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Easier To Use Websites:
Bringing Good Usability To Everyday Sites
New
York, NY- July 29, 2002 - A new service by WebCritica.com offers
high-end user experience evaluations to websites with small budgets. As
many websites struggle to survive, one life-saving strategy has eluded many:
making the sites easier to use. More and more smaller e-tailers and content
sites have come to realize that their visitors shouldn't have to bang their
heads against walls when they attempt to find account information, or a site's
shipping policy, or when trying to locate a product through dozens of
categories. Yet, although studies have shown that websites with good usability
sell more products and see repeat visits, smaller sites have few places to turn
for reliable advice about their website's usability.
Once only available to companies able to spend thousands of dollars on
usability evaluations, a new service by WebCritica offers reports for just a few
hundred. WebCritica isn't a typical consulting company, although its analysts
have worked for the most prestigious design agencies. In fact, David Tomere,
founder of WebCritica, bristles at the term. "We're not interested in
developing expensive and cozy relationships with clients, or to upsell them to
pricey design services. We want to provide affordable and effective usability
reports to anyone who wants one." Indeed, visitors purchasing WebCritica's
evaluation services need not speak to a salesperson. Customers order online, and
when the evaluation is ready it's posted to their account. ...WebCritica.com
Editor's
comments:- having someone else look at your web site and tell you what they
really think is worthwhile. Like halitosis , it's something that your closest
friends may be too embarassed to tell you. Even if your site is earning you
money and profitable, then you may still be able to get good ideas from this
kind of process. |
|
Storage Networking- a
Market Analysis
Santa Barbara, California
- July 24, 2002 - An exclusive survey of over 400 storage IT managers was
conducted by Peripheral Concepts, Inc. and Hattras, Inc.
revealing that two out of three data centers with over one terabyte of disk
storage capacity currently deploy a SAN, and this ratio will grow to three out
of four by the end of 2003. Companies with at least one NAS deployed today
will grow from 38% to 60% during the same time period. A significant percentage
of the companies surveyed own more than one SAN and remain cautious in their
consolidation plans.
Performance emerges as number one on the list
of the most desired features. Who buys SAN's and why? What do IT managers like
and dislike? Why did some IT managers decide not to purchase NAS? How many IT
managers plan to move to IP-storage? What vendors captured the lion share of the
market, and what are users criteria in selecting a vendor? These are just some
of the questions that are addressed. Also, learn what keeps IT managers awake at
night and for which solutions or services are companies willing to pay extra.
At a time where budgets are tight, and businesses are striving to
improve their bottom line, storage software vendors also face changes to their
standard licensing models. Learn how Microsoft is influencing changes in the way
that licensing is structured and how this has lead to significant controversy
among end users. This extensive survey sheds new light on IT operations -
demographics for servers, hardware and software storage vendors, switch and hub
products, as well as storage services, segmented by operation size.
The report is now available.
View
the detailed table of contents on the web. The report costs $3,950;
additional copies to the same site are $395 per copy. ...Peripheral Concepts profile |
|
Rethinking the Banner Ad: -
remember it's a communication and doesn't have to be an ad
Editor - July 23,
2002 - a new article published today on MarketingViews.com is
designed to remind marketers about other uses for banner ads. Banner ads
give you guaranteed visibility and timing in a standard format footprint. Seems
a shame to waste that opportunity just on an ad. Using banner messages for PR
such as promoting a new white paper, or announcing a press release can be a very
powerful tool. |
|
the Top #10 Most Important
SPARC Systems Companies
Editor -
July 19, 2002 - a new article published today in the SPARC Product
Directory lists the the Top #10 Most Important SPARC Systems Companies.
The companies are ranked according to pagviews from over 125,000 SPARC Product
Directory readers in Q2 2002. That's a bigger real-time sample than you'll
typically get from any market research company. This feature also includes a
commentary on each company.
Shock horror! (Or maybe not.) For the
first time since we started analysing this kind of web information in 1996, Sun
Microsystems is no longer ranked #1. Sun's results are reported and analysed on
the SPARC news
page. ...SPARC Product
Directory, ...Sun
Microsystems profile |
|
IDC Says Vanilla
Storage-on-Demand Services Won't Cut the Mustard
FRAMINGHAM,
Mass. - July 17, 2002 - Worldwide spending on storage utility services will
reach more than $1.2 billion by 2006, representing a compound annual growth rate
(CAGR) of 32%, a new report published by IDC reveals.
