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Updated 02/27/2006

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There are MANY stories on this page which will be of interest to anyone who uses business technology. More writing samples are available on request, or click "Samples" above. 

Scroll down or click to see these additional stories:

Protecting Your Computer | Cellular Etiquette | Where do you want to go tomorrow? | Doing Business Online in the 21st Century  | e-commerce: The New Multibillion-dollar Industry | Tunnel, Anyone?  |       It's A Wonderful High-Tech Life, Parts 1 & 2

Fast, Fast, Fast Relief from
That Sour Taste of "Spam"*

"Spam" - unsolicited commercial email - is widely despised by users of Internet-connected computers. Moreover, most users don't know how to stop spam. This story shows you how to filter most spam out of incoming email.

Where'd It Come From?
Hormel, the SPAM® luncheon meat people, aren't particularly gleeful of the use of their product's name as a moniker for junk email. But for that, apparently, they can blame the comedy troupe Monty Python.

In a now near-legendary sketch, people in a restaurant are trying to talk. The restaurant's menu shows SPAM® lunchmeats in each selection: egg and SPAM; egg, sausage, and SPAM; egg, bacon, and SPAM.

As restaurant visitors continue to attempt to talk, other people chant in the background: "SPAM! SPAM! SPAM! SPAM!" An Internet article recounts that this noise gets louder until it finally becomes so annoying that conversation is impossible. "Thus," one observer says, " 'SPAM' has taken over."

Hence the comparison of "spam" junk email taking over your computer's IN box.

Corporate Defenses
One quick word of advice: if you receive spam, or unsolicited bulk e-mail, and are tempted to click a "remove" option sent with it, resist the temptation. Experts say that "remove" options are a cynical ploy to validate your address. Clicking them, therefore, is likely to result in more junk email, not less.

Spam is a major problem: analysts reportedly predict that U.S. in boxes alone will receive more than 62 billion spam emails this year. So let's move right into corporate defenses against it.

Unless you are a CIO or CEO, it's probably unwise to tamper with your company's Internet gateway, since installing spam filters there may well block important business communications. The latter part of this article deals with how individual users of mail programs such as Outlook, Eudora, and AOL can use software features to block spam.

First, we'll sketch some commercially available software designed to prevent spam from getting into the enterprise. Because of space limitations, these descriptions are somewhat cryptic; see the websites for more.

· GLWebMail XT
Gordano Ltd (www.gordano.com) says its new GLWebMail XT's patent-pending confirmation process "stops unwanted email and reduces the risk of accidentally deleting legitimate email." It also says the software can "protect inboxes accessed using standard POP3 & IMAP4 mail clients such as Microsoft Outlook, Qualcomm Eudora … and many others."

Confirmation sends a brief automatic response to each incoming email asking the original sender to "verify" that he/she both exists and intended to send the message. The logic of this is that spam emails routinely come from fictitious addresses, responses to which wind up lost in cyberspace. Messages awaiting confirmation are held in a "Quarantine" folder that is recipient-accessible. Unconfirmed mail - most of which is spam -- never gets delivered to its intended recipient.

· easynet Filter™
easynet Filter™ (www.easynetdial.co.uk), used on the Easynet dial-up service in both the U. S. and Europe, filters out viruses and removes unwanted marketing messages. It identifies characteristics based on addressing information. "This anti-spam facility," says the company, "aims to catch up to 89% of unsolicited emails and is designed to make sure the majority of emails that customers receive are legitimate."

· Brightmail
Brightmail (www.brightmail.com) says e-Testing Labs tests of their product showed 94% efficiency in filtering out spam and 100% accuracy in letting good emails through. Brightmail customers (top ISPs and large corporations) provide Brightmail with a percentage of total inboxes, which gives Brightmail a statistical reach now totaling over 100 million inboxes.

Brightmail uses BLOC (Brightmail Logistics Operations Center) to place email addresses received from ISPs or corporate customers on the Web in places where spammers collect addresses - chat rooms, news groups, forums etc. Whenever a spammer harvests these email addresses, he / she will likely get a Brightmail address as well.

As soon as there is a spam attack using these addresses, it hits Brightmail's 100 million-inbox "Probe Network". Brightmail then writes a rule stopping this specific spam attack and pushes this new rule to its ISP customers. ISPs with Brightmail protection don't accept the spam.

· MAPS4 (Mail Abuse Prevention System)
MAPS4 (www.mail-abuse.org) maintains a list of hosts and networks known to either tolerate or support spammers. A mail server can be configured to perform a DNS (Domain Name System) query to determine the spam status of an IP address and if it is listed, to bounce emails from it. This service cannot achieve 100% effectiveness because spammers move rapidly from account to account and from ISP to ISP.

· MIMEsweeper
MIMEsweeper (www.mimesweeper.com) characterizes itself as "the world's leading family of Web, e-mail, and Intranet content security solutions." The company has more than 10,000 customers and 10 million users globally, using MIMEsweeper solutions to protect their networks and business from e-mail and Web based threats.

· spamassassin
SpamAssassin (www.spamassassin.taint.org) is a mail filter that uses a wide range of tests on mail headers and body text to identify spam. SpamAssassin was featured on Good Morning America on April 1, 2002, but GMA didn't note that SpamAssassin is targeted at Unix users or Internet Service Providers and is not currently suitable for home users and / or Windows®.

· SpamEater and SpamEater Pro
SpamEater, a product of High Mountain Software (hms.com) is a spam filtering tool that "will rid your mailbox of spam before you download it with your mail client software," the developer says. "SpamEater Pro uses a complex set of rules to catch even the most persistent spammers with a 90% or better hit rate." "SpamEater" is free; SpamEater Pro, with many more options, is under $25.

· SkyScan AS
MessageLabs (www.messagelabs.com) blocks spam through its SkyScan AS, which compares all incoming mail against public blacklists as well as customer-configured blacklists.

Activating Filters In Individual PCs
Now we'll look at how to activate anti-spam filters in common email programs.

Qualcomm Eudora. Filters in Eudora 5.1, the current version, are activated through the TOOLS dropdown menu. Users program in terms commonly used in emails they wish to block, and the system handles those emails as the user wishes.

