundaries. Stay tuned and participate in our columns, surveys, and fora, armed with lessons learned as we e-volve and meet the challenges of the first year of the 21st century.
Let me leave you with a few of my favorite quotes this month:
***
I think that the most significant aspect of 2000 is the fall of overrated dot-com stocks. It takes more than a dot-com after the name to reach success in business. It takes more than venture capital, more than corporate credentials, or image. It takes: (drum roll, please) Actual Performance.(Judy Wogoman, Publisher, NetNuggetz Newsletter)
***
In my opinion, the most significant sea change in the last year has been the public realization that with eBusiness the velocity is much faster, and though many of the rules are different, it is at its core, still Business.
(Jim Siegl, former news editor for ECMgt.com, Sr. Technology Analyst at Amherst)
***
I believe that the market for internet start-ups has become more difficult in the year 2000 in the sense that it's more competitive and investors are reluctant to support (especially B2C models) in the retail sector. (Patrick Stark)
***
For me, the most significant "event" of the year was that e-business is transforming more and more into business, it really gets a part to satisfy the corporate mission.(Rolf Scherrer, CREDIT SUISSE PRIVAT BANKING, Product Management Virtual Banking, Zurich)
I hope you enjoy this eZine.
See you in cyberspace,
Mitchell Levy
neoIT™
neoIT™ is a global IT services online marketplace and consulting company.
We are a leading neutral marketplace and global solution for outsourcing software
development and other IT services. neoIT solutions are accessed through an online
channel or as a traditional consulting engagement.
***************************
Fort Point Partners
Fort Point Partners is an Internet services firm providing strategic consulting
and systems integration to empower eSelling(tm). More than 40 businesses such
as Hewlett-Packard, BlueLight.com and J.Crew use Fort Point Partners' eSelling
business practice to drive sales across multiple channels. eSelling focuses on
developing end-to-end technology to create competitive selling advantages in the
most profitable part of e-commerce, wherever buyers and sellers meet.
***************************
Delano Technology
Corporation
Delano Technology Corporation is a provider of interaction-based e-business solutions
that enable an organization to interact with the extended enterprise, for fast
measurable results.
***************************
E-Volve-or-Die.com:
Thriving in the Internet-Age Through E-Commerce Management Author: Mitchell Levy E-Volve-or-Die.com helps the reader figure out how to help
transition their company or suffer the same death of the dinosaur. With 12 forewords,
and 45 of the world's top ECM experts, Levy can help your company with the biggest
industrial transition the business world has faced in the last 100 years. You
can read more about "E-Volve-or-Die.com"
at the official Web site: http://www.e-volve-or-die.com. The book can be pre-ordered
from Amazon.com today and will ship on December 18:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0735710287/ecnowcom/105-3011082-5903959
***************************
FEATURE ARTICLE
E-Volve-or-Die.com: Thriving
in the Internet-Age Through E-Commerce Management
By Mitchell Levy
If you are a CEO or executive worried about transforming your company for the challenges of the Internet Age, this is the book for you. With the pace of the New E-conomy, it's difficult to know what needs to be done or even where to start. What business models will be effective? What organizational changes need to be made? Should I outsource? What do customers expect today? E-volve-or-Die.com is the management guide that will help you deploy, manage, and e-volve your company into a holistic, Internet-enabled entity. Whether you manage a huge international enterprise, or a small startup, you will find valuable advice to keep your company thriving in the New E-conomy.
When companies undergo any type of transformation, the systems, processes and people must change. It requires careful thinking, strategy, and planning to implement wide-scale change, and in the New E-conomy, all this has to happen quickly. Once change is implemented, the company must figure out how to maintain momentum, and continually e-volve to meet the needs of customers, employees and partners. Based on the collective real-world experience of Mitchell Levy and more than 45 executives from companies around the world, this book addresses the key issues, decisions, and methods for quickly and successfully transforming your company.
As we begin the journey down the path into the Internet Age, we need to think in terms of electronic commerce. What does e-commerce mean? It's not about selling stuff over the Internet, or banner advertising or managing supply chains electronically. It's about transforming your whole company into a holistic, Internet-enabled entity. That means widespread change throughout your company, including changes to legacy systems, legacy processes and legacy people. It requires revamping of business models, redefining partners and alliances, a new understanding of your customers, a different approach to planning, retraining your employees to work as self-directed teams, establishing a global presence, revamping your marketing, and taking advantage of opportunities inherent in today's shifting marketplace. In short, electronic commerce still means commerce - but transformed for the New E-conomy. Once you have made the transformation, you must continue to e-volve or die.
