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News About The Netpreneur Program

1. JOBLINK GOES LIVE!
Netpreneurs keep telling us that one of their greatest challenges is finding the talented people who can help bring their businesses to the next level. From executives to designers, programmers and marketers; creative, net-savvy people are at a premium. Our goal is to help netpreneurs make connections, so we've created JobLink at Netpreneur Exchange to make it easier for local netpreneurs and job candidates to find each other. (NOTE: JobLink is no longer an active part of the Netpreneur Exchange)

JobLink wouldn't exist without the help of GovCon (http://www.govcon.com), a local netpreneur that gave us the software and technical assistance needed to make it happen. Thanks, Raj! While you're at JobLink, check out the other resources in the Talent Center, including links to national and global recruitment sites, resume posting services and places to find consultants, freelancers, contract workers and advisors.

2. WHAT ELSE IS NEW ON THE EXCHANGE?
You talk, we listen. Visitors have offered us feedback (thanks for your suggestions!) and we've responded. First, we completely revamped the calendar (http://netpreneur.org/calendar/calendar.htm). The new interface eliminates the frames approach, presenting events in a way that makes the calendar a more effective planning tool. We've also implemented Excite search which offers better searching functionality and a much more useful results display. There's more to come, so keep checking the What's New page (http://netpreneur.org/whatsnew.html) to uncover the latest additions.

3. FINDING HELP AT COFFEE AND DOUGHNETS
Vernard Gray registered InterCHANGE.org with InterNIC on August 15, 1997. The idea was to create an interactive online database of individuals and organizations of creative sources for social exchange. It was soon mounted and remained there until Thursday, March 20, when Vernard uploaded its current set of inter-connected pages--sans database. The lack of the database at the very center of the site was the reason it took seven months to launch. Vernard explains, "I refused to have anything interactive there until I felt secure that the database would be present and accounted for or, at the least, on its way." Little did he know that by attending a Coffee & DoughNets session his database would soon be just that-- well on its way. Vernard tells it best: "As the meeting moved forward and the Netpreneur team shared their vision with the rest of us, I wondered whether they had literally reached inside my head and connected with my thoughts and dreams. I knew at that moment, that the Creator had delivered me to where I was supposed to be. When I had an opportunity to share with those assembled my vision and my frustration with the lack of an effective database, the Netpreneur Team reached out and connected me with someone who could help me implement one." Coffee & DoughNets helps people make connections. Ask Vernard what he thinks of the sessions and he'll tell you, "Good things do happen when they're supposed to!"

1. INFOHALL PUBLISHES INTERACTIVE COMMUNITY SITES
(Bethesda, MD) Netpreneurs at infoHall, Inc. have created two local content sites for which they are already reporting over half a million hits per month. DC City Pages (http://www.dcpages.com), serving District communities, and infoHall for Montgomery County are focused on the political, economic and social life of the metropolitan area, delivering information and communication resources that let users check the pulse of the community and react to it immediately. According to infoHall President, Luke Wilbur, both sites are, "designed to promote organizations to local, regional and international Internet users. DCpages and Infohall.com are developing a powerful grassroots network for the community." Both sites are accepting advertising. InfoHall, Inc. is an electronic graphics design and publishing house growing to become a full service Internet presence provider for regional businesses. Their services include Web advertisements, Web and off-Web graphic designs and programming services to support Internet development.

2. WOMEN'S CONNECTION ONLINE EXPANDS CONTENT AND SERVICES
(McLean, VA) Women's Connection Online (WCO) has added several new features on its Web site (http://www.womenconnect.com), providing over 1,100 pages of content that offer women information on topics from starting a small business and networking to profiles of outstanding women and information on women's health issues. Additionally, new bulletin boards offer discussions on education, finance, careers, sports and other issues of interest to women. Future discussion series are planned on tax planning, creating and running a successful small business, environmental matters, balancing work and family and parenting. Soon, WCO will also introduce personalized, targeted information and interactive chat discussions for the unique needs of the high-end women's community. Susan Williams DeFife, President and CEO of WCO, said, "The new features, especially the bulletin boards, will enable us to continue to provide the kind of online community women appreciate."