For example, to stop emails which tell you how to enlarge body parts, click TOOLS, then FILTERS. In the lower left corner, click NEW. In the upper right, in the "Match" box, click INCOMING, since it's incoming mail you're trying to block. Click the arrow next to Header, and a drop-down menu appears. You can pick the "Header" (To, From, Subject, etc.) and enter a term which generally appears in that header in objectionable email.

In the bottom right of the same large window is a heading entitled Action. Click the first down arrow and select Transfer To. To the right of Transfer To, click IN and select Trash. Objectionable email with the characteristics you have programmed will now go directly to Trash.

Over time, you'll want to create a number of filters to rid your IN box of a variety of objectionable emails. Scan your trash every couple of days to ensure that no valuable email is inadvertently filtered out. Once you have a number of filters in place, Eudora will filter out the vast majority of unwanted "spam."

Microsoft Outlook. Outlook's Help menu notes, "Outlook can search for commonly used phrases in [junk mail] and automatically move them from your Inbox to a junk e-mail folder, your Deleted Items folder, or any other folder you specify. The list of terms that Outlook uses to filter suspected junk e-mail messages can be found in a file called Filters.txt."

Microsoft adds, "You can also filter messages based on a list of e-mail addresses of junk and adult content senders. There are third party filters, which are regularly updated, that you can add to Outlook," which have "the latest lists of commercial and adult content senders. For more information, see the Outlook Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/outlook."

You'll find a how-to article on the Office "Tools on the Web" site -- http://office.microsoft.com/assistance/2002/articles/OlManageJunkAndAdultMail.aspx Another good resource for technical matters is the Microsoft Knowledge Base at http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?ln=EN-US&pr=kbinfo& .

In the Knowledge Base, you can search for technical papers on specific Microsoft products.

To add a spam sender's address to Outlook 2000's filters, click ORGANIZE from the Outlook toolbar, then click JUNK e-MAIL, then EDIT JUNK SENDERS and follow the on-screen prompts. Use HELP or the OFFICE ASSISTANT for answers to questions.

Outlook XP, the program's newest iteration, has a wizard that helps users establish rules to automatically file, delete, highlight, forward, or prioritize incoming and outgoing messages. Users can arrange for junk email to automatically go to a "junk" folder. Access the "Rules Wizard" from the Tools option on the Outlook XP menu.
America Online. With about 35 million members, AOL is the thousand-pound gorilla among consumer email / Web gateways, and it's also used by many small businesses. AOL's proprietary email filters stop a great deal of spam before users ever see it, but you can strengthen those filters. In AOL 7.0, the current version, click MAIL, then MAIL CONTROLS. Follow the prompts to set up personalized Mail Controls.

*Refers exclusively to unsolicited commercial email, widely known as "spam", and not to any "SPAM®" food products of Hormel, Inc. All trademarks or registered trademarks used in this article are the property of their respective owners.

 

Protecting Your Computer from Electrical Jolts

Ever lose critical documents just because the lights went out at the wrong time? Or because your electric company suddenly fed your computer more or less than the expected 120 volts?

An imperfect supply of electricity can shock your data into oblivion, and be a significant source of hardware problems as well. Blackouts, brownouts, and sudden power surges or "spikes" can be murder on computers, which is why devices to mitigate power problems are almost as widely used as the computers themselves.

Recent system back-ups -- on tape, ZIP disks, or writeable CD-ROMs -- can save your data under most adverse circumstances. But what about your system itself? How do you protect your system hardware in case of electrical problems?

The Problems, and What You Can Do About Them

Blackouts. A blackout -- the sudden loss of all electrical power -- messes up software programs and open documents since it comes without warning, giving you no chance to save your data or close programs normally. Blackouts can be caused by any number of things, from transformers burning out to vehicles smashing into utility poles to lightning strikes and other weather, and even animals fatally nosing around electrical equipment.

Some computer techs say the problem is less the blackout-induced shutdown, and more the sudden resumption of power afterwards that’s problematic -- that is, the power "spike" or "surge" which, in fact, can happen even when power doesn’t fail. Spikes and surges can burn out system components. They come to your system courtesy of your electrical outlet or even the phone line that connects your system to the outside world.

Blackouts (and surges / spikes) can come in bunches, too – due to weather (heat waves, blizzards, floods, electrical storms) or many other causes. One freelance writer reported that his power failed five times in two days last fall, as a mild-weather induced overpopulation of gray squirrels sought winter accommodations inside pole-mounted transformers – with toasty, fatal results.

Brownouts or Sags. The connotation of "brownouts" is that they’re intentional voltage reductions initiated by utilities in times of high demand. They are voltage reductions, but their causes can be as varied as the causes of blackouts. They usually have negligible effect on computers, but the surge -- or spike, that sudden rush of electricity that occurs after the brownout may be a serious problem. Sometimes "sags" are unplanned dips in voltage caused by sudden, great demand elsewhere on the circuit. An example of a "sag" is the sudden slight dimming of lights when a big air conditioner compressor kicks in at home, or in a restaurant, when an electric dishwasher or other high-energy appliance suddenly demands a lot of energy.

Surges. A very common cause of surges in summer is thunderstorms, of which about 100,000 occur in the United States annually – bringing with them some 20 million lightning strikes. As we noted earlier, surges can also follow sags or blackouts and reflect the sudden jolt of electricity upon restoral, which can do serious damage to computer components.

To protect their systems against these unexpected changes in supply voltage, many people use simple power-strip "surge protectors." Unfortunately, those devices may not work as expected.

The Solutions: Plan Ahead.

Here are a number of steps you can take to protect your data and your hardware from these electrical anomalies:

Back up your data. Despite computer-nerd t-shirts declaring that "Only Sissies Back Up," if you value your computer programs and your data, you’ll "back up" that information weekly or, better yet, daily. Network back-up devices are readily available. Many tape drives are on the market, but in recent months many businesses and SOHO (small office / home office) workers are using writeable or rewritable CD-ROM drives for backups instead, because both the drives and the media are now relatively fast and inexpensive. In fact, the CDs themselves offer significantly greater durability than tapes – particularly if the CDs are handled by the edges only and are stored away from heat in their protective jewel cases.

