|
Top Three U.S. Web Sites
Break Through 100 Million Visitors per Month Mark, Reports comScore Media
Metrix
Reston, Va. -
November 26, 2002 - comScore Media Metrix today announced its release
of Media Metrix 2.0, a next-generation Internet audience ratings service that
incorporates improved measurement technology, sample sizes and audience
coverage. With this release, comScore reports that the top three Internet
properties – AOL, MSN and Yahoo! – each attract more than 100 million
U.S. visitors per month, far more than reported by other measurement
services.
"Four months ago, comScore promised to deliver a new generation
of online audience measurement based on uncompromising principles of quality and
innovation," said Dr. Magid Abraham, president and CEO of comScore
Networks. "Media Metrix 2.0 fulfills that promise, and becomes the new
industry standard."
The Media Metrix 2.0 panel of 120,000 Internet users under measurement
includes 35,000 at-work users – far more than any competing service –
and 35,000 college/university users, a segment that only comScore measures.
These complement 50,000 home users, recruited via an industry-endorsed Random
Digit Dial (RDD) sampling methodology. All panelists are consistently measured
via comScore's patent-pending technology, which captures the complete details of
each panelist's online surfing and buying activity across all online entities,
including proprietary content such as AOL.
"Other Internet ratings services measure just a few thousand
workplace PC users and completely exclude college/university users,"
commented Dr. Abraham. "As a result, these services drastically understate
the audiences of the total Internet and important online properties."
...comScore Media Metrix |
|
More Users are Doing it for
Themselves - Says Evans Web Services Survey
SANTA CRUZ, CA - November 26,
2002 - The latest Evans Data International Developers Survey, published
today, finds that compared with six months ago 33% more Web Services development
is for application integration inside enterprises. Web Services development
in Europe is now split evenly between internal and external applications. The
survey of 450 software developers, conducted in October 2002, outside North
America shows the importance of the new technology, as 64% of developers stated
they work with Web Services. Already applications are near completion as 51%
expect deployment in the next six months.
"This latest survey confirms that Web Services are being proved
inside business units rather than in B2B applications," said Albion
Butters, an analyst for Evans Data Corp. "We also find that international
developers are building and deploying both internal and external Web Services
faster than their North American counterparts."
Other findings include:
- Application security in Europe is a concern, with 58% of developers
reporting a security breach compared with 43% of North American developers.
- Linux continues to expand its user base. 59% of survey respondents expect
to write Linux applications in the next year.
- The demand for wireless applications grows, as over half of European
developers expect to write wireless applications.
... Evans Data |
|
Is it Time for Sun Users
to Unplug their SPARC Servers?
November 22, 2002 - a
leader article today in the SPARC Product Directory looks at the long
term survival prospects for the SPARC server architecture and Solaris.
Everyone's bashing Sun Microsystems nowadays, and the new edition of
Business
Week has joined the pack with a cover article which castigates Sun's
management. So, should SPARC users unplug their systems? The SPARC Product
Directory has been reporting on the Sun market for over 10 years, and looks at
the worst case scenarios for Sun users.
...SPARC Product Directory |
|
Coremetrics Unveils
Marketing Management Center to Automatically Detect Measure and Compare
Performance of All Online Marketing Programs
New York, NY
- November 18, 2002 - Coremetrics, the leading web services provider of
marketing analytics solutions, today unveiled the Marketing Management Center,
the industry's first independent unified measurement solution that leverages
auto-sensing technology to seamlessly detect, measure and compare the
performance of all keywords, banners, affiliates, portals, and e-mails in a
single, sortable interface. The Marketing Management Center provides
marketing departments with unbiased success metrics for all online advertising
channels, allowing them to adjust and renegotiate marketing expenditures and
vendor deals based on real performance and actual revenue derived from each
program. The Marketing Management Center requires no incremental setup and
maintenance, and employs a company's own unique marketing hierarchy to expose
poor placements, highlight under-performing keywords, and identify low-ROI
portal deals to ensure that marketing expenditures are always allocated to
achieve the highest possible return.
"Companies investing in
online marketing today face a confusing mess of multiple advertising mediums
that provide self-reported success metrics to analyze performance," said
Scott Kauffman, president and CEO of Coremetrics. "These online marketers
are faced with limited budgets and the expectation of high returns, but they
have no ability to effectively manage their hundreds to thousands of
simultaneous marketing programs. The conflicting metrics and tools available in
the industry give them absolutely no idea as to how their campaigns are
performing relative to each other. The Marketing Management Center is the first
solution that enables online marketers to evaluate and compare every single
marketing program they are running in a single intuitive interface, without
spending countless hours on set-up and maintenance."
