When April rolled around this year, so did Penton Media's sixth annual Spring Internet World '99 trade show at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The five-day show offered an impressive array of exhibits, introductory and advanced workshops, keynote speeches and face-to-face networking.
Around 40,000 Internet professionals from more than 48 countries converged to take an in-depth look at using the Internet to keep their businesses competitive. More than 500 exhibitors demonstrated the latest Internet technologies and systems.
"Whether you're a webmaster evaluating e-commerce software... an ISP rethinking your business strategy... a marketing executive looking for proven online opportunities or an IT professional who needs to secure an enterprise network, we've got something for you," organizers say. "Totally immerse yourself in intensive multi-day programs or spend just a couple of hours exploring a specific topic of interest."
The show offers "Best of Show" awards in several categories. All exhibitors at the show are invited to nominate their own products or services. A panel of qualified judges from Internet World (Penton Media's weekly newspaper) and other publications judged nominations, based on the innovative use they make of technology. The judges placed priority on a product's ability to work with existing standards and the degree to which it contributes to the development of future Internet products and services. This year's winners were:
Desktop Hardware and Software:
Webforia for Webforia Organizer: "A personal research tool that makes it easy to capture, organize, and effectively use the information you find on the Web." (www.webforia.com)
E-Commerce Application:
Kurant for StoreSense Professional v2.6
"StoreSense has what it takes to get your business into the world of Internet commerce. Our solutions are scaleable and designed with the flexibility in mind to allow a high degree of customization. Kurant offers this commerce solution to help remove the complex barriers of entry into the electronic commerce arena." (www.kurant.com)
Infrastructure Hardware:
Multi-tech Systems for MultiVOIP Voice/Fax Gateway. (www.multitech.com)
Internet Services:
AT&T for Integrated Network Connection (INC) Service Networking/Server Software:
Network Integrity for LiveVault. (www.ntint.com)
Web Application Development Software:
Cybelius Software for TouchMore! 2.0
TouchMore is a "Java-based software tool for creating smart virtual product models simply by adding functionality. These models can be used in Internet, intranet and extranet environments. TouchMore! can be utilized at every stage of the product's lifecycle, from pre-design, design and manufacturing through marketing, training, support and service." (www.cybelius.com)
Web Site Software:
Metacreations Corp. for Headline Studio 1.0
"Headline Studio 1.0 brings broadcast-quality graphics to the Web with tools specially designed for Web banner creation. With video effects such as walk-ins, dissolves and fades for images and text (either lines, words or individual letters), Web authors have newfound design freedom and workflow speed." (www.metacreations.com)
Workgroup Software:
The docSpace Company, Inc. for docSpace Express 5.1
Services on the Web should be as easy as moving between applications on the desktop," said Evan Chrapko, President and CEO, The docSpace Company. "The Web becomes a real business platform with docSpace answering the call for practical, easy, secure out- sourced file and storage applications." (www.docspace.com)
Beyond these best of the best awards, many companies used this show to announce their new products. Sideware systems introduced Dr. Bean, an e-commerce customer service product. Dr. Bean is an interactive customer service software program that is integrated into e-commerce sales or customer service websites. It reduces customer service costs and increases e-commerce profits. CallWave brought out their FaxWave, which gives free phone numbers to Internet users to receive faxes as e-mail. PacketCruz by Cintel, is a high-traffic network server solution, which enables service providers to minimize network response time while maximizing site availability. Robocast announced Roboguide.com, the first portal that provides automatic Web browsing. This playable portal is based on the company's founding concept of gathering links into sequenced Roboshows and presenting them in a watchable format.
Adobe announced GoLive 4.0 for Macintosh, the latest version of the professional Web design and publishing tool. In addition to cross-platform support, the latest version provides several new features including a redesigned Movie Editor for Quicktime 3.0, improved support for emerging Web technology such as Extensible Markup Language (XML), Adobe PDF integration, added site management capabilities, user interface improvements, new table-editing features, CyberObjects enhancements and JavaScript actions. The first Windows version of GoLive is expected to ship later this quarter.
WebSideStory announced enhancements to their StatMarket, a data source for Internet trends. The new StatMarket features include historical data, trend plotting, and interactive graphical displays. Macromedia introduced new customizable HTML templates for Fireworks 2, the newest release of Macromedia's Web graphics production environment. With the new templates, Fireworks 2 users can export compact HTML code pre-formatted for AdobeGoLive. The new templates also address customer requests for specific HTML and JavaScript coding styles.
IBM offered an e-mail center where show visitors could check and send e-mail, via Network Stations, their network computers. Conference attendees could also sip a cup of coffee and surf the Net at the Internet World Cafe. At the Webcenter, attendees could meet and talk to experts in Web design, Web development, Web marketing, Web hosting, e-commerce and Intranet development. The experts went online and reviewed companies' sites and offered suggestions on how to make their site more successful.
