Internet World mapped out
Internet World Companies hope to catch some attention and maybe even make a buck off the Net this week at Internet World '97.
Video, music, and fax technology made for the Web along with new alliances also are being featured at the Los Angeles conference as companies today begin to roll out the announcements in an attempt to create an industry buzz and turn a marketing expenditure into actual profit.
"helvetica"="" size="-1">Show highlights so far
VDOnet tomorrow will roll out what it is calling the "first video technology for the Net that approaches television quality." The commercial technology, to be available next quarter, will automatically adjust to the size of the network available. It will allow full-screen video to run at 30 frames per second over wide bandwidth.
ClariNet and InterestAlert are forging their way into the increasingly crowded market of personalized news services that deliver the goods through push technology. The service will deliver personalized news and information to ClariNet members. It also will offer a one-to-one service for companies to build channels for personalized communication with their Web site visitors. InterestAlert will use news feeds from several publications.
How about an ad with that stock quote? In another push announcement, Alpha Microsystems and Quote.com are teaming up to create what they're calling a "push/pull partnership" in which Alpha's StockVue software will pull financial data from Quote.com and push the information, along with advertising, to StockVue users.
inCommon, creator of push media delivery system, Downtown, will introduce technology, developed in partnerships with companies like NetGravity, WiseWare, and Informix that will capture "previously untrackable advertising and user demographic information," according to the company. The full announcement is expected Thursday.
Continuing its expansion on the Web, Lexis-Nexis today announced that it will bring its information retrieval system, Requester, to the Web, allowing quick searches of thousands of publications.
"helvetica"="" size="-1">Bigwigs will be there
Other than choice announcements, the show will feature keynotes by by Apple chief executive Gil Amelio, Digital Equipment chief executive Robert Palmer, Intel vice president Frank Gill, IBM vice president John Patrick, and Progressive Networks CEO Rob Glaser.
There will be more than 600 exhibitors taking over 600,000 square feet at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
Industry leaders Microsoft and Netscape will figure prominently, of course. Microsoft will provide more details on the features of its forthcoming Internet Explorer 4.0 browser, according to a company spokeswoman. The company is expected to release the first public beta version of the browser next week, sources said.
Netscape chief technology officer Marc Andreessen will discuss his vision for the future of networked applications and Netscape's direction for its next-generation Internet client and server products. The company will be showcasing its so-called Extranet.
Intel will demonstrate its videophone, smart video recorder, and Intel Media for Java, among other products.
"helvetica"="" size="-1">Java to be served strong
Novell and Sun Microsystems' JavaSoft division plan to announce they will collaborate on new appplication programming interfaces for Java technology related to intranets. JavaSoft also will announce a number of vendors that intend to support its Java Development Kit 1.1.
JavaSoft also will announce the Java Runtime Environment (JRE), a free package aimed at builders of Java applications that work independent of Web browsers. The JRE is a subset of the Java develpment kit (JDK) 1.1, and includes the Java Virtual Machine and class libraries. Developers can bundle the JRE with their applications without having to bundle the larger JDK. The JRE will be available by the end of March.
Information Builders will be announcing WebFocus 2.0, a Java-based graphing tool for generating pie charts and graphs in online reports. Finjan Software will announce four additional firewall vendors are joining the Java Security Alliance, a group of firewall companies that will employ Finjan's applet scanning technology.
"helvetica"="" size="-1">E-commerce another hot topic
AT&T will introduce an Internet micropayments system which allows buyers to make online purchases of $10 or under; the company will also name a financial institution that it is partnering with to promote Internet commerce.
Hewlett-Packard and database vendor Informix are expected to launch a smart card initiative with French smart card manufacturer Gemplus for secure Internet transactions and secure access to corporate networks.
"helvetica"="" size="-1">Other show offerings
America Online will display push technology through its latest offering, dubbed "Driveway."
IBM will announce several mainframe products to boost the s/390 platform for the Web. Big Blue also will
announce that Interactive Network Dispatcher, its software product for balancing traffic across multiple
Web servers, is available on additional platforms.
IBM also will unveil net.Mining, its initiative for data mining over the Internet, which includes
outsourcing services and its Surf-Aid application software.
Novell and HP will expand their partnership, announced in June, to deliver Novell Directory Services for
HP's version of Unix. Under the June pact, Novell will deliver source code to HP to integrate NetWare 4.1
network services into HP-UX.
Telecommunications companies such as MCI and UUNet will announce expansion plans for both the Internet and
intranets.