The Marketing
Management Center is currently available and included in the Coremetrics
Marketforce service offering. The pricing for Coremetrics Marketforce ranges
from $8,000 to $30,000 per month depending on site volume and service
functionality.
...Coremetrics
Editor's
comments:- speaking from the other side of the fence, it's much better when
advertisers can track where their leads come from because after any initial
problems have been identified, it usually means they want to spend more money. |
|
Firms Are Shifting Email
Marketing In-House To Save Money Over ASPs, Says Arial Software
Cody, WY -
November 15, 2002 - Alongside a recent study by the DMA showing strong growth
in the use of email by brick-and-mortar direct marketers, a parallel trend shows
a shift from outsourced email delivery services to in-house says Arial
Software. Rather than hiring email ASPs to deliver their email on a
pay-per-email basis, an increasing number of firms are bringing the process home
- and saving a bundle in the meantime. Email marketing software developer Arial
Software is experiencing the impact of the shift, posting a nearly 200% increase
in sales for YTD 2002 over 2001.
"There's strong demand in
professional email marketing software," explains Mike Adams, the firm's
President and pioneer of its flagship product. "And much of that is related
to cost savings."
When firms shift to in-house email marketing,
they make one-time investments in software, equipment and network
infrastructure, but they subsequently pay no per-email or per-campaign fees to
deliver their messages. Even within the first year, the one-time investments pay
off in cost savings, says Adams, and he has the data to prove it: a
newly-published white paper at ArialSoftware.com compares first-year operating
costs of in-house vs. outsourced solutions and shows in-house email delivery to
come out ahead, even after considering infrastructure expenditures. ...Arial Software |
|
Learn Lessons from SPARC
Notebook Manufacturer's Clever Promotion
Editor:- November
14, 2002 - Marketers can learn some useful lessons from a clever promotion by
Sun compatible notebook maker Tadpole which is ostensibly aimed at
celebrating the 10th Anniversary of their original SPARCbook brand. Unlike
most promotions which are brain dead at birth, the company is cleverly inviting
customers who have been using their product for a long time, to write in and
tell them how they still use it. The lucky winner with the oldest or most
interesting anecdote will get a free top of the range SPARCbook. That's worth
around $15k in real money.
You too can copy this promotion model. It's not only a good way to get
market intelligence about why people use a very expensive product. That info
might suggest other segments you can promote to later on. But anyone who has
been using a computer product for upto 10 years is a potential source for a
quirky story, maybe involving brand loyalty or an unusual application, which can
be recycled in a future press release about the winners. Editorial about the
promotion itself reinforces the idea that this brand has been around for a long
time, which helps reinforce the brand even to those who don't take part in the
promotion. ...Tadpole
profile
See also:-
article:- Return of
the SPARCbook |
|
New Advanced Digital
Marketing Tools Enable Cost-Efficient Lead Generation Planning for Enterprises
Herndon, VA - November
13, 2002 - With new advances in marketing spurred on by IP technology, NeoMarketing
Systems, a marketing automation applications provider, unveiled today a
suite of free online digital marketing tools that are focused on driving lead
generation efforts. With the company's inaugural launch today, NeoMarketing
Systems announced immediate availability of the NeoMarketing Systems' Web
Seminar Builder, Email Builder and NeoLeads Builder. There is no fee to use
these tools.
- NeoMarketing Systems' Web Seminar Builder allows customers to customize a
web seminar event, guiding the user through each step behind the process of
planning, promoting and producing a highly effective lead generation web-based
seminar.
- NeoMarketing Systems' Email Builder provides a blueprint for customers to
quickly build and price their proposed email campaign.
- NeoMarketing Systems' NeoLeads Builder is an online tool that, based on a
company's sales and marketing benchmarks, delivers a leads blueprint delineating
the number of leads an organization needs to generate each month as well as
monthly sales pipeline objectives.