Buy a real surge protector. A "real" surge protector is a different animal than a power strip with a little orange light on it, selling for $2.49. There are many bona fide surge protectors on the market. Perhaps the most popular is the "Isobar" brand surge protector family by Tripp-Lite. They’re available in various capacities / prices, and many include insurance policies which promise to pay you cash if they fail to protect your system. Whatever surge protector you buy should filter all the electricity that feeds your computer and peripherals, so everything is fully protected. They should filter your phone lines as well as your power cables. Of course, during electrical storms, it’s always wise to shut down and power off PCs. (Leave surge protectors plugged in and operational.)

Buy an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS). Blackouts, sags, and brownouts all reduce the power available to your computer. Anything which cuts electricity to your computer may cause it to shut down abnormally -- without programs first being shut down. Such shutdowns can damage the hard drive and other components as well as jeopardize your data. Uninterruptible power supplies aren’t intended to let your systems run for hours (like laptop batteries do) – they merely keep systems running long enough so you can finish something over a few minutes and shut your programs and systems down in an orderly fashion.

There are a number of good sources for additional information:

American Power Conversion (APC), one of the largest builders of Uninterruptible Power Supplies, is at www.apcc.com.

Tripp Lite, the surge protection manufacturer, is at www.tripplite.com.

Best Power, another UPS supplier, is at www.bestpower.com

Sources for additional information:

American Power Conversion (APC), one of the largest builders of Uninterruptible Power Supplies, is at www.apcc.com.

Tripp Lite, the surge protection manufacturer, is at www.tripplite.com.

Best Power, another UPS supplier, is at www.bestpower.com

July, 1999

* * *

Cellular Etiquette: Is Silence More Golden than Ever?

You can probably remember the days a dozen years ago when only a few technophiles would be caught dead carrying around those ugly, oversized, ringing briefcases that were the forerunner of today’s cell phones.

The progress of cellular technology since then has been remarkable. Briefcases turned into "transportable" bag phones and today, thanks to advances in digital technology and miniaturization, phones are approaching the size of Dick Tracy’s wristwatch/two-way radio.

With their reduced size, go-anywhere light weight, and plunging per-minute charges, today’s cell phones have become ubiquitous. . .and therein lies the problem.

To some, the tiny phones are an invasion of technology into our private space. To others, they’re just plain dangerous. An article published in the New England Journal of Medicine weighs in: "The use of cellular telephones in motor vehicles is associated with a quadrupling of the risk of a collision during the brief period of a call."

And this, in response, from an M. D., also published in the New England Journal of Medicine: "It is tempting to make driving while using the telephone illegal; however, the assumed benefits may very well not justify the intrusiveness of such legislation."

But such legislation may well be on the way, in a number of states – New York and California heading the list. Citing the NEJM findings, New York State Senator Leonard Stavisky early this year said he’s introducing legislation to prohibit drivers from using cell phones while driving. "It's one thing to ‘reach out and touch someone’ with a phone call," Stavisky says, "but it’s quite another thing to reach out and touch someone with your car because of a phone call. . . we need to take action to put this practice on hold. We don't tolerate drunk driving in New York, and we shouldn't tolerate a practice that provides a similar threat to people traveling our state’s roads and highways."

For its part, etiquette would certainly call for motorists not to bash their cars into those of other motorists, regardless of whether cell phones were in use. But the nation’s highways aren’t the only place where the use of cell phones is being criticized.

Those plunging cellular rates are leading to explosive growth in cellular market penetration to the point where you hear cell phones ringing in theaters, restaurants, classrooms, and everywhere else, interrupting what are normally quiet, serious, and sometimes solemn or joyous occasions. Increasingly there’s a backlash from people within earshot who feel they are being forced to listen to highly private conversations. What’s being said on cellular phones can be embarrassing or disgusting or insulting or nauseating to others. The discretion usually applied to calls made from wired phones seems somehow to be missing from many cellular calls to the point where they can be disturbingly intrusive.

So we’ve put together some advice for cell phone users – advice to help you both to stay safe and to avoid the wrath of The Unconnected (or sometimes, the Connected) Masses:

All in all, avoid taking your phone where you being distracted is dangerous, or where you might interfere with the ability of others to enjoy their surroundings. Before you know it, those behaviors could wind up illegal.

August, 1999

* * *

Y2K: Is this for Real, or What?

Important Note: This article and the one which follows were written very early in 1999. Since then the Y2K problem has been solved virtually everywhere in the USA. Please bear in mind that the perspective from which this article was written has changed enormously....--Jeff Berger (February, 2000)

The hype is deafening. Everywhere we turn, we’re bombarded with dire predictions about prospective effects of Y2K. The lights will go out, we’re told, as power plants scream to a halt. Planes will wander aimlessly in the dead of night -- if we’re lucky. Traffic lights will start twinkling like Tokyo’s Ginza. ATMs will stop dispensing money – and worse, bank computers will think your bank accounts don’t exist. . .

What Y2K Is, and What it’s Got to Do With Us.

"Y2K," refers to "Year 2000." Since the widespread Y2K consternation stems from purported technology snafus that may occur when computer clocks roll over to the year 2000, technology types a few years ago created an acronym for it: Y2K.

The bad news is that Y2K is very much "for real" and in fact, it may affect you far more seriously than you might expect. It’s not that your computers may not be "Y2K-compliant" – it’s that the world runs on computers and MANY of them at this point just aren’t ready for the turn of the century.

How it started. Not too many years ago, hard disk drives were incredibly expensive. Because saving disk space in those days was akin to saving big money on technology, full four-year dates were truncated on many computer chips to two digits; 1985 became simply "85."

In this environment, comments one large, computer-laden insurance company, 010100, or January 1, 2000, "may be interpreted as January 1, 1900" by computers. Systems can fail, lose information, and in general cause an almost unpredictable degree of havoc.

Why? Because computer chips are everywhere. Consider that they pay you, deposit your paycheck, give you money (ATMs), heat your breakfast, start your car, control toll roads, open the gate at parking garages, run elevators, control alarms, fly planes, control radar systems which keep planes apart and tell them how to get to their destinations, turn lights on and off, control telephone systems and answering services, route "smart" bombs to their targets, control missiles and satellites, route phone calls, operate paging and cellular systems, order and deliver food which supplies restaurants and supermarkets, order and deliver cars, building materials, weather forecasts, fuel, snow removal equipment, etc. They approve your credit card purchases, issue your driver’s license, check your driving record if you’re pulled over, issue your passport, etc.