Based
on new assumptions taking into account changing market forces, this study shows
that much storage-on-demand spending to date has been done as part of other,
larger contracts, such as Web hosting.
According to IDC's report,
the storage utility or "on demand" model has been adopted by three
types of companies: large, established outsourcers (IBM Global Services and
EDS); telcos (AT&T, BellSouth, Qwest, and others); and niche players that
want to provide storage applications such as digital archiving, backup, and
vaulting services over the Internet (LiveVault, eVault, Zantaz, and others).
"Clearly, the parties that will deliver most of the storage
capacity as a utility over the next few years will not be small start-up firms,
but larger, established services organizations that have already made the
investments to deliver 'IT on tap,'" said Doug Chandler, director of IDC's
Storage and Data Management Services research program. "In addition,
storage-on-demand, as a discrete value proposition, is not strong enough to
stand on its own. Service providers will bundle storage as an element in a
larger portfolio of infrastructure services, including processing power and
network bandwidth -- and, in the case of the telcos, voice and network services."
Looking ahead, as the broader IT-as-utility concept becomes more
widely adopted on both the supply side and the demand side, storage will be an
important element in this business, IDC believes. SSPs that wish to compete
successfully must be aware that ultimately they are competing with customers'
established strategies and policies around storage and data management. When a
storage utility provider can offer a service that is cheaper, more reliable,
more scalable, and better managed than customers can accomplish themselves,
these services will be purchased as a way of gaining competitive advantage.
Until then, SSPs of any stripe will struggle to convince customers that they
should turn over management and ownership of their storage infrastructure to a
third party.
...IDC profile
See
also:- Storage Services
|
|
West coast operation to
provide support for enhanced PR coverage in Europe and the Middle East
LONDON and SAN FRANCISCO -
July 16, 2002 - It was announced today that Eurocom PR Network (Eurocom)
has opened an office in San Francisco to provide support for West Coast PR firms
to enhance media coverage for their clients in Europe and the Middle East.
The main functions of the office are to develop the client base and provide
local facilitation of international PR campaigns for which Eurocom is engaged.
Eurocom does not intend to compete with PR and marketing communications firms
for PR business in the USA. Instead, it will pursue individual projects or
ongoing affiliations with PR and marcom firms, depending on their needs.
Eurocom PR Network Eurocom is a pan European managed PR network
specialising in the high tech and business to business market, with 20 partner
PR firms that give local support in Europe and Middle East, bringing together
170 people working for 200 clients, representing fees in excess of $17 million.
The network and the Eurocom business infrastructure provide a consistent and
scalable approach to media and markets across Europe, with one contact and
billing point.
Susan Spencer
(voice 415 775-3334 ) was chosen to run the West Coast operation. Ms. Spencer
has 20 years of business communications experience spanning high technology,
biomedical sciences, environmental and occupational health, healthcare and
insurance. She has worked on both the client and agency sides of the business.
Tom
Burgess, CEO of London based Eurocom PR Network said: "We have been
fortunate to engage a highly-motivated experienced PR professional who fully
understands potential of the Eurocom PR Network. Through Susan's efforts we hope
to provide a competitive edge to both PR firms and their clients for marketing
and PR in Europe and the Middle East. It is very exciting to extend our
capabilities and local European knowledge to the world's center of technology
and business innovation."
...Eurocom PR Network
Editor's
comments:- Here's a "save the company" idea for Californian based
companies who haven't bitten the export bullet yet. The US dollar has dropped
17% compared to the Euro during the last year. That means a strategy shifting
unsold products via distribution in Europe which looked uneconomic only a year
ago, could now be competitive.
See also:-
Channel
Strategies for IT OEMs: Recruiting VARs in Europe |
|
New UK Company Helps You
Sort Out Your Career
London - July 16, 2002 - Most people spend
more time planning their summer holidays than their careers. But what if your
working life gave you as much pleasure - or even more - than the best holiday
you've ever had?
The Change
Manifesto, founded by three London Business School graduates, is dedicated
to helping executives find out what direction they really want to go in. The
three founders, Mike Carey, Innes Henry and Barbara Ex, believe passionately
that people can and should live the life they want and have their ideal career,
by inspiring people to create and realise their futures.