Marketing is the last frontier for technology advances," states
Joseph Rizzo, President/CEO of NeoMarketing Systems. "However, the
emergence of advanced digital marketing tools now bring capabilities and budget
accountability into the marketing department that were once unattainable with
spreadsheets and paper-based systems. We're pleased to be able to package and
provide these tools to our clients so that they may be able to wring greater
productivity from their financial and human resources." ...NeoMarketing Systems |
|
Inceptor® Acquires Word
of Net Online Visibility Analysis Technology
Maynard, Massachusetts -
November 12, 2002 -
Inceptor, Inc., the pioneer in conversion marketing, announced today
that it has acquired online visibility technology from the former owners of Word
of Net, an online marketing measurement company. The acquisition gives
Inceptor exclusive ownership of the Visibility Index and Analysis reporting
products. Strategically, the deal helps strengthen Inceptor's industry-leading
position in the conversion marketing sector by enhancing customers'
understanding of their online presence within a detailed competitive landscape.
The reporting tools will enable Inceptor to focus the resources of their Excedia
conversion marketing suite on specific areas for improving their customers'
online visibility.
The Visibility Analysis Reports compare a company's online visibility
against that of its competitors, tracking search engines, directories, referring
links, and keywords. Each URL is awarded a score, so customers can see instantly
how they stack up against their competition in terms of visibility to
prospective customers searching for products or services online. The reports
also identify where a site should be visible for the greatest impact within a
particular market, and details the specific keywords, links, and directories
that will effectively do the job.
...Inceptor |
|
Online demonstrations prove
more effective for software vendor
OTTAWA,
CANADA - November 11, 2002 - Runaware Incorporated, the world leader in
online software evaluation and demonstration, and Universal Tax Systems Inc.,
the fifth largest software provider for tax preparation professionals in its USA
market, today announced the results of using Runaware's "Runademo"
online demonstration service to promote UTS Inc's range of TaxWise software
products.
"Tailoring software presentations and being able to point out
important details according to each prospect's individual needs, in a one-on-one
situation, is a crucial part in the sales process for many software companies
with comprehensive (and complex) products and UTS is no exception," says
Tom Hughes, Vice President Sales, at Universal Tax Systems. "In the past,
UTS would follow up on generated leads by calling up the prospect, presenting
the software features and benefits, and offering to mail a demo CD. The sales
rep would then call back a week or two later to continue the sales process with
a suggestion to walk through the demo with the prospect...
"...Often,
the prospect would not yet have installed the software, either because of other
priorities, unwillingness to make that time investment, or because there were
just too many other competing software offers. The sales rep then had to call
back at a time when the prospect believed the installation would be anticipated.
Naturally, all those delays contributed to prolonging the sales cycle. Since we
opted for demonstrating TaxWise online through Runademo, we are now able to
demonstrate the software on the web instantly, securely, and personally without
the need of any downloads or having to mail out a CD...
"...Using
Runademo has speeded up and simplified the sales process. The sales
representative can walk through the software with the customer directly during
the first sales call and average sales cycle has been shortened by an average of
30% and this means we can sell more product more effectively, and in less time.
Runademo enables us to be more efficient in how we sell. It certainly gives us
an edge. We can qualify the leads more quickly. And that's an important
advantage. Because if we can spend more of our time speaking to people whom we
may be able to sell the program, that's better use of our time. With better and
faster qualification, UTS Inc. also sends out fewer CDs to those who aren't
likely to buy the software and we have reduced the number of CD-mailings by 20%,
providing further cost savings in administration and postage."
According
to Peter Eriksson, Co-Founder of Runaware, "We are delighted with the
results so far achieved for UTS using our services. This is yet more proof that
the days of demo CDs and ineffective downloads are coming to an end and we are
seeing amazing results like these being repeated by many of our customers."
...Runaware |
|
Gartner
Dataquest Says Worldwide Workstation Shipments Experienced 7% Growth in Third
Quarter of 2002
SAN
JOSE, Calif. - November 11, 2002 - For the second consecutive quarter,
worldwide workstation shipments experienced an increase of shipments, according
to preliminary third quarter results from Dataquest Inc., a unit of Gartner,
Inc..
Worldwide workstation shipments totaled 367,710 units in
the third quarter of 2002, a 6.5% increase from the same period last year and
1.8% from the second quarter of this year. The industry also experienced a
growth increase in the second quarter of this year. Before then, the market
suffered five quarters of year-over-year declines.