More than 350 speakers presented in over 200 workshops and conference sessions during the convention. Workshops covered a range of topics from Internet security and a Financial Services Summit to Web business forums and an Internet music summit. Through the sessions, participants could learn how to write for the Web, learn the buzz of Web PR and even sit in on a "Web Pages That Suck" class.
Keynote presentations, which were open to everyone, featured top Internet industry leaders:
* Sean Maloney, Senior Vice President and Director, Sales and Marketing, Intel Corporation
* John Sidgmore, Vice Chairman, MCI WorldCom, Incorporated
* Rob Glaser, CEO of Real Networks
* John Chambers, President/CEO of Cisco Systems
* Richard McGinn, Chairman/CEO, Lucent Technologies
Intel's Maloney, who offered the opening keynote speech, used his company's experience with e-commerce to show its amazing possibilities. Five years ago Maloney said he was presenting demonstrations on an emerging technology using cable to gain Net access to provide video on demand, via Mosaic. Just one year ago, Intel had zero sales through its website. Now the company does $1 billion worth of enterprise sales in more than 30 countries.
While the Internet has taken off with lightning speed, Maloney said there are three core problems that companies need to address to improve the Web. Information management is critical in enabling users to have an easier Web experience. He feels that e-mail needs to be better controlled through the use of improved filter technology and client-side tools and that searches on the Web are too complex for most users in that they don't always provide organized useful lists of sites.
Intel is developing this new search technology with its partner, Excite. When a user gets return sites for his search, they are grouped together into islands of information with a common theme known as "carousels." The user can then see information extracts from a site's homepage, instead of a return URL.
MCI Worldcom's John Sidgmore predicted that the Internet's unprecedented growth will continue, yet disputes the common theory that the cost of Internet access will continue to decline as speeds get faster. He recognized the impact of telecommunications in our lives and noted that the "Internet frees us from time and distance, yet the vast majority are tied to a single location when they communicate. We need better ways to get to all that the Internet offers."
Sigdmore thinks that the Internet e-commerce growth has occurred because companies can be ten times more efficient at cheaper costs. Also, businesses have the opportunity to reach customers, vendors and employees through a low cost network. The Internet "has changed virtually all technology models and many social models."
Real Networks president and CEO Rob Glaser spoke of the importance of streaming media and how innovations in streaming media and technology will revolutionize how music and other forms of media are distributed. Many are familiar with streaming media only from listening to broadcast radio stations via Real Player (introduced in 1995) over the Internet. To date, 60 million copies of Real's player have been downloaded.
Glaser said that the Internet was not designed to handle streaming media, but a lot of progress has been made and continues to be made. One key aspect for streaming media will be the development and expansion of broadband technology.
"Now we have radio and OK video, but broadband will give us radio, TV and beyond-giving media with unlimited channels and giving you what you want when you want," he said.
A streaming innovation being developed by AltaVista will allow audio and video streams to be searched by keywords. Buying music and video online will become better than going to a store as consumers will be able to listen to high quality samples as they browse e-stores.
Richard McGinn, Chairman and CEO of network and communications giant Lucent Technologies, believes that more work needs to be done to broaden the Net's access. Lucent's next frontier will be to tie the Internet seamlessly to other networks, a feat that will be accomplished by software improvements.
John Chambers, chief of another networking giant, Cisco Systems, also noted the importance of telecommunications and how networks will affect the office. He said data, voice and IP functions will increasingly be functioning in a single network that can handle all of a business's communications needs.
"We had a 20 percent increase in productivity from Internet-based applications at Cisco by using network applications as a competitive advantage. Without this capability, we would have no chance taking on larger players as voice and data consolidates," Chambers said. Just as that change had helped Cisco compete, Chambers said it would allow small businesses to compete with much larger rivals.
"A small company can distribute and support products on a global basis. It doesn't mean they will always win, but rather, the fast will beat the slow." Chambers said many electronic devices would be network capable, changing the way the devices are supported and making them simpler to operate and maintain. He also noted the social impact of the digital age and said that nations around the world must teach children about computers and computer networks or else they won't be able to compete in the global economy.
While event promoters coin the Spring Internet World convention as "the largest event for e-business and Internet technology," variations of the Internet world show find itself in diverse places such as Argentina, Berlin, Australia, Japan and India. Penton Media, Inc., who sponsors the show, is a business media company that publishes magazines and electronic information products, produces trade shows and conferences, and provides marketing and business development products and services.
All conference sessions can be bought on tape through the Resource Link at 800.241.7784. For more information about next year's Los Angeles Spring Internet World, visit their website at events.internet.com.