Almost everything we do relates to computers. And we haven’t touched on how computer operations affect Social Security, the military, nuclear power plants, hospitals, prescription records, etc.

Finding out what’s wrong, and fixing it. Even if your own "technology infrastructure" is fine, which is by no means certain, all bets are off when it comes to your suppliers, business and personal. Although large companies and the government are scrambling to uncover, analyze, and solve their Y2K problems, many have found that the situation is very much like Pandora’s box: the deeper they look, the worse it gets. And several recent press reports have said that Y2K "fixes" already implemented may not be fixes at all, which means some of these dire predictions could conceivably be right.

A close friend who travels worldwide 80% of the time tells us, "I’m going to be home in my living room in front of a wood fire, probably sipping Merlot at midnight, December 31, 1999. I’m not setting foot on any plane anywhere until I know everything is really working. Anyone would have to be nuts to be flying at the stroke of midnight then."

Many echo his sentiments. Many more plan to withdraw lots of cash from their banks at the end of December, stock up on food and water, fill the tub, buy a new portable grill with plenty of propane, and top off their cars’ gas tanks.

We’re also hearing cautions about a problem which could surface this coming April.

What to do. Our recommendation is that you get deeply into the problem now, if you haven’t already. Find out where you’re vulnerable and establish a plan of protection AND BACKUP. . .

* * *

Detecting & Solving Y2K Problems

Last month, we reinforced the prospective pervasiveness and seriousness of the "Y2K" computer chip problem. We said: "Y2K is very much ‘for real’ and in fact, it may affect you far more seriously than you might expect."

That said, we should all also realize that tens of thousands of highly talented people are working on this problem 24 hours a day, and all of us who are related to "Y2K" in any way hope, expect, and pray that their efforts will be successful before "the day" hits.

On the other hand . . . the problem could well affect you directly, and that’s why this month’s "Industry News" column may be especially useful to you.

This month, we’re reviewing steps you should take to analyze, detect, and solve Y2K problems.

FIRST: Back up what you’ve got. This is good business practice anyway, but in light of Y2K it’s downright essential. If you don’t already have a "tape backup" system you should purchase one which will cover all your corporate information. Today, some businesses are choosing CD recorders for backup. Prices are now under $400 for some models and CD-R disks are at commodity prices, like floppy diskettes. Backups should occur at least weekly, preferably overnight each night. Some software allows "incremental" backups between full backups, a good alternative which backs up only new or changed files.

SECOND: Seek advice from proven experts. Rely on technology gurus with real credentials -- folks you’ve used in the past who have satisfied you with their ability to prevent or quickly analyze and solve problems. Not everyone spends a lot of time on Y2K. If your vendors don’t measure up, ask businesses with which you’re affiliated who they recommend -- or ask your hardware / software vendors directly.

THIRD: Check with manufacturers. Dell Computer, for example, allows you to check Dell equipment over the Internet to verify year 2000 compliance. They are at www.dell.com/year2000/. IBM offers an on-line course that may be useful to some people; see it at www.ibm.com/java/education/year2000/index.htm. Sun Microsystems waxes a bit poetic on its site, saying "Like a frantic swimmer trying to escape the large jaws of a great white shark, the business community is trying to escape the inevitable January 1, 2000 date problem." Sun’s site suggests that the best solution is to buy new equipment from them, but they do acknowledge reality with some useful information about fixing/reworking existing "legacy" systems. See their Y2K site at www.sun.com/970624/cover/. Your equipment vendor’s website may have information of real value to you.

FOURTH: Do it NOW. If you haven’t already started to take Y2K seriously, do it now. It’s entirely possible that many smaller businesses with new PC hardware have little to worry about, but unless you verify that, you’re literally gambling with your livelihood and with all your critical corporate data. As the calendar advances, the cost of Y2K expertise will rise exponentially. You should start now!

* * *

Where do you want to go tomorrow?

Where Technology is Headed in the 21st Century

Ever since Nostradamus predicted a series of cataclysmic events hundreds of years before they started to happen, futurists have been foretelling where we’re going and how we’ll get there. Jules Verne, George Orwell, and hundreds of others have done it.

Usually, their readers or adherents forget their predictions or die long before predictions are realized. But today, technology is advancing so fast, everything seems to be happening long before it’s expected to. . .

This is the first in a series of articles describing some elements of where we’re going.

Smart Toilets, Dumb Terminals

It’s an era of "smart toilets and dumb terminals," reports the New York State Technology Enterprise Corporation (NYSTEC) in a recent article published on the Web. Today’s most modern porcelain bathroom appliances are in updated airports, where they flush automatically -- supposedly to save water. The NYSTEC reports that future "smart" toilets will be connected to the Internet, not so users can log on while, er, occupied there, but so chemical analyses can be performed and the occupier’s doctor notified automatically should anything be amiss. (This really is on the Web! How could something like this be made up?)

Pacific Bell several years ago described the breakfast table of the future as a large multiscreen Internet terminal. Instead of talking, each member of the family sitting at the breakfast table consumes corn flakes or scrambled eggs while tuning in to a favorite newspaper Web site, which appears on a rugged flat-panel easel set behind their meal. The objective: catch up on the latest news from Sri Lanka or St. Louis, Milan or Minneapolis, without getting any newsprint on your hands.

More seriously, perhaps nowhere has the effect of the Internet been more important than on medical care. Compaq’s LinkWorks software and similar products enable remotely located surgeons to share patient data securely and to consult on urgent cases regardless of location. Doctors salmon fishing in Alaska, for instance, can use Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to receive MRI or CAT-scan images of patients and offer life-saving advice, all by way of a local call (even a cellular call from a boat on a mountain lake).

Moreover, future satellite telephone "hookups," which eliminate the need for ugly cell towers, mean our doctor can be anywhere -- even 1,000 miles from the nearest cell site -- and be able to collaborate on diagnoses as if he’s bedside. And it means you and I can simply work as if we were sitting right in our offices -- even when we’re really "on vacation." (Whether this constitutes "progress" is another matter.)

VPNs, Extranets, and Intranets will make it happen.