Evolutionary Tactics
You
can read more about "E-Volve-or-Die.com" at the official Web site: http://www.e-volve-or-die.com.
The book can be pre-ordered from Amazon.com today and will ship on December 18:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0735710287/ecnowcom/105-3011082-5903959
READER COMMENTS
For me, the most significant "event" of the year was that e-business is transforming more and more into business, it gets really a part to satisfy the corporate mission. Also I saw a "back to the roots" approach, even in E-Business you got to have a plan how to make money, and this plan has to be as good as it gets! I remember the End of 1999 where the big questions was, "are there any cycles?"... or even more scarry, "does profit matter?".
(Rolf Scherrer, CREDIT SUISSE PRIVAT BANKING, Product Management Virtual Banking,
Zurich)
****
I believe that the market for internet start-ups has become more difficult in the year 2000 in the sense that it's more competitive and investors are reluctant to support especially B2C models in the retail sector, because most of them have proven to fail because they:
- sell under cost and
- brick and morder companies have the advantage of an infrastucture with which they can provide an efficient fulfillment
The only successful companies in these sector are Amazon.com and Ebay. Most others will go out of business (etoys, WebVan?, and many more nobody has ever heard of).
Yet there are lots of opportunities out there, especially in the C2C and B2B space, but entrepreneurs and investors will need a long breath and eventually internet business work like other businesses, too, they have to be profitable or they're out of business...
(Patrick Stark)
****
With regard to the question: What do you consider the most significant e-commerce activities/events/developments of 2000? Many of the companies, product, standards and alliance announcements of the last year will never see the light of day, of those that do, only a subset will still be relevant. In my opinion, the most significant sea change in the last year has been the public realization that with eBusiness the velocity is much faster, and many of the rules are different, it is at its core, still Business. Businesses exist primarily on their ability to articulate and deliver on their value proposition to a given market(customers, shareholders, analysts, the public et al). Rules such as sustainable growth, meeting customer expectations, and even profitability do still matter as much as the next cool idea. (Jim Siegl, former news editor for ECMgt.com. He is the Sr. Technology Analyst at Amherst.)
****
We believe having our key customers asking for lower cost digital ways to do business with our company is one of the high lights of this year, therefore we are working on web strategies.
(Glen Zamanian ,gzamanian@ion.com)
****
I think that the most significant aspect of 2000 is the fall of overrated dot-com stocks. It takes more than a dot-com after the name to reach success in business. It takes more than venture capital, more than corporate credentials, or image.
It takes: (drum roll, please) Actual Performance.
The brief interlude of "hey, we have a website, ain't we COOL?" has ended. The would-be netpreneurs who thought dot-com meant dot-COMMERCE are wondering what happened to the Commerce part. Meanwhile, a new breed of businessPerson is quitely amassing a small fortune by simply remembering one principle: If you want online business success, dot-com means dot- COMMUNICATION. Not the "broadcast" kind the advertisers have been shoving at us in ever-growing mounds for decades. The two-way kind that harks back to the days of the mom-and-pop store that kept a spiral notebook on the counter titled "want list", where the clerk actually wrote down the customer's request and phone number. Building a relationship. Proving that THIS is where you will find Actual Performance, not Empty Promises. And that's something your business can take to the bank.
(Judy Wogoman, Publisher, NetNuggetz Newsletter Fast, free content at http://www.netnuggetz.com Muncie, IN USA)
CONTENT - ECMGT.COM E-COMMERCE NEWS
E-STRATEGIES & TRENDS NEWS
This
section sponsored by - ECnow.com, please visit them at http://www.ecnow.com
STRATEGIES & TRENDS
This section sponsored by ECnow.com, please visit them at http://www.ecnow.com
A
Mall in every song
With all eyes on the next phase of digital music distribution,
a wide range of companies hopes to build a business around an enhanced listening
experience. Can they survive?
European
E-tailers Not Delivering the Goods
While European e-tailers are improving
customer service, they still have a long road to travel when it comes to order
fulfillment, according to a new study released by Andersen Consulting.