Starting with a two-day intensive session, they help people
understand how to overcome personal limitations to decide what their dream job
would be and how to get it. This is followed by twelve individual coaching
sessions over the next three months to hold participants to account, and keep
them on track to achieve their plans. Co-founder, Innes Henry comments:
"Most
of us make dramatic career changes at some stage. Several times, in some cases.
There seem to be many reasons for this, but in fact it often all boils down to
one big one: our working lives do not live up to our personal ideals. We have
dreams and aspirations that we fulfil outside of work, and we have talents that
are either left to wither or we employ them elsewhere as a refuge from the daily
grind."
It is not a happy picture. The temptation is to flit from one career
to another in search of the one that will finally bring satisfaction. Bearing
in mind how much time we all spend at work, wouldn't it be better if you could
work out exactly what would bring you the most fulfilment, and then set out to
do it? It might mean a complete change of career, or it might be that you can
get what you want without moving - just by refocusing and planning. Either way,
wouldn't you be far happier if you took control? The Change Manifesto helps
people do exactly that.
...Change Manifesto
Editor's
comments:- remember when everyone wanted to go and work for a dotcom? There are
no simple escapist solutions like that any more. I guess that's the gap in the
aspirational career market. |
|
Who's Going to Buy Sun
Microsystems?
July 11, 2002 - An
article on the news page of the SPARC Product Directory raises this
issue:- Who's Going to Buy Sun Microsystems? - the company. A few years
ago, no one could have afforded to buy Sun. The prospect was ridiculous. But
after Sun's results are announced this month the current (low) share price of
SUNW could dip even lower. Sun may now too small to continue as an independent
architecture company with the high level of under performing satellites
acquired in its growth days. But strip away the fluff and there's a profitable
business inside which could grow bigger and faster under different management.
If SUNW drops to $3 or even lower, this could be an attractive takeover target. |
|
7 Tips to Get More Mileage
out of Your Online or Offline Publicity
July 9, 2002 - a new article
on
MarketingViews by Bill Stoller founder of PublicityInsider.com
gives you some great ideas for getting maximum effect from any positive
publicity about your company. You'll wonder why you didn't think of some of
these before. ...PublicityInsider.com |
|
Apple Turns Sour on Rumor
Mongers
July
9, 2002 - in an article published today on ZDNet, David Coursey,
Executive Editor discusses the issues surrounding Apple Computer's
apparent ban on some reporters from attending next week's Macworld event.
This is apparently due to Apple taking umbrage at some Macintosh e-zines which
have published rumors about the company.
Editor's comments:- the
article makes a lot of interesting observations. But let's just keep a sense of
proportion here. In some countries you can still be jailed or worse for writing
what you really think, so on a scale of 1 to 10, being blacklisted from a trade
show probably rates close to zero. But with all the Worldcom and now Merck
financial reporting scandals going on, it's nice to indulge in the luxury of
reading about trivia.
See also:-
Events & trade shows,
FireWire storage |
|
SPAMMERS Sometimes Fake
Genuine Email Identities
July 8, 2002 - Another weekend gone, it's
Monday morning and time to download your dose of SPAM and junk email.
My
wife, who runs a marketing training
company has recently been annoyed by spammers who have faked their outgoing
junk with a return address which is her own web site's domain name. She only
learnt about this because some replies to the junk were forwarded to her
catch-all imcoming email address. SPAMMERS sometimes steal identities and make
it look as though the email you're getting is coming from a reputable source.
For example I was once tricked into opening SPAM which was designed to
look as though it was sent by Dell Computer. So no one is immune.
Unfortunately
the web site which the junk email pointed to, was not findable by the
whois lookup on
Networks Solutions web site. So it must have been registered somewhere else.
Even finding the offending source is no remedy. Sending an email message
complaining about the abuse would just give them more fuel for their next SPAM
campaign.
There's a good series of articles about junk email on a site
called Junkbusters.com.
When you get junk email from a source which looks like a reputable company, but
with content which bears no relation at all to the web site with that domain
name, it's worth bearing in mind that the identity may have been stolen. It's
generally a bad idea to reply to SPAMMERS because your email address will just
get added to their list. We need stronger laws and penalties on this kind of
abuse, as with people who create viruses. Long terms in jail may not reform the
wrongdoers, but would at least reduce the time they waste with their activities. |
|
Dollar Slide Against the
British Pound Creates New Opportunities for US Exporters & Grey Importers
Editor
- July 3, 2002 - The strength of the dollar has been sliding down gently
against European currencies recently, and yesterday we reached a rate of US$1.53
to one British Pound. That's a rate we haven't seen since May 2000.