* * * 

Doing Business Online In The 21st Century

Successfully executing e-commerce solutions requires companies to identify customer targets; create customer-focused strategies; and convince their targets to buy. For their part, consumers using e-commerce expect fast, accurate service, quality products and privacy.

E-Commerce offers consumers several advantages over traditional shopping:

Designing Effective Web Sites

Doing business on the Web requires not only a great-looking, thoroughly customer-oriented Web site, but also one that’s recognized by the hottest search engines, so that people see your site listed in the first two or three pages of search results. However, accomplishing this isn’t easy.

Each search engine has different criteria for site listings and rankings. Wading through all this successfully and keeping your site near the top of the rankings requires technically astute site promotion and constant monitoring of the top search engines.

Have your site created by a company with a proven record of successful site promotion and impeccable references. Experienced Web designers custom-tailor online e-commerce solutions to your needs. Successful sites also load graphics and photos quickly (nobody likes waiting) and are visually stimulating. Professional graphics, "Web-friendly" colors, and Web pages that fit on computer screens without the need for excessive scrolling are also very important. Additionally, DON’T make your site copy-heavy -- very boring.

Writing Web Content That’s Worth Reading

The people who WRITE your Web site (as opposed to those who CODE it) should be marketing pros who take the time to get to know your business, customers and products in order to write clear, benefits-oriented text addressing your customers’ needs and wants. Work with your writers and site construction crew to be sure your keywords are accurate and that your site works from three important perspectives:

  1. It attracts real prospective customers.
  2. It holds them long enough to communicate key messages.
  3. It closes deals OR facilitates customer-to-company sales contacts.

Consumer-focused Web sites earn repeat visits and satisfied surfers refer others. According to the Wisconsin Visitors Bureau, every person who enjoys a positive e-commerce shopping experience is likely to tell three people, but dissatisfied customers tell 17 people.

Finally, to encourage repeat visits, update your site frequently with new information, products, graphics, etc. In your site, ask for feedback and use it to tailor your site closely to the evolving needs of your prospects and customers. Updating and regular maintenance is just one of the many areas where SOFTEACH can help you.

 * * *

E-Commerce: The "new" Multi-Billion-Dollar Industry

A bit more than four years ago, a state-of-the-art modem transferred data from PCs to the Internet at the breakneck pace of 2,400 bps. Faster speeds were almost unimaginable -- yet today, 56,000 bps modems are becoming commonplace. Cable modems offer about ten times that speed in many locations.

Recently, British electrical engineer Paul Brown proved that voice and data can travel over ordinary electric lines, which means power companies could offer "cheap" phone and data services to any electric user in direct competition with traditional telecommunications companies, says The Wall Street Journal. Speed: one megabit per second, 20 times that of most high-speed telephone-based modems. The connection is always turned on, like electricity. Market introductions are underway in Europe. Some big players are involved in the technology, including Canada’s Northern Telecom, which has partnered with Brown’s employer, Britain’s Norweb Communications.

This explosive growth in bandwidth over the last several years and simplified access have made the use of the World Wide Web as a marketing tool explode:

• Telecommunications powerhouse Cisco Systems last year sold $3.2 billion via electronic commerce;

• Dell Computer, which has no traditional store-based channels, did $1.01 billion in e-commerce sales in 1997, according to Simba Information’s Electronic Advertising & Marketplace Report newsletter;

• Digital Equipment Corp., recently acquired by Compaq, saw Internet sales grow 313% from $230 million in 1996 to $950 million in 1997, according to internetnews.com.

Although electronic commerce has long been the nearly exclusive domain of large business-to-business enterprises, it is small-business and consumer sites which now are experiencing phenomenal growth. The remarkable success, in volume shipment terms, of Internet bookseller "amazon.com" no doubt played a role in influencing the creation of "barnesandnoble.com," enabling traditional bookseller Barnes & Noble to compete on Amazon’s own Internet turf. Partly responsible is the speed of the newest modems and the simplicity and ease of shopping on the World Wide Web.

Some pundits suggest that stores will become obsolete. Purchases of wedding gowns and vintage automobiles over the Web are the forerunner of the 21st century business paradigm, they say -- a world community in which anyone can buy or sell almost anything to people anywhere thanks to the Web. Regardless of whether e-commerce becomes a "paradigm," it unquestionably already is a global reality, with billions of dollars in sales.

• How should you position your business to take advantage of what the World Wide Web will offer in the future?

• How will your selling opportunities expand via e-commerce in the years ahead?

• What will the technology look like and how will customers use it?

 * * *

Changing the Way We Buy/Sell:

the E-Commerce Revolution

Except for visionaries tucked away in computer labs years ago, few of us imagined the impact the Internet would have on American business and on us. . .

Moreover, changes traceable to the Internet have only just begun. American business has jumped on the Internet not merely with sites on the Web, but also with e-commerce solutions: secure electronic technology which enables companies to sell hundreds of millions of dollars in products to customers worldwide.

Commercial e-commerce users range from Fortune 100 behemoths to small specialty operations. Although e-commerce has become a competitive necessity, it’s not new. Major business-to-business players, particularly in technology, have been selling via e-commerce for years.

There are many advantages. "It’s far more current than a paper brochure in the field," comments Peg Donovan, former head of Digital Equipment’s product information database. Database information fuels Web presence for Digital, now merging with Compaq. "The Web is a major demand generation vehicle for us," Donovan says. "We use solution selling, enabling prospects to configure systems to meet their criteria for technology, performance, and cost, all on the Web. It really works well."

E-commerce also is having a huge impact on travel marketing. In a recent InformationWeek magazine article, Karen Askey, senior VP of consumer markets at Preview Travel, an online travel agency, said the Web-based travel agency model avoids all the financial challenges now being faced by traditional travel agents. "We partner with airlines and provide them volume; they give us net fares with cost savings we pass on to our customers." Widely promoted Preview is one of a number of online travel services.

Online marketers are benefiting from growing public confidence in Internet security – that is, the belief that new encryption techniques will prevent theft of private information such as credit-card numbers.

Larry Schnitt, who owns The Barn Christmas Shoppes (www.ho-ho.com), is constructing a new secure Web site which will sell Christmas-related products directly to Web-surfing consumers. "My Web site, like all reputable sites selling directly, will use the latest commercially available encryption technology to prevent any problems," Schnitt says. "There’s virtually no likelihood of theft of any private information."