3. INFORMATION WEEK HONORS SPACEWORKS
(Rockville, MD) At the recent Gartner Group's Internet & Electronic Commerce Conference (iEC), SpaceWorks, Inc. was honored by editors at Information Week magazine for demonstrating "the most effective leadership in furthering business activities on the Internet." Distinguished from more than 20 others in the category, SpaceWorks (http://www.spaceworks.com) was cited for excellence in the development and deployment of its OrderManager product which automates the supply chain by developing an electronic ordering, processing and fulfillment channel between sellers' back-office legacy systems and their trading partners. Information Week's main criteria for judging the iEC awards were "innovation, creativity, and most importantly, the real value electronic commerce brings to the corporate business user."

4. AMS UNVEILS DISTRIBUTED FEDERAL AGENCY SOLUTIONS
(Washington, DC) American Management Systems (AMS) (Nasdaq: AMSY) released the Momentum suite of financial and administrative software products for federal government agencies. The network-enabled solutions are designed to support the trend toward government decentralization by providing an application for both agency central accounting and budgeting offices as well as program and field offices. The suite is composed of Momentum Financials, a client/server system that is compliant with federal accounting and reporting standards; and Momentum Procurement Desktop, an integrated client/server system that supports all phases of the acquisition life cycle. For both products, client workstation components operate on PCs under MS Windows, Apple Macintosh or UNIX workstations. They are scaleable from a single LAN to a large, distributed enterprise-wide network. Application and database server components will operate on UNIX and mainframe enterprise servers using a variety of relational database management systems. AMS is at (http://www.amsinc.com).

5. PLS SHIPS ADMINISTRATION TOOL FOR NET PUBLISHING
(Rockville, MD) Personal Library Software Inc. (PLS) announced a new productivity tool as a companion to its Web publishing product, PLWeb Turbo. The new administration module, EZ Admin, is designed specifically for Web administrators looking to reduce the administrative overhead of large sites. Features include a remote access site management utility, Web-based graphical interface and authentication control. Said Mike Hutchinson, Webmaster for PLS customer America Online, "We're not limited to command-line instructions from the Web server. This allows us to reduce time to market in making changes to the site and spend more time focusing on our customers." EZ Admin is available now for most Unix platforms, with NT support coming later this month. Through May 31, PLS (http://www.pls.com) will offer promotional pricing at 50% off list prices.

6. AOL LAUNCHES IN JAPAN
(Dulles, VA) -- America Online (NYSE: AOL) will launch a new Internet online service in Japan on April 15 which will be uniquely Japanese, with Japanese content, language, customer service, billing and management. AOL Japan, Inc. is a three-way joint venture between America Online, Inc., (50%); Mitsui & Co., Ltd., (40%); and Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Inc. (Nikkei), (10%). Mitsui is one of the world's largest international trading companies with divisions active in nearly all aspects of information and communications. Nikkei publishes Japan's leading business and financial newspaper and is best known worldwide for the Nikkei stock index. The launch reflects AOL's increasing focus on global branding, recently announcing that its international services climbed above 600,000 members. AOL in Europe is nearing the 500,000 member mark, approximately a year after launches in the UK, France and Germany. In recent months, the company announced services in Austria, Switzerland and Sweden.

7. NEW EC VENTURE TO BE HEADED BY IBM EXEC
Northern Virginia will soon be home to a new electronic commerce company, as ServiceNet, a joint venture of Andersen Consulting (http://www.ac.com) and BBN (http://www.bbn.com), makes plans set up its headquarters in the area. The Wall Street Journal (3-25-97) (http://www.wsj.com) reports that the venture has tapped IBM's John M. Whiteside as president and CEO. Insiders say Whiteside was on the rise at IBM, but despite Big Blue's efforts to retain him, the entrepreneurial opportunity presented by this new EC firm proved too alluring. ServiceNet will provide retailers, banks, and other customers with a system to conduct electronic sales. Andersen, an 87% owner of the venture, will develop customized software for different industries and offer access to its vast pool of big customers. BBN, which owns the rest of ServiceNet, will be responsible for transmission services. (Copyright Information, Inc. Courtesy MCI)