"The third quarter shipments bring us nowhere near the record
year 2000 shipments, but any sign of growth is a welcome change," said Pia
Rieppo, principal analyst covering workstations for Gartner Dataquest's
Computing Platform Worldwide group. "Given that this is only the second
consecutive quarter of modest growth, we're hesitant to say the workstation
market is completely out of the woods. The economy is still under performing, IT
executives are reserved in their purchasing and there are still no new
compelling technologies in the workstation market." Dell extended its lead
as the No. 1 workstation vendor worldwide with its market share surpassing 40%
(see Table). IBM moved past Sun Microsystems to take the No. 3 position.
|
| Company |
3Q02
Shipments |
3Q02
Market Share (%) |
3Q01
Shipments |
3Q01
Market Share (%) |
Growth (%) |
| Dell Computer |
149,004 |
40.5 |
115,241 |
33.4 |
29.3 |
| Hewlett-Packard |
81,125 |
22.1 |
90,356
|
26.2 |
-10.2 |
| IBM |
56,442 |
15.3 |
46,117 |
13.4
|
22.4 |
| Sun Microsystems |
52,774 |
14.4 |
58,788 |
17.0 |
-10.2 |
| Fujitsu
Siemens |
11,782
|
3.2 |
5,895 |
1.7 |
99.9 |
| Others |
16,583 |
4.5 |
28,759 |
8.3 |
-42.3
|
| Total Market |
367,710 |
100.0 |
345,156 |
100.0 |
6.5 | |
| "Many
look for growth within the new mobile workstation platform while others face big
strategy decisions," Rieppo said. "For example, Sun Microsystems,
which for years was focused on Sparc-Solaris strategy, recently announced it
would provide PCs for its customers. These moves may help preserve market share
but, ultimately, the market lacks strong growth drivers, and the vendors will
simply have to wait for replacement cycles to kick in."
...Gartner Dataquest
profile | |
|
Sun Grapples to Find a
Credible New Positioning Statement
Editor:- November 7, 2002 -
since the eclipse
of the Sun last year, analysts and the stock market have discovered that
they can now look at Sun Microsystems without being dazzled by its marketing
hype. When you've got a company whose outlook has changed from being an $18
Billion revenue with double digit growth, sliding towards a $10 Billion company
with the prospect of double digit shrinkage, and a share price which has fared
worse than many of its main competitors people are bound to ask questions.
Increasingly they're getting less impressed by the lack of vision coming out
from the company.
In an effort to meet some of that criticism, Sun's
CEO - Scott McNealy - appears to be testing out a new positioning statement,
when he was quoted in several articles in the
Mercury
News as saying "...we dominate 64-bit computing".
Sun
uses positioning statements in its ads and in its press releases. Positioning
statements are important because they give you a simple mental picture of how
the company wants to be perceived by potential customers, partners and
stakeholders. Although positioning statements are always intended by their
authors to be positive, they can, sometimes be negative. That happens when the
reader doesn't believe the statement, which then casts doubt on the brand behind
the claim.
So, for example:- for many years Tatung claimed to be "the
leading SPARC compatible manufacturer". I argued with them in vain that the
claim was ridiculous, because Sun Microsystems is in fact the the leading SPARC
compatible manufacturer by a huge margin. It was interesting that Sun never
contested Tatung's widely advertised claims in the heyday of the workstation
market. Sun didn't need to. That positioning claim from Tatung cast a doubt on
everything that the company said, and Tatung has nearly disappeared from view as
an active supplier in the market.
To compound Tatung's problems, they
also came up with the statement "The Intelligent Choice in SPARC COMPuting
Solutions". I'm sure that sounds good if you're selling Tatung. But if you
were an existing Sun user, and looking at Tatung as an alternative choice, this
statement suggested that Sun was not the intelligent choice, and by inference
you were not an intelligent buyer. Well, no-one wants to buy stuff from a
company that insults them. So that wasn't such a good idea either.
Getting
back to Sun.
The classic example of a tarnished positioning statement
was Sun's "We're the dot in dotcom" - which worked fine during the
dotcom boom but which backfired when it became associated with the failures
of the dot-crash.
Since the crash, Sun has been using wording in its
news stories about market share along the lines that "Sun is the #1 Unix
server company". However, this year independent data showed that HP had in
fact overtaken Sun as the #1 Unix server company in Europe, so that became a
dodgy claim which Sun could no longer use with impunity. I wondered if Sun would
change that to "#1 Unix RISC server company" - but that's starting to
look a little bit contrived. So in the short term - it's likely you're going to
see a lot more of the "64 bit computing leader" phrase emerging in Sun
ads and press releases.