In the InformationWeek article, Charles Finnie, managing director at investment house Volpe Brown Whelan & Co., declared, "The medium has fundamentally shifted power away from vendors and toward the customer. The buyer can leave immediately with one click of the mouse if he’s not happy with what’s on screen. It’s much easier for the vendor to hold the customer captive and suck as much money out of his pockets as he can in the off-line world because the customer may have driven 20 minutes to come to the store. On the Web, it’s one click. . .and he’s gone."

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Positioning Your Business for 

the Future of E-Commerce

Runaway e-commerce successes, like discount airline and Web auction sites, reinforce a simple, venerable axiom: orienting what you’re offering toward the needs of your customers goes a long way toward ensuring success. Three other axiomatic factors - location, location, location - are a "problem" the Web solves by delivering immediate worldwide accessibility.

An expanding world of selling opportunities. According to Forrester Research, "online shopping" by only 5% of American households last year totaled $2.4 billion. This year, sales are expected to top $4.4 billion, and in 2001, $17.4 billion.

Data security is disappearing as a roadblock to e-business growth. As E-Business magazine notes, "...the sale of clothing, groceries and other consumer products over the Net is increasing. We will see more retail entities joining the fray, but worldwide implementation of SET is needed to [make it happen]. "(SET is Secure Electronic Transaction, a trademarked Visa/Mastercard protocol which is a symbol for genuinely secure Web-based purchases.)

Positioning your business. If you sell a product which people anywhere can use, and if you currently accept credit cards, it’s no huge leap for you to begin selling on the Web. You’re simply extending that at which you’re already successful.

Creating a Web site, properly organizing it, and submitting it to search engines successfully is a subject for another day, but the key here is to know what differentiates your business and to market that differentiation. One way of doing this involves using "tags" containing keywords which, when registered with search engines, enable your business to be differentiated and your site to be seen in searches and listed in search results.

Once prospects enter your site, it must give them the products, service, navigational ease, and "fun" they seek. Techweb.com (CMP net) and many other sites give you detailed information on setting up shop on the Web. Tap proven professional Web-design expertise. It pays dividends you can bank on.

Future technology. Ever-faster modems are speeding the convergence of the Web, TV, and both entertainment and sales channels. Companies involved in e-business and their customers will benefit from these technologies, which will enable customized video product demos and sales presentations.

For example, let’s say in the future you connect to a computer superstore Web site looking to buy office systems. You watch a demo of the latest Mac, but you have one burning question: How do you take the cover off? You ask that question aloud and then see a live response. This is a capability that can be extended to your business. You can demonstrate and sell products on the Web to genuine prospects, worldwide, around the clock.

Technological advances will let you watch tomorrow morning’s news in Tokyo on your desktop PC before you leave your office tonight, or buy and sell foreign stock before Wall Street opens. But perhaps the most promising developments involve families. While on business overseas, you can remain connected to your family. You fire up your wireless, video-enabled, one-pound mini-laptop and call home. Seconds later, you’re talking to your spouse and kids and seeing them as clearly as on home video. What’s more, you can still go shopping together - on the Web - although you’re thousands of miles apart!

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                                Tunnel, Anyone?

You may have seen or heard the term, "Virtual Private Networking" or VPN, also known as "tunneling." It's how many corporations are delivering secure network access to their far-flung legions ­ sales and service people, engineers, executives, and telecommuters.

For years, large corporations have supported private networks consisting of dedicated lines between fixed points. Some have established remote POPs, or points of presence, in areas where employees frequently travel, so they can remotely call into the network access server. But POPs require a huge investment in infrastructure, maintenance, upgrades, and dedicated lines. Moreover, they can't be everywhere.

VPNs solve that problem by leveraging traditional telephone service for secure private communications over the Internet. Using ordinary dial-up networking software, VPN users dial into their Internet Service Provider (ISP) or online service. They then start "tunneling" software such as Compaq's AltaVista Tunnel98 which creates a secure encrypted connection through the public network, through their corporate firewall, and into their corporate networks. Users enter their username and password and the software creates a "tunnel" or encrypted, secure Virtual Private Network through the Internet to their company's network. High-level encryption on both ends of the connection helps ensure security.

VPN supplier Shiva Corporation isn't reticent about VPN's benefits. According to Shiva's web site, their VPN products uniquely combine inexpensive Internet-based access with unparalleled security. The VPN reduces dependence on expensive, long distance dial-up, leased-line or frame-relay systems.

Sm@rt Reseller agrees: "Impromptu offices keep sprouting up in bedroom corners and basements ... most of them are turning to Internet connections to keep in touch. So far, so good, but Internet security is an oxymoron. To bind the new office space to the old business center, the '90s answer is VPNs...."VPNs have several advantages: significant cost savings (no dedicated long-distance lines); superior flexibility (tunneling can originate from most telephones); reduced initial capital expense; reduced maintenance costs.

The benefit to ISPs is more business since entire companies may enroll with one ISP to gain worldwide VPN access. But some ISPs are unenthusiastic. Earthlink Networks, one of the biggest ISPs, doesn't support tunneling on many of its POPs in California because, it says, VPN users there tend to spend too much time online. However, Earthlink users elsewhere are able to tunnel onto the ISP's servers uneventfully. Ask your ISP if it supports tunneling and will continue to do so. (America Online appears not to be fond of tunneling, also.)

PC Magazine offers one caution: "A VPN solution provides a smooth expansion path. You can set up your own tunneling servers or routers to encrypt and track packets sent over TCP/IP. . . The only drawback is that the connection is subject to the vagaries of the Internet."

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            Should Your Business Be Tunneling?

Last month, we explained that VPN (Virtual Private Network) "tunneling" enables corporations to deliver secure network access to their far-flung legions via the Internet.

There’s very good reason for the increased use of tunnels, as Shiva Corporation’s Gordon Burnes explains in his article, Virtual Private Networking: The Next Revolution in Corporate Productivity: "Remote access is more than a tactic to enable executives to stay in touch with their offices. It is a highly strategic weapon in the increasingly competitive global economy. . . . However, scaling remote access to an international level presents IS managers with the prospect of very high telecommunications costs. The ability to dial in to a local, toll-free phone number to connect to the corporate network is not available overseas; instead an expensive international phone call is required. . . Enter the Internet."