Partnerships

1. UOL AND COURSE TECHNOLOGY SIGN AGREEMENT
(McLean, VA) UOL Publishing, Inc. (Nasdaq: UOLP) and Course Technology (CT) announced a partnership to jointly develop, publish and market Web-based distance learning packages to accompany CT's publications in computer information systems and microcomputer software applications. UOL will be granted rights to re-purpose existing CT materials into courseware, using UOL's proprietary virtual campus environment and authoring tools. Joseph B. Dougherty, President and Chief Executive Officer of CT noted, "The demand for technology courses offered through community colleges, proprietary colleges, extension and continuing education programs is at an all-time high. Particularly working adults, parents and older adults need courses offered through flexible schedules and sometimes off-campus options." CT (http://www.thomson.com/course/default.html), based in Cambridge, MA, is a division of International Thomson Publishing specializing in information systems learning materials for the post-secondary education market. UOL (http://www.uol.com) is a publisher of interactive and on-demand Web-based courseware for academic and corporate education.

2. BELL ATLANTIC AND NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART DELIVER PICASSO
(Washington, DC) Bell Atlantic and the National Gallery of Art are joining to bring the Gallery's upcoming exhibit, Picasso: The Early Years, beyond the East Wing walls. Students can embark on a tour of the exhibit during an interactive distance learning program designed for schools in Washington, DC, Maryland, southern Pennsylvania, northern Virginia and parts of West Virginia. The interactive lecture-demonstration is a first of its kind for an exhibition at the National Gallery. Scheduled for late May, it is a collaborative effort involving Bell Atlantic, the Gallery's education staff, Maryland Public Television, WETA-TV in Washington and schools throughout the area. It will link hundreds of classrooms equipped with two-way interactive distance learning equipment, a live student audience at the Gallery and hundreds more classes connected via the Internet, phone lines and the television stations' broadcast networks. In addition, the hour-long program will be taped and edited down to a 30-minute show to be aired in June and July on public television. The National Gallery's Web site is the hub of information on the exhibition and the artist. It is accessible through an index posted on a Bell Atlantic Web page (http://www.BellAtlantic.com/Picasso).

3. CUSTOMIZED CONNECTIVITY FROM ACCESS BEYOND AND TANDEM
(Gaithersburg, MD) Access Beyond, Inc. (Nasdaq: ACCB) signed a three-year strategic alliance with Tandem Computers, Inc. (NYSE: TDM). The agreement includes joint research and development, and Access Beyond (http://www.accessbeyond.com) will manufacture "Access Beyond for Tandem" remote access products for sale by Tandem. These products combine full remote access capabilities, access to existing Tandem 6530 applications and asynchronous connectivity to Tandem NonStop Himalaya servers.

Regional News

1. TECHCAPITAL TO FOCUS ON REGION'S TECH COMMUNITY
(Vienna, VA) TechNews, Inc., a subsidiary of The Washington Post Company and publisher of Washington Technology (http://www.wtonline.com) announced a new quarterly magazine, TECHCapital, which will debut April 21. TechNews says it will be "the most informative, insightful and entertaining publication for technology business and finance in the emerging high-tech community known as the Netplex." Focused on the region's "new economic culture," TECHCapital will serve entrepreneurs and netpreneurs; venture capitalists, investment bankers, angels and other private investors; analysts, researchers and investor relations experts; as well as lawyers, auditors and deal-makers. For subscription information or general questions, e-mail your name, title, company name, address, phone and fax number to John Hurley at (jhurley@technews.com). Editorial information is available by contacting Trish Williams at (williams@technews.com). For more information on TECHCapital see the Spotlight at the Netpreneur Exchange News Center at (http://netpreneur.org/news).

2. THE GROWING CENTER OF THE DIGITAL ECONOMY
(Washington, DC) During a recent visit, The Washington Post (3-25-97) interviewed Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen who said, "[the Washington region] seems to be in the right place in terms of having a very network-oriented approach.... In a sense, the mantle of [technology] leadership on the East Coast is being passed from the Boston area to the DC area." The Post reports that we're on the short list for Netscape's first development facility outside the Valley. For the complete story visit (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/tech/analysis/daily/march/25/andreesse n.htm). Some advice to netpreneurs from Andreessen: "One of the advantages of moving quickly is if you do something wrong you can change it. What technologies tend to do is they tend to make a lot of mistakes...but then we go back and aggressively attack those mistakes-- and fix them. And you usually recover pretty quickly." Meanwhile, Washington Business Journal (3-28/4-3, 1997) reported on the huge growth of venture capital availability for high tech entrepreneurs in the region, including funds totaling over $300 million that have been formed in just the last few months (http://www.amcity.com/washington/stories/033197/story3.html). Despite the increased flow, venture capital is still lagging the activity of entrepreneurs here. The Journal reports that regional companies are receiving 1/10th the money of Silicon Valley, and 1/4 that of NewEngland.

