racetracks

Broadband
Continued from previous page
show its available properties mixed with
soft images, such as flowers, detail, fabrics,
furnishings, appliances and so forth,
to entice purchasers through the door to
visit and return to the Web video later to
refresh their memories.
With the bang of broadband, according
to Hosier, it is still uncertain as to
whether video is selling products locally.
“This (online video selling products) is
still to be seen or proven locally,”
observes Hosier. “Recently, presidential
candidate Howard Dean proved the
value of good marketing with a good
Web site. In two important ways, Dean’s
Web site allowed people to hear about
his campaign by watching a video and
the ability to download speeches and
material in a variety of formats.”
As for the costs of broadband and its
associated advantages, like offering video
on your Web site, Mengel explains,“The
two biggest costs are development and
bandwidth. Developing high quality
audio and video for download is much
more costly than editing a few images
and tossing them up on a Web site.
Bandwidth is also a large concern.”
Web hosting companies put a monthly
cap on the amount of data that can be
downloaded from a hosted site.
“For example, if you offer a 10 megabyte
video file for download, and have a one
gigabyte monthly limit on downloads,
that file can only be accessed 100 times
before you’ve reached your limit,”
explains Mengel.
“Hosting companies will charge Web
site owners for transfers above their
monthly allotment. With some sites taking
hundreds of thousands of hits a day,
the amount of bandwidth needed to
cater to broadband customers can be
staggering and costly,” he cautions.
Managing broadband is also another
concern for businesses. Companies
need to learn about digital rights management,
billing systems, ad insertion,
player licenses and storage space, not
to mention network latency and bandwidth
management.
“In the current economy, I believe
cost-cutting is outweighing the benefits
associated with a professional
Web site with all the bells and whistles,”
says Hosier.
“Businesses would, of course, do well
to keep in mind that dial-up is still very
prevalent, and won’t be going away anytime
soon,” Mengel says.
Other local ISPs also offer broadband
services to residential and business
accounts. For example,Adelphia offers
Business Solutions Dedicated Internet
Services and Epix offers high speed
access via Jack Flash DSL.
Total US Broadband Users in Millions
45.00
40.00
35.00
30.00
25.00
20.00
15.00
10.00
5.00
0.00
Dec-99
Jan-00
Feb-00
Mar-00
Apr-00
May-00
Jun-00
Jul-00
Aug-00
Sep-00
Oct-00
Nov-00
Dec-00
Jan-01
By Andrew Ohrman
Broadband Trend
Broadband Usage Trend
Instant messaging becoming more
appealing among business people
Feb-01
Mar-01
Apr-01
May-01
Jun-01
Jul-01
Aug-01
Sep-01
Oct-01
Nov-01
Dec-01
Jan-02
Feb-02
Mar-02
Apr-02
May-02
Jun-02
Jul-02
Aug-02
Sep-02
Oct-02
Nov-02
Dec-02
Jan-03
Feb-03
Mar-03
Apr-03
May-03
Jun-03
Jul-03
Month
Total U.S. Broadband Users (in Millions)
KEY ISP
FEATURES FOR
SMALL BUSINESS
(One to 100 workers)
■ Always-on unlimited broadband service
(ADSL, SDSL, T1) at 1.5Mbps or faster.
■ Support for Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Notes,
and other corporate e-mail programs; instant
messaging.
■ Multiple static IP addresses for Web and e-
mail servers and for supporting VPNs.
■ Multiple e-mailboxes, domain name registration
and hosting, Web hosting.
■ Security services: antispam, antivirus, firewall
protection (at workstation or server level).
■ E-commerce services: Web site design and
hosting (self-build and custom), shopping carts,
catalogs, real-time credit card processing, SSL
security, support for FrontPage extensions and
Microsoft Access.
■ Network integration services; onsite hardware
and software installation, configuration, and
management (servers, routers, firewall); connecting
multiple offices and remote users.
■ 24/7 tech support; onsite service.