Now this question may sound silly - but why
can't Sun just say it's the leading SPARC compatible server company?
- that claim, while true, was hijacked by Tatung and it's too late for Sun to
erase that positioning from all our brains.
.
- Sun underinvested in promoting the "SPARC" brand, in an effort
to kill off all its workstation rivals in the late 1990's. Choosing instead to
invest in promoting the Sun brand, SPARC became orphaned and is little known in
the wider computer market.
It's unfortunate that, for technical
reasons, many 32 bit computers clock about twice as fast as 64 bit processors.
Also the fastest 32 bit servers from HP, IBM, Unisys etc run many applications
much faster than Sun's 64 bit servers. That means that being the leader in 64
bit computing will not be perceived with the same rosy glow that McNealy might
wish. Changing the reality might work better than just changing the words. ...Sun Microsystems
profile, ...Tatung
profile, SPARC
manufacturers
Another editor's comment:- I've just finished reading
"Managing Brand Equity", a book by David A. Aaker. Although
published in 1991 and pre internet marketing, it's an excellent read and the
ideas in it are just as relevant today as when they were first written. It's
being offered by Amazon at a discount if you buy a bunch of other branding
related books which is how I got to see it. |
|
advancis.com Announces
Online Advantage 3.0: A Web-Based eLearning Resource Designed to Help Companies
Achieve Profitability on the Internet
DALLAS, TX and NICE, FRANCE -
November 5, 2002 - advancis introduced today the latest version of its
corporate eLearning resource, Online Advantage. Online Advantage is a
collection of 8 web modules and supporting tools (worksheets, online surveys,
expert advice features) designed to give executives and their staff quick and
easy access to the content (70+ topics) and tools they need to create and
execute Internet initiatives that deliver strong results and meet financial
targets.
Adopted by large multinational corporations and eBusiness
consultants, Online Advantage is becoming an essential resource for companies
that want to provide their employees the framework, knowledge, expertise, and
tools they need to start building a sustainable online competitive advantage and
to achieve profitability. Right at their desktops.
The Online
Advantage 3.0 pricing structure starts at $1,295 for a 12-month single user
license. Site licenses and volume discounts are also available.
...advancis
Editor's
comments:- there's a strong need for business and marketing related courses
which feature internet marketing at more than a superficial level. Most books
and web sites barely scratch the surface. |
|
HRDQ Introduces a Unique
Training Resource to Help Salespeople Overcome Obstacles to Successful Selling
KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa.
- November 1, 2002 - HRDQ announces the release of its latest training
resource, "101 Objections: Overcoming Obstacles to Successful Selling".
This highly flexible learning tool offers effective techniques and provides a
proven model for managing the most challenging aspect of the sales cycle -
handling objections.
Today's complex sales environment often requires a sales person to
work with multiple decision makers at various organizational levels throughout
the sales process. According to 101 Objections author Amy Judith Tananbaum, "Addressing
sales objections effectively throughout this cycle can either make or break the
sale." Regardless of sales experience, the art of handling objections
requires continuous development and practice. Tananbaum believes that, "Even
the most seasoned sales people must prepare for unanticipated challenges in the
sales cycle. 101 Objections provides the model and skill practice to cultivate
this core skill."
Using a reliable four-step model, 101 Objections
activities enable participants to understand how purchasing decisions are made,
identify four categories of objections, practice responding to potential sales
objections, and apply the skills to real-life sales situations. This interactive
sales training resource may be used in a variety of one-on-one or group sales
training situations. Skill development activities may be used individually or
together in a sales coaching session, or as part of a sales training program.
...HRDQ
Editor's comment:-
unfortunately you may have to use modern methods like those above, because
Captain Feary's classic proven sales close is no longer legal in all
jurisdictions. According to Feary - "When I wanted clients to tell me
where they had hidden the loot I had a simple method which never failed. I
escorted them to the end of the gang plank at the point of my cutlass, and
waved to make sure they could see our giant pet shark waiting below. That
quickly removed all objections, even for those who pretended they couldn't speak
English." |
|
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Other news on this page
Top
Three U.S. Web Sites Break Through 100 Million Visitors per Month Mark, Reports
comScore Media Metrix
More Users are Doing it for Themselves - Says Evans Web Services
Survey
Is it Time for Sun Users to Unplug their SPARC Servers?