Quick Hits

1. CIX ANNOUNCES RESULTS OF FIRST ISP STUDY
(Herndon, VA) The Commercial Internet eXchange Association (CIX) has released its first "Internet Service Provider Survey" on the US ISP industry. The study was undertaken in February and March 1997 for CIX by InfoPlex Corp. According to the study, 64% of US ISPs are very small, young businesses with revenues averaging less than $1 million per year, serving primarily residential customers. Currently 94% of all residential consumers and 74% of business and non-profit customers are using dialup connections. Dialup customers get on the Internet an average of once a day and spend on average about 26 minutes online. Barbara Dooley, Executive Director of CIX, notes that ISPs are facing a number of challenges in a rapidly evolving and changing industry. "Many ISPs indicated they experience difficulty provisioning and maintaining service in the local loop. They are looking at different ways to increase bandwidth, improve network efficiency, and increase services to their customers." The survey can be found at (http://www.cix.org. A more in-depth look at the US industry will appear next month, followed by a worldwide ISP industry benchmarking survey in Q3 1997. CIX is a non-profit trade association of public data internetworking service providers.

2. SCHOOLS OFFER WEBMASTER DEGREES
Universities are heeding the call from companies for more qualified techies capable of designing and managing a corporate Web site, and are now beginning to formalize such training with degree programs geared toward producing "Webmasters." Rather than stressing computer science skills, the programs tend to lean toward either library science (with a special emphasis on technology) or graphic media design. Included in the degree programs are courses in such disciplines as organizational psychology, library science, graphic design and business. For example, Indiana University offers a master's degree in information science, building on the library science program for which it has long been known, and John Brown University is about to offer a bachelor of science degree in digital media. Other programs can be found outside the US in Australia and Canada. (Chronicle of Higher Education 3-14-97, (http://chronicle.merit.edu))

3. IMPULSE BUYS? NOT.
Online store developer ViaWeb compared buyer activity to key word searches and found evidence to contradict conventional wiisdom that most online buying is impulse buying. Of 200 random shoppers, 141 or 70.5% searched for the item they bought; 32 searched for a related topic; 19 used an unrelated keyword and 8 searched for the name of another product. Find the report at (http://www.viamall.com/vw/studimpurrar.html).

4. MORE CARS ON THE INFORMATION HIGHWAY
The Economist (http://www.economist.com) reported that comparison car shopping is picking up on the net, including a prediction from Chrysler that within four years, 25% of their business will come online (up from 1.5% today). And how will they be paid for? A new report from Killen and Associates (http://killen.com/press/pr970226) says that auto loan processing in the US and Canada will gradually move to the net, reaching 20-30% by 2001.

Upcoming Events

For more information on these and other regional events of interest to netpreneurs and funders, visit the Netpreneur Exchange calendar at (http://netpreneur.org/calendar/calendar.htm).

April 4----Netpreneur Coffee & DoughNets
April 5----Free Internet Workshop
April 7----Entrepreneuring: Starting and Managing a Growth Company
April 8----Web-based Database Integration
April 9----Technology & Business Competitiveness
April 10---Successful Entrepreneurs' Secrets to Success: What Worked for Us
April 14---Partnerships for Networked Consumer Health Information
April 16---Technology Workshop: Electronic Commerce For Content
April 16---CEO to CEO Seminar: High Tech Product Marketing
April 21---On-Line Investing: Can Establishment Brokers Compete?
April 22---Resources for Internet Businesses
April 23---Entrepreneurship And The Internet
April 23---Internet@Work
April 23---Microsoft Web Design Seminar
April 25---InfoBits: Ballston Information Technology Showcase
April 30---NetGain Seminar