Regardless of the size of your company, if traveling associates need relatively inexpensive, secure remote access, tunneling through the Internet -- or Virtual Private Networking -- is the only real game in town.

In an article for Midrange Computing, Dr. Jeff Jilg describes the three basic types of VPN solutions. They are:

Users’ Perspective

"Tunneling is easy," comments one heavy user who travels frequently. Consulting for a Fortune 100 computer company, this Windows 95 laptop user spent less than 1/2 hour setting up tunneling on his two year-old laptop:

"I sign on to an ISP or even America Online, anywhere," he says. "I click on my tunnel software, key in my password, and that’s it. I just start up my Intranet applications and get to work. It’s that simple."

The Importance of Interoperability

Although the examples cited earlier regard ubiquitous IBM AS/400 host systems, Virtual Private Networking infrastructures are available for virtually every type of host system. Regardless of your platform, be careful to include Interoperability in your deliberations. VPN protocols are still evolving, so "choose a vendor . . . focused on long-term support for its product. With this strategy, it is likely that the vendor will provide upward-compatible products in the future, delivering support for future scalability and enhancements to the solution you choose," Jilg says.

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Ilene: It's A Wonderful High-Tech Life, Part 1

From the Editor: Although "Ilene" is fictitious, all the products and services noted here are real. "Ilene" is no Bill Gates, but she does know how to take advantage of available technologies. . .

5:10 am: Ah, awakened by the smell of fresh Colombian coffee brewing downstairs, gentle music on the Bose, and my lava lamp shimmering next to the TV. Love those timers!

5:30 am: As I extricate myself from the loveliness of a long, hot shower, I sense that my automatic thermostat has indeed warmed the house from its overnight 64 to 68...nice.

5:35 am: That first cup of coffee went fast. It’s snowing. Bummer. Looks like I’ll have to work from home. My Jag does everything but shovel & ice skate. Maybe I’ll drive in later. Let’s see, where’d I put those English muffins...

5:55 am: Ah, good: the chimes from my Wireless Guest Announcer tell me the paperboy has tossed the morning paper near the front door, right around 6 a.m. as usual. The chimes tell me I won’t have to go hunting in the bushes for my paper today.

6:05 am: As I finish scanning the paper, my Wireless Motion Alert tells me my snow blower has been moved from the garage by Fred, the retired guy next door. When Fred had first entered my driveway, my motion detectors lighted it, so he won’t have to shovel in the dark. Glad he moved here to Pennsylvania from Fargo and misses the snow...

6:15 am: My PC, always on thanks to DSL, upgraded and defragmented itself over night, downloaded news from a bunch of sources I preselected, and sent scheduled mail to people with whom I’m collaborating on different projects (I design chemical plants, mostly via the Internet). Received the long-awaited feedback from my collaborators in Singapore.

6:25 am: Fred did a great job on the driveway, and the electric heat coils in the asphalt, which I control from another wireless device in the house, will keep it dry in this snowstorm. Web-based banking will pay Freddie his regularly scheduled monthly fee, automatically.

7:11 am: Right on time, my system automatically sets up and connects my Virtual Private Network (tunnel) to the server in Singapore, right through AOL so I have a local dialup. I installed Terminator so AOL can’t boot me off while I’m tunneling, either. On the Singapore server, I see where my associates have left comments on several design elements. Their annotations will be very helpful.

7:12 am: Need the latest version of Lotus Notes software, since the collaborators upgrade January 1; I go to softwarestreet.com, which I found at shopping-sites.com. They have 2000+ copies of Notes, which means no backorders, so I order one. FedEx, two days. . .

7:16 am: Back in the tunnel. I use my system-resident CAD software to make necessary design changes. Maybe I’ll just "rent" the next CAD upgrade on a per-use basis over the web.

7:19 am: Sent CPA e-mail about deductibility considerations of renting versus owning software.

8:14 am: New desk is wobbling. I think one leg is short. I go to the Staples web site and order a return/replacement. I also order a new desk pad (I didn’t know they still made those), rewritable CDs for my weekly overnight automated backups, and a new whiteboard, eraser, and dry erase markers so I can keep track of my December priorities (not everything is automated!).

8:21 am: Power is out! Another fried squirrel in the lines? I power down my PC since its uninterruptible power supply won’t last forever, and I fire up my ThinkPad with its cellular adaptor. In minutes I’m working again, back on the tunnel, by candlelight and dim light from outside, designing for the next century. I have six hours of battery time on each of two batteries. (I get 1500 minutes cell talk time a month for $125.)

8:22 am: I check hondagenerators.com and find a dealer just over the border in NJ. I order a generator by e-mail...why did I not do that before?

8:40 am: Power back on! I crank up the heat (remotely overriding the auto thermostat from my desk). Break time, so I go to Peapod on my desktop and order groceries and fire logs. Unique chime sounds . . . must be my annoying neighbor, Philomena, driving through the gate 500 feet from the house, through the woods. Zap! All my lights are out and I sit by my PC, lava lamp lighting my keyboard. The "beast" is successfully ignored. Life is good.

11:15 am: Peapod order arrives. Fred, whom I beeped when the truck entered the drive, is already here to put it away. Some day they will have to automate putting away, it’s so disruptive, don’t you think?

11:25 am: PC switches to the TV monitor mode and I see The Weather Channel expects the snow to stop soon. FedEx delivers my heated desk chair, and Fred sets it up. Its warmth is a fine counterpoint to the distant sound of smashing fenders out on the icy street. I look on the monitor to see remote video of the street; nobody I know is involved, so I relax.

11:50 am: Last preps for conference call to west coast. I fax out for garlic and refried bean pizza, with fruitcake for dessert. (Someone has to eat it. My aunt made it.)

2:27 pm: Conference call (VoIP, voice over IP) concludes, so I recheck airline sites to see if there are lower fares now for my upcoming trip to Singapore. I find one, then go to priceline.com to get something lower. I write e-mails to everyone collaborating on the project to tell them my itinerary, but I withhold mailing until I have a reservation. . .