Americans
love web shopping
Fifty-six percent of American adult Internet users shop
online--a 31 percent increase over 1998. Also, 75 percent of the people surveyed
in a recent study expect more people to know their email address than their phone
number in the future.
Bosses
Disapprove, But employees still surf
Twenty-five percent of workers reportedly
use the Internet during office hours for personal reasons for at least 10 minutes
each day. And global sales of 2.4 giga hertz wireless LAN products are expected
to reach $1.3 billion by 2006.
ecommerce
enthusiasm goes global
The United States reportedly is not the country
most responsive to consumer ecommerce and efinance. Also, PC sales are up 18.3
percent since 1999, and 65 percent of British cell phone users say they want to
use their Web-enabled phones for email.
Laptops
Most Popular Mobile Computers
The worldwide market for mobile handheld
devices with Internet access capabilities is increasing by more than a billion
dollars annually.
UK
Net Prices Bottoming Out
The latest edition of the Goldfish e-tail price
index, issued Tuesday morning, says that while online deflation has continued
this last month, prices online are starting to bottom out in the UK.
Wireless
Bypasses U.K.'s DSL Delays
Internet-access company Tele2 believes it has
found a way to bypass the queues for collocation in British Telecommunications
PLC's exchanges by offering high-speed wireless links from home.
Failing
dot-coms jettisoning their CEOs
A new survey released by a Chicago-based
outplacement firm indicates that an increasing number of CEOs are leaving their
companies, particularly at e-commerce ventures that are struggling for survival.
Small
Dot-Coms Thrive While Industry Giants Melt Down
Beneath the chaotic dot-com
busts of the last half-year, an overlooked breed of Internet companies--mostly
small and nimble--is thriving.
Microsoft
Claims No. 1 Spot Among Web At-Home Users
Microsoft Corp. claimed the
No. 1 spot among at-home Internet users in August for the first time since March,
according to a Jupiter Media Metrix multi-country report
New
Study Shows Auto Dealers How to Keep Online Used Car Shoppers
Online used
car shoppers are likely to leave an automobile dealer's Web site if they cannot
easily find price, mileage, options and accessories, and pictures of used vehicles
All
States Should Have Online Voting By 2004
All 50 US states should offer
some form on Internet voting by the time the presidential election in 2004 rolls
around
European
E-Tailers Not Delivering the Goods
European e-tailers have yet to provide
reliable and efficient delivery and customer service to consumers
33%
Of Website Budgets Are Allocated To Maintenance & Design
The two largest
components of site development and operation are site design / programming maintenance
costs (33% of the total) and costs for access and site hosting
Some
Big Spenders Won't Shell Out for Web Ads
Fortune 500 companies are often
stingy when it comes to shelling out for online ads, a study shows.
The
power of e-procurement
E-procurement may not be the flashiest way to improve
the bottom line, but businesses never pass up a good deal when they see one. Find
out how some companies are turning mundane requisitions into millions in savings.
Digital
Divide Evident in Chile
Despite Chile's unrestricted economy, relative
wealth, and well-developed telecommunications infrastructure, a digital divide
still exists.
Cost
Savings Draw Consumers to Online Travel
The number of Americans who bought
travel online last year grew to 21 million, nearly doubling the Internet travel
market for the second consecutive year
M-Commerce
Slow To Connect in U.S.
Fewer than one-third of U.S. wireless device owners
have attempted mobile online purchasing, and 20 percent of those who have tried
quit after the first few attempts
Gates
defends PC at Comdex, unveils new tablet
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates,
however, isn't convinced that the PC is on its last legs.
Dot-Com
Closures Reach Fever Pitch
One-third of the 131 dot-coms that have folded
this year have done so in the past seven weeks.
Wireless
Banking Expected to be Wave of the Future
With the number of Internet-capable
cellular phones, pagers and digital assistants predicted to skyrocket over the
next five years, Mr. Wahbe has no doubt that huge numbers of Canadians will soon
opt to do routine banking chores the wireless way.
Hong
Kong Home Net Use Surpasses 36%
More than 36 percent of Hong Kong homes
have Internet access, and over half have PCs, according to the results of a government
survey released.
E-Mail
Outpaces the Web
Net surfers are sending 10 billion e-mail messages a
day, and that number will more than triple in five years.
http://www.thestandard.com/research/metrics/display/0,2799,20265,00.html
---
E-PRODUCTS NEWS
Piping
hot servers
The ever popular pizza box server is getting a boost, as several
companies have released new machines that push the envelope of thin power.
