NEW INTERNET BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES

'New Trajectories of the Internet' Pragmatically Assesses Trends and What's Needed to Succeed in the Internet's Next Phase


NEW YORK, April 25, 2001 -- Although the Internet bubble has burst, the net still offers many new opportunities and uses for businesses seeking to take advantage of it, asserts an insightful new study being issued in May 2001.

"New Trajectories of the Internet: Umbrellas, Traction, Lift and Other Phenomena" by U.S. information technology consultant Stephen E. Arnold provides a forward-looking road map to these business opportunities, pay-offs and risks, and advice on how to take advantage of them.

The new, 250-page report by Mr. Arnold, a leading authority in database design and online systems, is his fifth over the last 10 years to track the Internet's development. "The Internet was and remains 'cool,'" Mr. Arnold says. But as the Internet enters its third decade, he adds, "New trajectories for the Internet have emerged ... The interest now is in what people really want." "The joy ride is not over," he also notes, "but the requirements for getting one's hand on the throttle are now different."

The report observes that "three metaphors or figures of speech capture the spirit of the change." The words, "plucked from the tidal wave of Internet and venture capital and management consulting neologisms,"are "umbrellas," "traction" and "lift." "They suggest where the Internet is going in the next 12 to 36 months."

Placing equal emphasis on technology and business strategy, "New Trajectories of the Internet" answers such questions as:

  • What business models give a business traction -- the ability to deliver on promises of cost reduction and revenue enhancement?
  • What are the key factors in developing repeat users in an organization?
  • What does the new computing paradigm look like? How will peer-to-peer technologies be used by enterprises to reduce costs?
  • What are the four stages in an intranet or Internet service's expansion?
  • What are the service and cost realities of building network services via the Application Service Provider (ASP) approach?

The report covers portals, personalization, intranets, knowledge management and content management, among other trends. Its focus on business principles and its succinct, clear explanations of important new technologies means that senior executives, Internet entrepreneurs, software developers, consultants and information professionals as well as Internet newcomers can gain valuable insights quickly.

New Trajectories also strips much of the mythology from search and retrieval, which has become a ubiquitous Internet service. It often disappoints more than it satisfies, notes Mr. Arnold, a co-founder of the Point World Wide Web indexing service, now a part of Lycos. He reviews important new developments in indexing, searching and displaying information that are moving from test centers to the mainstream.

Stephen E. Arnold is president of Arnold Information Technology (AIT), a Louisville, Kentucky-based consulting firm specializing in technology assessment and information engineering. AIT has been involved with large-scale online systems for such organizations as US West, the Thomson Corp., John Wiley & Sons and the White House.

In 1995, Mr. Arnold was one of the three founders of the Point World Wide Web indexing service. He has been as member of the Board of Advisors to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Technical Information Service and an advisor to Kendara, an advanced search and retrieval software developer, purchased last year by Excite@Home.

A well-known commentator and lecturer, Mr. Arnold in 1989 received the Distinguished Lectureship Award from Rutgers University and the American Society for Information Science. In 1998, he received The Gale Group/Online, Inc. "Best Technical Paper" for his analysis of push technology and its impact on commercial and online business.

In April 2000, he was a featured presenter in the Special Libraries Association's Spring Video Conference on "Exploring the Possibilities of Information Portals." In February 2001, Mr. Arnold was a keynote speaker at the National Federation of Abstracting and Information Services annual conference.

Previously published studies by Mr. Arnold include "The Information Factory: a Profile of Japan's Information and Database Structure" (1991); "Internet 2000: the Path to the Total network" (1994), which the Financial Times of London called" the best book of its type available"; and "Publishing on the Internet: a New Medium for a New Millennium" (1996).

His latest study, "New Trajectories of the Internet: Umbrellas, Traction, Lift and Other Phenomena," is being published in May by Infonortics, based in Tetbury, England. The ISBN is 1-873699-73-5, and the price is $100 or, with prepayment, $85. The Infonortics fax number and addresses for ordering the study are (fax) 401-696-5627, (Web) http://www.infonortics.com and (mail) Infonortics Ltd, 15 Market Place, Tetbury, Glos. GL8 8DD, UK.

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NOTE TO EDITORS: A limited number of review copies are available; please, apply to the publisher at contact@infonortics.com. Photograph of Stephen E. Arnold is available on request to Bogart Communications. CONTACT: 212-486-0030; E-mail: bogartco@bestweb.net

Stephen E. Arnold
Arnold Information Technology,
Kentucky, USA
sa@arnoldit.com


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