The
reason that's significant, is that today's level is about 7% below the peak
level during the last 2 years and there's every possibility that the rate may
continue heading in the direction of $1.60.
While that's bad news for
anyone in the US planning on a European vacation (the weather this summer has
been mostly wet and cold by the way) it's good news for US companies
looking to find new international customers. It's also good news for buyers in
the UK and Europe who can expect to make worthwhile cost savings (compared to
the padded official pricing from Sun Microsystems which will be slow to react to
these changes.)
UK buyers can count on making savings which are even
bigger than usual by contacting many of the
UK VARs listed
on this site who import direct from the states, or even, if they're feeling more
confident about the customs process, by going directly to
US VARs - which
we know that some of our UK readers, looking for bargains, already do.
When
these kinds of currency fluctuations occur as fast as they have been doing in
recent days, there are always winners and losers. But there will be new
opportunities for marketers created by the expectation in the UK user community
that prices are on their way down and that they should start to look more at
grey (unauthorised) channel suppliers. |
|
New Marketing Services
Company, InitioStar, Aims to Help Small to Medium Software Companies
London, UK - July 2, 2002 - Launched today,
InitioStar is a dedicated sales and marketing management company which
actively engages with small- to medium-sized enterprises to market their
software from concept to commercial reality. The new company will target
four distinct groups: software start-ups, mature companies launching new
products, recovering companies requiring a fresh approach to sales and US and UK
companies looking to enter international markets.
Headed by a management team of experienced sales & marketing
professionals, all with excellent sales and marketing track records, InitioStar
is uniquely placed to manage the full software sales cycle, from value
propositions and market analysis, through strategic sales management, to
establishing distribution channels and trade alliances. ...InitioStar
See also:-
Channel
Strategies for IT OEMs: Recruiting VARs in Europe |
|
Serial ATA Becomes a Hot
Topic for STORAGEsearch.com Readers
July 2, 2002 - Serial
ATA has become a hot topic for STORAGEsearch.com readers, having
reached the #3 product category (out of more than 60 vertical storage
categories) visited by readers in the month of June.
Editor Zsolt
Kerekes said "We first started running news stories about Serial ATA in
February 2001, and created a special directory page, featuring Megabyte's Auntie
Wanda in November that year. But interest in Serial ATA remained low. As with
most new emerging technologies, it's mainly marketers and systems developers who
are interested until there's an imminent prospect of real products appearing.
For example as recently as January 2002, Serial ATA wasn't even in our top 10
subjects. Now it's made its mark in the consciousness of most readers, and I'll
be interested to see if it can go any higher."
Serial ATA is
intended to replace today's ubiquitous PC style ATA hard drive connections with
an interface which will be software compatible, and physically smaller -
simplifying the integration of mass storage into notebooks and PDAs. The
Serial ATA standard
competes in the same market space as other serial standards such as
USB 2.0,
FireWire and
Serial Attached SCSI. |
|
How Long Can Sun Stand the
Heat in the Server Benchmark Wars?
July 1, 2002 - a new
article in the SPARC Product Directory asks the questions:- "How
Long Can Sun Stand the Heat in the Server Benchmark Wars?" Sun
Microsystems has already started losing out in recent comparative benchmarks
from IBM and others. This article examines the threats to Sun's current server
line, explains how it got into this situation, and maps out possible solutions
for the troubled Unix server company. ...IBM profile,
...Sun Microsystems profile,
...read the article |
|
| today's news etc from
MarketingViews | |
| send press releases about
high-tech internet marketing to news@MarketingViews.com |
|
Other news on this page
Easier
To Use Websites: Bringing Good Usability To Everyday Sites
Storage
Networking- a Market Analysis
Rethinking the Banner Ad
the Top
#10 Most Important SPARC Systems Companies
IDC Says Vanilla
Storage-on-Demand Services Won't Cut the Mustard
West coast operation
to provide support for enhanced PR coverage in Europe and the Middle East
New UK Company Helps You Sort Out Your Career
Who's Going to
Buy Sun Microsystems?