Gnawing
through wires
3Com on Monday will announce several new Bluetooth products
aimed at cutting the cord. The products, scheduled to ship early next year, follow
similar products from Motorola.
Sendmail,
IBM to offer Linux-enabled servers for Internet messaging
Sendmail Inc.
and IBM Corp. said today they will offer Internet mail routing and hosting software
that runs on IBM's Linux-enabled eServer family and software products.
Palm
digs in for wireless battle with Microsoft
Microsoft is making progress
with its handheld systems -- especially in wireless communications -- putting
Palm in the hot seat.
Allaire
brews more Java
The company will announce this week the acquisition of
a Java integrated development environment and a new version of Spectra.
Microsoft
Unveils New B2B Initiative
Microsoft Corp. announced the release of two
new products intended to help e-commerce suppliers participate in business-to-business
e-marketplaces...
IBM,
Vignette Drive PaineWebber Personalization
Financial advisor PaineWebber,
Inc. is teaming with IBM and Vignette Corporation to deliver individualized online
services to its customers.
Server
management as easy as Palm
IBM's new SWAP technology allows mobile network
managers to remotely control Web servers.
IBM
releases Linux software suite
The company is offering its WebSphere application
server, its DB2 relational database system, and Lotus Development's Domino Web
groupware and e-mail as a software suite for $499.
Motorola,
IBM brush up on Bluetooth
Both Motorola and IBM this week will make Bluetooth
announcements that could lead to further support for the specification and help
developers build new products with the wireless technology.
In
Defense of RBOCs
Editor-in-Chief Steve Steinke shares his opinion that
RBOCs really aren't that bad. In fact, they're poised to be dominant telecom service
providers:
Transmeta,
Intel in a battle for notebooks
Transmeta and Intel will slug it out next
year with a slew of low-powered chips for notebooks.
Akopia
ships open-source e-com package
Interchange 4.6 runs on Linux and Unix
and includes features for content management, flexible merchandising and transaction
management.
Creating
a Digital Music Empire
Creative Technology's Sound Blaster cards revolutionized
and now dominate audio on PCs. The company has a master plan to extend its Nomad
players to do the same for digital music appliances.
Union
of handhelds, phones tightens at Mobile Focus
The marriage of mobile phones
and personal digital assistants will occur rapidly if manufacturers have anything
to say about it.
UDDI
Goes To Beta
Ariba, IBM and Microsoft released the first public beta of
their UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery and Integration) project, an XML-based
registry for businesses to list themselves on the Internet.
Security
Holes Found In Windows Media Player
Microsoft issued a patch for two security
flaws in its Windows Media Player software that could allow malicious users to
run programs on other users' PCs.
Some
Intel Pentium 4 Motherboards Had Incomplete Code
Intel Corp. said that
some motherboards -- the guts of a personal computer -- designed for its new Pentium
4 microprocessor had incomplete code, prompting the No. 1 chipmaker to send software
updates to PC makers.
IBM
Supercomputer Helps Search For UFOs
IBM's supercomputers are usually relegated
to crunching vast strings of numbers for mundane things like financial data, but
the company announced today that one of its new supercomputers is now helping
identify UFOs.
Caldera
Ebuilder Wins Best E-Commerce Solution Award from Linux Journal
Caldera
Systems, Inc., a "Linux for Business" leader, today announced its OpenLinux eBuilder
was named "Best E-Commerce Solution" in the Penguin Playoff Awards by Linux Journal
XML
Security Standards In The Works
Two separate initiatives led by Netegrity
Inc. and Securant Technologies Inc. are looking to develop an XML standard for
moving security information&emdash;including authentication, authorization and
user profiles&emdash;across disparate online trading systems
Music
Software Company Releases Linux Product
MusicMatch Inc., a maker of software
for storing and playing music on personal computers, released a test version of
its "jukebox'' for the start-up Linux operating system
Netscape
6 Browsing for Users
Netscape Communications actually kept its promise
to release the revamped Netscape 6 browser by year's end, releasing the final
code to a browser market that's changed dramatically since it last released a
browser in 1998.
Saving
Your SAN Dollars
Vendor prices for storage-area networks vary wildly,
from a less than a hundred - thousand dollars to well into the millions. But why
buy more capability than you need? Three SAN users describe their needs and how
they decided on the right vendor.
