Mary Jackson Pitts, Ph.D.

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The internet a byte or two of history

By Paul Waits , COO Ritter Communications, Jonesboro, AR

ØPacket data communications was a military need during cold war era

► the connectionless, “hot potato” analogy

► Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) of the U.S. Department of Defense

Ø The computer scientists using it realized that assisting human communication was the most fundamental advance that the ARPANET made possible

► not networks connecting computers but a network to connect people using computers to mediate

The internet a byte or two of history

•The invention of the GUI: computing made easy

• HTML, Mosaic and the World Wide Web

• Mid-1990s: Internet goes private

• Rise and fall of Netscape; MS Domination

• The dot.com craze and fall from grace

Who are the participants who constitute the Internet?

•Users - connected to the net and interacting with it;

•The communications lines and the communications equipment;

•The intermediaries (suppliers of on-line information or access providers);

•Hardware manufacturers;

•Software authors and manufacturers (browsers, site development tools, specific applications, smart agents, search engines and others);

•The "Hitchhikers" (search engines, smart agents, etc.);

•Content producers and providers, graphic designers, etc.;

•Suppliers of financial wherewithal (corporate and institutional cash gradually being replaced by advertising money).

• Out of 6.3 billion people, 680 million have access to the Internet (10.7%).

• Of these, about 262 million, or 35.6% speak English.

• 64.4% (474 million) of those on-line are non-English-speaking cultures; roughly split between Asian and European.

• Better than half of the English-speaking world has access to the Internet.

• Only about 8% of the non-English people are on-line.

Three analogies spring to mind when contemplating the Internet:

•A chaotic library

•A neural network or the latter day equivalent of previous networks (telegraph, telephony, railways)

•A new continent

•MS Dominance not all bad

► common interfaces & file formats

► application integration

► facilitation of distribution & collaboration

• Email evolves as killer app.

► Real-time, global and asynchronous

• Current Trends

► Narrowband to Broadband access

► Mobile Internet appliances/applications

► Application sharing; distributed computing

► Instant messaging; unified messaging

► Edutainment; lines blurring among media

Internet for your business

ØUnregulated, open medium for real-time, world-wide communications

► nothing like it since satellites brought world news into the living room

►

Ø Small business now can access global market w/o global organization

The front office

Advertising via web “store front”

► why the web?

Web site considerations

•not a panacea for marketing

• usually not a stand-alone media, complements other media

• search engines, registration and meta-data

• must adapt to best practice for specific product, service or process

• can it be digitized? e.g., information, software, music, etc.

• can you present it on a computer?

• can you ship it? (net win for FedEx and UPS)

• who is your market?`

The internet front office

ØAdvertising via web “store front”

► why the web?

Ø Affinity marketing

Ø Direct marketing

► spam or opt-in email

Ø Marketing research

Ø Portals and banners; pop-ups and blockers

Ø Up-sell and Cross-sell: web-based care

The internet… back office

ØBack office functions

► order taking, tracking and fulfillment

► transaction processing/payment

► billing, inquiry and customer care

► trouble reporting and resolution

Ø Extending the computing environment

► LANs, WANs, VPNs

• from SOHO to Enterprise

► distributed computing

• application distribution: the www browser

• from ISP to ASP

Ø Media and network integration: SIP & VoIP

• The internet and other stuff

Education & Training

• Recruiting

• Finance & Investor Relations

• Government Relations & Compliance

• Research & Planning

• Travel

• Church and Charity

• Crime

• News, weather and virtual clippings

• Games

• Medicine

Cybercommunities exit only

Transcend traditional boundaries of space, time, culture, race, religion, physical infirmities, etc.

•

The net has irrevocably placed humanity on a fast track toward globalization . . .