2:35 pm: After a cold pizza and trail mix lunch, I pay Fred and my pizza guy from my bank’s web site. I buy stamps on the web and plop my Toy Story 2 DVD into my PC. Shortly, as I watch Oprah on my monitor, a message flashes on-screen that an incoming call is my friend Rob. I hope he’s still buying the sashimi tonight...so I answer the call. Meanwhile, I use my Ocelot controller to water the plants in the greenhouse, raise the temperature in the aquarium (how can I raise fish and still eat sashimi?), open the drapes (the sun is out), and tune down Oprah while drawing a bath for my Dobermans, Caesar and Brutus, who are in the guest house. (Fred will wash them; he loves the dogs.) He’ll be over at 2:45; I see him via my remote monitor coming down the driveway.

2:45 pm: Rob and I agree to 8 o’clock. Must return to work...My AT&T phone with the Dreyfus w-trade Wireless Trading System signals that some of my selected stocks have hit sell levels; I press a few buttons on the digital wireless PCS and voila, stocks sold. A few more presses and other selected stocks are bought. I love wireless...

5:40 pm: "Turn on the fireplace," I command, and my Homebase Intelligent Home Controller obliges. "Close the living room curtains," bang, they’re closed. Outside lights went on at dusk automatically (photocells). But I still light my own incense...

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Ilene: It's A Wonderful High-Tech Life, Part 2

From the Editor: Although "Ilene" is fictitious, all the products and services noted here are real. Scroll down to read complete article.

Sunday, 5:15 am: Another cold midwinter morning in Pennsylvania, but my autocommand remote control car starter starts up my Jaguar S-type V8. It will be toasty in minutes!

5:25 am: It’s off to the airport with my laptop, AT&T CellCard®-enabled cell phone, PDA (personal digital assistant), and lots of facts crammed into my brain that should be on my PDA and laptop.

5:35 am: Pheasant Lane is blocked by a collision, so I seek an alternate route to my friend Rob’s by using my Jag’s integrated navigation system. It uses satellite Global Positioning System (GPS) signals to calculate where I am and recommend alternatives. "Call Rob at home," I bark, and the Jag’s voice activation system completes my telephone call. The same system lets me control the car’s temperature, change radio stations, or play CDs with voice commands. I never did like fumbling with dials and buttons instead of keeping my hands on the wheel!

5:45 am: I park the Jag at Rob’s and, as planned, he drives me to the airport. (My Jag has LoJack, the automatic electronic stolen car recovery system, which worked fine last time I flew: the car was stolen from the airport. Once is enough!)

6:15 am: Checked in at the airport awaiting my flight, I power up the PDA and discover that I forgot to take the dogs, Caesar and Brutus, to the vet. So I crank up my laptop, make a wireless connection to the ’net, and e-mail Rob, who groans but handles it. I reply to e-mails from Singapore with meeting agenda changes confirming that I’ll be there. And I agree to slight design changes which cut costs, improve manufacturability, but look ugly. Finally, I switch to the PDA and key in some meeting notes and aesthetic design ideas to discuss with the Japanese, for whom the plant is being built.

4:00 pm: Flying over the Pacific nearing the International Date Line, I’ve napped, updated my meeting schedules on the PDA, and re-thought those design changes. I assembled cosmetic changes with my Piping Design Software which will up costs slightly but make the design less ugly. The plant is for Japan, so ugly is not going to work. Since we’re close enough to Hawaii to use the dataport on my airline seat, I e-mail AND fax my documents to Japan – just to be sure.

8:00 am: I wake up at my Singapore hotel hopelessly victimized by jet lag (arrival was very fuzzy), but I see that I left my laptop hooked up to my Virtual Private Network overnight. Tokyo, I soon learn, thinks the plant design is still not aesthetically "balanced." Why do those guys work such long hours? So I manipulate shapes and colors and shielding – nothing substantive – and send it back marked "urgent," asking for an immediate reply. I send them an Excel spreadsheet illustrating how this "balanced" design will cost them another $2.6 million because of technical changes it requires. And I order breakfast.

8:25 am: Shower complete, I emerge and minutes later sign for breakfast. Tokyo hasn’t replied so I use my laptop’s voice recognition software to dictate an e-mail to them, and I copy my collaborators who are already in the office here in Singapore. Then I correct the e-mail’s mistakes; voice recognition has a way to go. I add a suggestion for a video conference THIS MORNING with Tokyo...we need to "read" their expressions and have them get a human, visual message from us. Minutes later, my Singapore collaborators agree. I update the PDA.

9:55 am: Now in the office, the team agrees that Tokyo must adopt the "ugly" plan, so we e-mail it back to them with subtle color changes to make it visually less unappealing. It will save them $2.6 million in design, construction, and maintenance, and the ugliest parts can be easily shielded from view.

10:00 am: At the video conference, the Japanese see our sincerity about these changes and like our hand-drawn sketches of the artistic shields we envision. They also balk at spending another $2.6 million. They hold up the spreadsheet to the camera – the one that illustrates these cosmetic changes are a waste of money. They tell us the spreadsheet is what really sold them on our original design, the ugly one. Good! (The spreadsheet was created from an automatically generated bill of materials from the CAD design itself.)

10:26 am: My special overseas AT&T-CellCard-enabled phone rings, and it’s Rob. Caesar bit the vet, and an ice storm knocked a branch through my Jag’s front window. (My private cell phone number from home can reach me in 85 countries with this technology. Sometimes it’s not such a blessing...) A minute after I hang up, Tokyo calls; the VPN is down, so they put a revised spreadsheet on their FTP site and I recover it from the office. We have agreed: the project moves on toward realization.

6:58 pm: The meeting lasts all day as we work on other elements of the plant design before releasing it for final signoff. We need dinner – but someplace different for a change. We check www.at-singapore.com.sg and www.feasting.com on my laptop for ideas.

7:40 pm: Tired of Sumatran and Indonesian food (especially tired of Indonesian Fish Head Asam Pedas), to my delight we settle on American Chili’s (yes, the same Chili’s). I quickly and quietly e-mail Rob to tell him, yes, I escaped the fish head dinner today... we had a bet on that. This has been a very good trip -- except for the ice storm and Caesar.

Copyright, © JMB Communications, 2006 and 1999 through 2005. Prepared for Limelight PR client Softeach. Softeach owns copyrights on the final versions.