---
E-MARKETING NEWS
FedEx expects CRM
system to deliver
A major CRM initiative being launched by FedEx should
give salespeople a comprehensive view of each customer, detailing his needs and
suggesting which product the customer might want.
Net
Firms Face Delivery Dilemma
Business-to-consumer e-commerce firms need
to focus more on offering items that can be delivered to homes profitably, according
to a report released by AMR Research...
Alcatel
Sees Future In Open E-Business
Telecom equipment giant Alcatel is moving
firmly away from electronics to e-business,
Get
ready for Palm's ad blitz
The PDA front-runner plans a $100 million ad
campaign to showcase thousands of software apps for hand helds running its OS.
Standard
Size Banners Losing Ground
Although 80 percent of advertisers use the
full banner in online campaigns, other ad formats account for a majority of impressions
and garner far greater exposure on the Web
Cisco
delivers strong sales, earnings
The networking superstar exceeded expectations
for its first quarter, raking in $1.36 billion, or 18 cents per share, on sales
of $6.52 billion.
Experience
Counts: Revenge of the old guys
Now that the Web's silly season is past,
the grownups are taking over
Interactive
Intelligence Eyes Asian CRM Market
Interactive Intelligence, Inc. plans
to distribute its product line in Hong Kong and China through a master distributor
agreement with Continuous Technologies International, Ltd.
Cloaking
devices designed for wary Web shoppers
Get ready for the cloak-and-dagger
era of cyber-shopping.
Advertising
Industry Lags In Interactive Age
John Tory, chief executive of Rogers
Cable Inc., said yesterday the advertising industry is lagging others in the interactive
communications age.
Microsoft
to Palm: BMW to Volkswagen?
The race between Palm and Microsoft's Pocket
PC remains far from over, although both sides did their best to paint the other
as ill-suited to direct the future of handheld computing.
Marketing
firm gets restraining order against spamming list operator
A U.S. District
judge in Denver issued a temporary restraining order that prevents Mail Abuse
Prevention System LLC from including a marketing subsidiary of 24/7 Media Inc.
on its list of e-mail spammers.
e-Citi
gets a second chance
After burning through more than $1 billion but failing
to turn Citigroup into an Internet banking powerhouse, e-Citi was downsized and
downtrodden. But now it's getting another chance -- and its new leaders are vowing
to build on the lessons learned from its freestanding, high-flying incarnation.
New
Internet Domain Names Approved
Amid a swirl of controversy and some disappointment
on the part of those whose proposals were rejected, Web addresses moved beyond
the familiar "dot-com" designation when seven new domain name suffixes were approved
by the body that controls Internet names...
Cyber
Dialogue Unveils Profit-Targeting CRM Tool
Analytical eCRM company Cyber
Dialogue has unveiled a new service aimed at helping businesses identify and target
their most valuable online customers.
Dell
CEO says PCs still the main game
Dell Computer chief executive Michael
Dell said that concentrating on its core business selling PCs and laptops--has
kept the company strong.
Battered
online ad industry looks ahead
With 24/7 and Engage experiencing hard
times, it's clear the online ad industry has seen better days. Still, most say
the shakeout should make the industry stronger.
Online
Toy Stores Fall Short On Privacy Protections
Online Toy Stores in the
United States fall short in providing consumers with clear information about their
personal and privacy protections
Guinness
Creates World's Smallest Ad
To launch the Guinness Book of Records' new
Web site, scientists created the world's smallest ad, slightly bigger than the
diameter of a human hair, and mounted it on the knee of a bee
FTC
Warns E-retailers About Shipping Claims
The commission wants to avoid
the holiday rush of complaints it received last year over 'quick ship' promises.
Yahoo
Launches Video Shopping Site
Yahoo launched a video shopping site this
morning called Shopping Vision, expanding its broadband offerings to further target
home users
Can
Sharing User Data Speed E-Commerce?
Today, each time an e-commerce transaction
crosses multiple sites, identification, credit, and other customer information
must be re-entered.
America's
Grip On Ecommerce Market Slipping
The US ecommerce sector is often looked
on as the leading light of the digital economy, but a survey revealed that Internet
users in several countries were more likely than US users to buy certain goods
online
History
of Affiliate Marketing
There is a popular urban myth about the origins
of affiliate marketing. It goes something like this...
