An introduction to Internet World

The big news about the Internet this week, industry observers point out, is that it is now just about everywhere: big business, consumer electronics, television and politics.

"Nobody doesn't have the Internet now," said Jack Powers, Internet World conference chairman.

A wide range of issues are up for debate at the show, held in New York City and starting in earnest on Wednesday, including the savings possible with corporate intranets and strategies for getting more women and kids online.

Here are some of the issues to look out for:

E-business. In 1996, the buzz centered around online publishing. Last year the innovation was e-commerce, selling products over the Internet. This year companies are looking for ways they can save billions a year using IP-based networks to streamline and automate operations. Online stores are also looking for ways to improve their effectiveness and customer service.

Portal power. Portals, aggregators of content and services that attract the largest numbers of users on the Net, have emerged since last year. Web businesses of all kinds are now trying to make the business model of Yahoo! Inc. and Excite Inc. work for them.

DNS. The Net's addressing system, the Domain Name System, will be in the hands of the private sector by the end of the year, raising a host of technical and business questions.

Communities. Sites such as Geocities, Tripod and Talk City have all scored major business deals in the last year because of the interest in using community services to lure -- and keep -- users online.

Appliances. A number of companies are rolling out consumer electronics that tie into the Internet in some way. Diamond Multimedia Systems Inc., for example, is showing off the new Rio PMP300, which plays CD-quality MP3 music files downloaded from the Web.

Other hot-button issues include security, encryption, market consolidation, Federal regulation of the Net and high-speed Net access.

Time to save money
In previous years, the show was limned with a certain sense of wonder at the possibilities of the new Internet medium. But observers say this year companies have discovered they can make substantial savings using Internet technologies, and they're eager to put these efficiencies into practice.

"Some people in business still don't get the Internet," said Powers. "The good news is that those who do get it can kick the living daylights out of those who don't."

Corporations are integrating not just legacy computer systems into the Net, but also legacy telephone systems, as corporations begin taking IP telephony seriously.

While in most aspects the Internet is becoming a "mature" medium, recent studies suggest that online shopping is still in short pants.

The sites popping up to make money off of this new distribution channel are poorly conceived and difficult to use, according to a Zona Research Inc. study. The study found that nearly one in three tech-savvy users found e-commerce sites hard to use.

'Commerce sites suck'
"[Commerce sites] suck so bad, it's awful," said analyst Barry Parr of International Data Corp. "In some cases it feels like a lack of common sense... people are learning a completely new medium, after all. They need to learn how to do it ... and they're coming from a frame of reference that's completely different from the Web.

"It's taking companies longer to learn than anybody would have guessed," Parr said.

E-commerce is considered key to the continued growth of the Internet economy, especially since online advertising revenues have been slow to take off.

Sites that target consumers with information and services are beginning to specialize as a way of standing out from the competition, analysts said.

"Vertical content sites, such as portals, are getting more bold in branding themselves," said analyst Julia Pickar of Zona Research. "They're starting to push towards targeting groups such as women. They're focusing more on differentiating themselves from the other portal sites, and looking more closely at what content they're featuring, touting their strengths."

This fall portal sites such as Snap.com, a joint venture between NBC and CNet Inc., and Go Network, product of the union between Infoseek Corp. and Walt Disney Co., are preparing to launch high-profile promotional campaigns.

Web cameras
Internet appliances may make their biggest splash ever this year. They range from such toys as the Rio to a variety of user-friendly set-top boxes, following the lead of Microsoft Corp.'s Web TV.

Internet-accessing screen telephones will also be in evidence, along with new Web cameras for use by parents, for example, who want to keep track of their kids during the day.