Source: CNET Editors’ ISP Buying Guide, August 18,
2003, www.cnet.com
Most free instant messaging software provides little or no
security from outside eavesdropping by Internet hackers, and it
lacks efficient, network-wide archiving features. This is why feebased
proprietary instant messaging software is better suited
for businesses, says Chuck Lundquist of MWISP.NET (www.
mwisp.net), located in Carbondale.
Just when business adapts to one form
of computer technology such as e-mail, a
relatively new, specialized form of social
software known as “instant messaging”
(IM) challenges the way business is done.
Instant messaging first gained notoriety
as a special feature of America Online,
used by teenagers as a fun, convenient
way to text chat with each other.
Despite security and archival concerns,
instant messaging is sneaking into the
work place as a communication tool used
by adults. The type of instant messaging
software that corporations permit on
their PCs can be a great productivity
booster, or a way for employees to waste
time and potentially risk exposure of sensitive
information to eavesdropping hackers
on the Internet.
What is so appealing about this popular
teenage software that has it infiltrating
finance, medicine, government, and even
the aerospace fields?
Several things, according to Rich Rippon
of NetVoice Services (www.nvds.com),
located in Clarks Summit, make instant
messaging appealing among professionals:
■ First, instant messaging is a lot easier
and literally “instant,” without any delays
like regular e-mail.
■ Second, instant messaging software
displays a list of users currently available
to chat.Try doing that with a busy telephone,
or hiking throughout the company
building looking in offices for coworkers
available to talk.
■ Third, group-style chat meetings
are possible any time, anywhere with
the ability to send files and even utilize
voice and video.
On the flip side, instant messaging can be
a significant hindrance and security risk for
businesses, when employees do their own
unauthorized installations of free instant
messaging software on their company’s PCs
without the company’s knowledge.
Productivity can be affected when an
employee spends excessive amounts of
time chatting with friends and family on
the Internet.
Another black mark against most free
instant messaging software is that it
provides little or no security from outside
eavesdropping by Internet hackers,
and it lacks efficient, network-wide
archiving features.
Chuck Lundquist of MWISP.NET (www.
mwisp.net), located in located in Carbondale,
points out that this is exactly why
fee-based proprietary instant messaging
software is better suited for businesses.
Software packages like Ariolic Software’s
NTPager or Sonork’s Enterprise
Instant Messenger are proprietary instant
messaging solutions that provide robust
security, and easily implemented and scalable
network-wide archiving.
Most importantly, these packages can
limit users text chatting to coworkers
and colleagues within the company
network, thereby focusing the attention
of employees on work instead of
family and friends.
Government and corporate policies
often mandate storage of many kinds of
correspondence, including IMs and any
accompanying legal disclaimers.
Even if a company purchases secure,
easily archivable proprietary IM software,
issues of space requirements on network
servers and the additional network
administrative duties for satisfying these
government and corporate regulations
raise additional questions.
However, Lundquist confidently states,
“In general, legal disclaimers can be easily
and automatically tacked onto any relevant
e-mail or instant message. Archival
space for referencing e-mail and instant
messages is really no longer a concern.
Since IMs and any included disclaimers
are just plain text and don’t have bulky
attachments, physical space for such correspondence
are minimal.”
For example, almost 300 IMs could fit
on a single 3 1/2 inch floppy diskette;
and a single 20 GB (gigabyte) hard drive
of an average PC or Mac could easily hold
millions of IMs (based on a 5K (kilobyte)
file size for one IM).
The real challenge for network administrators,
according to Lundquist is coordinating
and planning archival routines during
the initial “spin-up” phase of a company’s
evaluation and/or adoption of a particular
instant messaging software package.
Once archival and disclaimer add routines
are developed and in place, an administrator’s
work is considerably automated.
The hard fact is that instant messaging
is here to stay, so business needs to
address and adapt to the proliferation of
instant messaging on its own networks,
because, like a double-sided sword, IM
can either increase productivity by making
communication among colleagues
and coworkers considerably more efficient;
or it can subvert your business by
giving your employees a tool for unknowingly
leaking sensitive information while
they waste time kibitzing with family and
friends from their “buddy” lists.
NORTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA BUSINESS JOURNAL • SEPTEMBER 2003 • 18