Hope
for the holidays
After almost nine months of dot-com decline, many online
stores are heading into this holiday season battered by layoffs, shrinking budgets
and plunging stock prices. Analysts predict that this season will decide whether
many online stores survive next year.
---
SUPPLY CHAIN NEWS
Office Depot to revamp
call centers
The giant office products supplier today said its North American
sales performance is continuing to slip and that it would consolidate it 24 call
centers into seven and upgrade its customer service.
Supply-chain
visibility stalls
Sharing real-time assembly-line, design and sales data
with suppliers could permit rapid and flexible collaboration. It could also result
in more rapid design and manufacturing operations and cost savings, say advocates.
But is it possible for any but a few companies?
B2B
Exchanges Eye FTC Report On Antitrust Issues
A report issued by the Federal
Trade Commission on the potential antitrust concerns raised by business-to-business
exchanges is being closely watched executives involved in the ventures.
Small
Companies Gaining Access to CRM
Small companies will have increasing access
to Web-based CRM applications over the next couple of years, according to Cahners
In-Stat Group.
How
will AT&T balance slew of interactive TV deals?
Ma Bell continues
to spread the wealth on interactive television. AT&T, the nation's largest
cable operator after a late-1990s shopping spree, is working with several prominent
technology providers to develop interactive TV software applications for consumers.
Does
Idealab Need New Ideas?
Idealab has been hailed for its insight and success
in birthing Internet companies. Times are changing...
Companies
Need Customer-Centric Foundation
Companies that want to stay competitive
should think beyond CRM and adopt a customer-centric architecture that transforms
the way in which they interact with customers
Supply-chain
Visibility Stalls
Sharing real-time assembly-line, design and sales data
with suppliers could permit rapid and flexible collaboration. It could also result
in more rapid design and manufacturing operations and cost savings
Primal
Implements Support Systems for NetVoice
CRM software company Primal, a
subsidiary of Avery Communications, Inc., has completed implementation of its
Connect CCB and Access IM OSS/BSS products for NetVoice Technologies Corporation.
Adobe
to Address All Sections of E-Book Chain
Design and document software maker
Adobe Systems, aided by key technology developments, plans to fan out in the e-book
business by helping connect customers, publishers and authors.
myCIO.com
stresses appliances, physical security
The Network Associates subsidiary
is also planning a partnership with security expert Pinkerton's to add physical
security elements to its virtual offerings.
Symcor
Acquires Optus To Boost Customer Services
In a bid to strengthen its position
in the online transaction processing and customer communication industries, Toronto,
Ontario-based Symcor Services, Inc. announced its intention to acquire Optus Corporation,
a customer communication services company.
Ericsson
Creates Separate Bluetooth Business
Ericsson Telephone announced the creation
of a separate company for licensing its Bluetooth technology.
Firms
Must Embrace "Microdesign" To Overhaul Today's Woeful WAP Experience
Today's
WAP sites fall short by failing to recognize mobile users' unique needs. However,
before overhauling their mobile Internet sites, firms must master the new competency
of "Microdesign," built on effortless navigation and concise content.
eMarkets
Drive ASP Maturity In Europe
By 2005, European application service providers
(ASPs) will have a firm grip on the enterprise application landscape.
Phone
Firms Rush to Mend Cable After Internet Jam
Telephone companies from Singapore
and Indonesia scrambled to repair a break in an undersea telecommunications cable
that led to major Internet traffic jams for millions of users across the globe
Microsoft
Promises A More Heterogeneous Approach To Application Development
With
the .NET Framework and the Common Language Infrastructure (CLI), Microsoft aims
to help developers build .NET services in a variety of programming languages as
well as enable existing code in various languages to run on the .NET platform
Continental's
a B2B Believer
Continental Airlines launched its E-tickets program five
years ago, and the Houston airline now sells 54 percent of its tickets this way.
Once the company has fully ramped up its sales of electronic tickets, it hopes
to save upwards of $500 million a year.
Shrinking
Streams to Grow Bigger
New technologies offer webcasters the opportunity
to save on bandwidth costs so that they can dedicate more moola to pay for the
expensive content licenses.
Japan
and Korea Catching On to CRM
Japan and Korea -- two of Asia's more technologically
advanced countries -- are starting to adopt CRM practices and are widely expected
to produce a growing market for related software and services in the coming years.