7 Tips to Get More Mileage out of Your Online or
Offline Publicity
Apple Turns Sour on Rumor Mongers
SPAMMERS
Sometimes Fake Genuine Email Identities
Dollar Slide Against the
British Pound Creates New Opportunities for US Exporters & Grey Importers
New
Marketing Services Company, InitioStar, Aims to Help Small to Medium Software
Companies
Serial ATA Becomes a Hot Topic for STORAGEsearch.com Readers
How
Long Can Sun Stand the Heat in the Server Benchmark Wars?
earlier news (archive) |
|
 |
Tape Libraries on
STORAGEsearch.com |
| Megabyte
found that the advantage of taped storage was that he could store a huge
amount. But it sometimes took a long time to retrieve what he wanted. | | |
|
|
|
View from the Hill
A Better Windows than
Windows...
A Better Linux than Linux?
For some
quirky reason Sun Microsystems' launch of their Linux for Intel architecture
systems at
LinuxWorld in mid August, put me
in mind of IBM's marketing push to get their OS/2 into PC's back in the mid
1990's, long after everyone in the PC world realised that the PC OS race was
already over, and had been won by Microsoft.
IBM's phrase "A
Better Windows than Windows" sounded good, and was relatively harmless.
Less harmless, however, was the realization that if you bought a low cost IBM PC
with Windows, then the disk also came packed with OS/2 and a bunch of other
stuff which IBM thought you might find useful, just in case you changed your
mind about which operating system you really wanted to boot up AFTER you had
placed your order. Removing the OS/2 crud to free up disk space, was something
you only did once. Next time you didn't make the mistake of buying an IBM PC.
IBM's marketers at the time padded their "market share" data with
millions of these dual boot, never used copies of the ill fated OS/2.
A
recent Sun press release says that in keynote address to Linux enthusiasts at
LinuxWorld, Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy said Sun is redefining value in
the low-cost, entry server market with one of the first pre-integrated
enterprise-class systems running Linux.
"There is no reason not to go to Sun for Linux - we've got the
Sun ONE stack, price performance, support and services, scalability and an
upgrade path," Sun CEO Scott McNealy said. "We are part of the Linux
community and will stay committed through sponsorships, donations, and product
deliveries. We're leveraging the Linux opportunity and helping customers at the
same time by bringing enterprise-level support to the open source community."
Sun's entry level x86 server, the Sun LX50, launched a few days
earlier comes preconfigured to run either Solaris or Linux, and the tone of
Sun's statements about their entry into the Linux market are very much along the
lines that you'll get a Better Linux than Linux from Sun.
I didn't
attend LinuxWorld so I don't know if McNealy had his fingers crossed behind his
back, or choked whenever he said something positive about Linux. From Sun's
point of view, this is the operating system which brought rivals HP and IBM back
into the Unix mainframe market long after Sun thought they had already won that
race with Solaris. Sun hoped that Linux would go away, or stay a hobbyist
market, but it didn't. They hoped that Intel, IBM and HP would always stay
behind Sun in the race to produce the fastest processors, but that that didn't
happen either. Then within less than a year of killing Solaris x86 off, and
saying many rude things about Linux, and Intel, Sun has now eaten humble pie and
launched a dual boot Linux/Solaris x86 server.
Who would believe it?
Well... the words "humble" and "Sun" don't fit
together comfortably in the same sentence. No, instead, of eating humble pie,
Sun has decided that it is going to ship a version of Linux which has lots of
proprietary Sun add ons which will make it "better". If you see the
light and change your mind about the Linux thing after placing your order, then
not to worry. You can boot Solaris x86 instead. Somehow, I'm not sure that users
will find it comforting.
Sun's Linux may be "better", but
it's not Linux. Remember the fuss that Sun kicked up in the courts a few years
back? When Microsoft tried to make Java better, by adding Windows and Visual
basic extensions? I think Linux users will be distrustful of Sun's improvements
which are designed to make applications less portable, unless you want to port
over to Solaris. They've already been there with AIX and HP-UX. No thanks.
From
the outside world, Sun's x86 Linux strategy today looks very similar to IBM's
OS/2 strategy in the mid 1990's. Sun would have done better launching these
products a few years ago when its marketing power carried more weight in the
wider computer community. I suspect that most users would feel more comfortable
buying a no-name brand PC installed with Red Hat Linux than a Sun LX50. A Linux
box from Dell will cost less and scale upwards from day one. Or maybe I'm wrong
and should stick to talking about hardware...
Readers who want to
contribute their views to an expanded version of this article can
email me upto August 30. | |