---
PARTNERS & DEALS NEWS
EMC
Buys Software Firm
The Hopkinton data storage company acquires a long-time
partner, a Denver maker of software to manage the archiving of video and other
rich media.
Dell,
SAS join to monitor site visitors' actions
Its site does $40 million a
day in business, but Dell thinks there's still room for improvement, so it's licensing
SAS' e-Intelligence suite to gain new insights into its customers' behavior.
Vignette,
Sun in e-com development deal
The wide-ranging deal to develop, market
and sell e-commerce products worldwide is similar to an agreement struck last
week between Vignette and Sun rival IBM.
NSI
Signs Partnership With Chinese Domain Name Corp.
Firms to share revenue
on referred domain name registrations
Fairfax
County Attracts Q2 Investments of $338.8 Million
With more than a $1 billion
in venture funding over the last four quarters, Fairfax County companies continue
to pull in the bucks
National
Geographic Acquires 30 Percent Stake in iExplore
Strategic alliance includes
integrated e-commerce initiatives and collaboration on content for print and online
media
A
2 Million Share Gift Certificate
Global iTechnology announces acquisition
of Certificate Express and its patent pending transaction technology for the B2B
marketplace
Wal-Mart,
AOL join Shopsmart
US retailer Wal-Mart and internet giant AOL link up
to take a stake in the UK online price comparison web site Shopsmart.
Lastminute
nets French rival
Internet retail firm Lastminute.com has moved into the
takeover business, buying France's biggest e-travel company.
Net
firm ends merger talks with Drkoop.com
A Virginia-based Internet company
called off its merger talks with ailing online health information provider Drkoop.com.
Wine
sites hope merger will create right blend
Wine.com and WineShopper.com
announced today they will merge, with hopes that a combined company will hold
greater appeal for investors.
Webvan
and HomeGrocer One Step Closer to Merger
The two companies move closer
to finalizing their merger after receiving notification of the early termination
of the waiting period.
Singingfish.com
Gets Acquired by Thomson Multimedia
Check out our exclusive interview
with Singingfish.com's CEO Mike Behlke.
Kozmo.com,
Urbanfetch Merger Deal Imminent
Kozmo and UrbanFetch have been at each
other's throats ever since competition got heated over the delivery business.
Razorfish
Acquires Medialab AG for $9.4 Million
Razorfish will issue 446,080 shares
of common stock and make a cash payment of approximately $1.4 million.
CDNow
Sale To Bertelsmann Given Green Light By Feds
The waiting period under
the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act has expired, clearing the way
for German media group Bertelsmann AG to complete the acquisition of Internet
music company CDNow, Inc.
Two
Teen Marketers Reunite
Teen-oriented e-tailer dELiA*s Inc. Thursday inked
an $86 million deal to merge with its subsidiary, iTurf Inc., an online community
targeting the 13- to 24-year-old market.
Recipe
Site and Retailer Offer Grocery Service
Webvan and Allrecipes.com are
joining forces to sell food in cyberspace.
A
Bigger Fish in Seafood-Marketplace Pond
WorldCatch.com and Fishmonger.com
will merge -- the latest deal in an industry-wide consolidation.
MVP.com
Makes a Play for PlanetOutdoors
The sports retailer, backed by Michael
Jordan and Wayne Gretzky, wants to bulk up by buying the outdoor apparel site.
Kozmo
in Talks to Acquire Urbanfetch
Online delivery pioneer Kozmo.com is in
discussions to acquire archrival Urbanfetch.com, a sign that instant gratification
doesn't guarantee instant success for everyone.
Advertising.com
Nets $57 Million
The online ad-server firm says it will use the funds
to invest in new technology and increase its staff by one-third.
AOL
UK and Wal-Mart: This Time We're Serious
Still no sign of the U.S. cross-promotion
they announced eight months ago. But they say the U.K. is different.
NTT-Verio
Deal Expected to Fly
U.S. officials are scrutinizing the proposed merger,
which would give the Japanese telco ownership of the ISP.
Onvia.com
purchase of Hardware.com raises eyebrows
Small business e-marketplace
saves chairman from a sinking dotcom ship
Intershop
Acquires Germany's Subotnic
The e-commerce application provider will integrate
content management software into its offerings.
---
MOVERS & SHAKERS NEWS
IBM Claims
Optical Chip Breakthrough
IBM Corp. said it developed a breakthrough chip-making
technology it said can be used to build smaller optical chips used to build high-speed
communications networks.
After
hack, Microsoft mistakes linger
Security experts say enterprises can learn
a lot from the recent Microsoft hacking saga: First, if you get hacked, don't
do what Microsoft did.
PSINet
Assailed As Spam Contract Surfaces
Troubled Internet service provider
PSINet acknowledged providing access to a sender of bulk unsolicited commercial
email, bolstering critics' claims that some of the world's largest ISPs knowingly
do business with spammers in violation of stated anti-spam policies.
Anti-Mobile
Virus on the Move
A computer virus capable of interfering with new generation
mobile phones is likely to be already in development, the country's top Internet
security body has warned..."
Appeals
Court Sides With Microsoft, Restricts Briefs
A federal appeals court granted
Microsoft Corp.'s wish last week, barring a quartet of Microsoft opponents from
filing separate "friend-of-the-court" briefs in the software giant's pending appeal
of its antitrust case.
China
Broadband's Joint Venture To Enable On-Line Education
China Broadband
Corp. announced that its first cooperative joint venture to provide cable Internet
access in Shekou, Shenzhen, has entered into an agreement with local high schools
to provide on-line education
Big
blue delivers big blow to Transmeta
IBM cancels a project to create a
ThinkPad mininotebook with the low-power Crusoe processor.
Intel's
Barrett moves focus forward
Special report: It's not all smooth sailing
for Intel's CEO as he navigates the world's largest chip maker into new territory
away from its core processor business.
CMGI
May Soon Exit Struggling Investments
Internet investor CMGI Inc., which
owns or has stakes in more than 70 online companies, may announce plans to exit
some struggling ventures
DoubleClick,
24/7 Media, L90 Settle Patent Suits
Three online advertising giants, DoubleClick,
24/7 Media and L90 settled a complicated assortment of patent lawsuits that stood
to complicate the protection of ad-serving technology for the industry.
MP3.com
Whacked with New Lawsuit
Just two days after announcing that its legal
woes were over, online music service MP3.com is being sued yet again for copyright
infringement, this time in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles...
Dot-Com
Death by Degrees
The headlines are daunting. Every day seems to bring
at least one dot-com failure to the fore.
Comdex:
A Wired News Special Report
Thousands of techies hit Vegas for the "next
big thing." We cover what will and won't constitute the future of Net applications
and hardware wizardry.
EBay
vs. Lawsuits
How many lawyers does it take to defend an Internet firm
from a mountain of lawsuits?
Tech
Companies Undervalued By Traditional Accounting
The failure of traditional
financial reporting practices to convey truly useful information about high-tech
firms is contributing to both the growing discrepancy between the market value
and book value of companies as well as to market volatility,
Intel,
Broadcom Settle Suits, Countersuits
Intel Corporation and Broadcom Corp.
said in a joint announcement that they have settled all claims against each other
brought under Intel's trade secret lawsuit against Broadcom, which was filed in
California Superior Court in March.
AT&T
To Hire COO?
Telecom giant may put new executive in place to manage spin-offs
- report
Brick-And-Mortars
Pulling in Reins on Dot-Coms
At the height of the dot-com craze, dozens
of Main Street brick-and-mortar companies poured cash into Web ventures in the
hope riches were around the corner. With dot-coms closing almost daily, the Internet
mania is coming back to haunt them.
Plans
for Playboy.com IPO Withdrawn
Playboy Enterprises Inc. said that it has
withdrawn its plans for an initial public offering of its online business because
of unfavorable market condition
Will
Microsoft Save MarchFirst?
MarchFirst has taken some big-time hits of
late, but the company's partners--most notably IBM, Microsoft and Novell-- aren't
ready to bolt just yet. All three vendors say they'll stand by MarchFirst during
its current financial crisis. In fact, Microsoft has given MarchFirst an interest-free
$12 million loan.
DOJ
gives green light to WorldCom's buy of Intermedia
The giant long-distance
telephone carrier wins conditional approval from the U.S. Justice Department to
acquire Intermedia and control of Web-hosting firm Digex.
Hammer
Keeps Pounding Nasdaq
The Nasdaq falls well under the 2,800 mark as investors
continue to be nervous about growth and profits in the tech sector. And then there's
that election thing.
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