Coremetrics
Unveils Marketing Management Center to Automatically Detect Measure and Compare
Performance of All Online Marketing Programs
Firms Are Shifting Email
Marketing In-House To Save Money Over ASPs, Says Arial Software
Learn
Lessons from SPARC Notebook Manufacturer's Clever Promotion
New
Advanced Digital Marketing Tools Enable Cost-Efficient Lead Generation Planning
for Enterprises
Inceptor® Acquires Word of Net Online Visibility
Analysis Technology
Online demonstrations prove more effective for
software vendor than trial CDs
Gartner Dataquest Says Worldwide
Workstation Shipments Experienced 7% Growth in Third Quarter of 2002
Sun
Grapples to Find a Credible New Positioning Statement
advancis.com
Announces Online Advantage 3.0: A Web-Based eLearning Resource Designed to Help
Companies Achieve Profitability on the Internet
HRDQ Introduces a
Unique Training Resource to Help Salespeople Overcome Obstacles to Successful
Selling
earlier
news (archive) |
|
 |
Software
on
STORAGEsearch.com |
| Spellabyte couldn't
afford to hire real programmers until his venture capital check came in. So he
was making do with retired hedgehogs. | | |
|
|
|
View from the Hill
STORAGEsearch looks back
on 2002
During the worst days of the US IT recession in 2001, most
optimistists were looking forward to a recovery in 2002 which would solve all
their business problems...
Well, the recovery came, if you believe the
economic data, but this didn't mark the end of storage company woes. When I
looked at the financial results of the top 1,000 storage companies for my May
article
the fastest growing profitable
STORAGE companies in the US - I found it difficult to find many companies
which were actually making money, so the choice was limited. And I concluded
that because of competitive pressure, storage prices in most cases were
reflecting the aspirations of companies to grow market share rather than achieve
profitability. I commented that for many vendors in the storage industry the
recovery could be as bad as the recession.
If we needed any clearer confirmation of this, it came loud and clear
from a series of financial results from
EMC, the darling of the
dotcom boom era, which showed that the company was reporting quarterly revenues
at a run rate less than half its $9 Billion FY 2000 peak. So in 2002, EMC
lost its leadership role as the model of a successful storage company. But was
the recession the sole cause? Or were there underlying changes in the way that
buyers were viewing storage vendors? My interpretation was that many of EMC's
problems could be traced to the hundreds of other storage companies which were
nibbling away at its target markets, and that it would never recover its once
pre-eminent market share unless it could become the lowest cost supplier.
Still
in the land of the giants, the month of May saw the merging of
HP and
Compaq into the world's
largest storage company. By year end the only positives which had come out of
the merger were the optimistic sounding aspirational pronouncements in HP press
releases. But these sentiments belied the economic data coming out of the
company and its partners. If shareholders and users were going to see benefits
arising from the merger, they would have to wait another year to find out.
2002
was also the year in which we discovered that the number one emerging technology
of 2001,
iSCSI, was still
mostly vaporware. Although dozens of companies announced their plans for TCP/IP
Offload Accelerators, FCIP and iSCSI accelerators during the course of 2002,
there was very little shipment of real tangible hardware products to users,
something which we discovered when our advertising sales person knocked on the
doors of the companies in the industry in the summer. As several distributors
neatly summarised:- "If we can't ship it, because the manufacturer hasn't
made it, then there's no point in us advertising these products."
Manufacturers who were shipping products were shipping so few that they
mostly reported they had little or no marketing funds to do any advertising at
this stage in the market cycle.
However, the software side of the
internet storage market continued growing apace. iSCSI and related software
became the fuel for the holy grail of real-time offsite backup and data
replication. RAID
manufacturers found that by partnering with the right
software company, they
could find a new theoretical need for their boxes as
disk to disk backup
systems. The D2d niche originally pioneered by
Nexsan Technologies was
joined by a growing pack of other companies including
Globalstor Data and
ASACA. I wasn't sure
whether users really would adopt the D2d network backup paradigm in large
numbers until StorageTek
announced its BladeStore disk subsystem in October. StorageTek, founded in
1969, has been around long enough to see many passing fads and in recent years
the company has not the fastest off the starting block. So I reckon that their
market research must have confirmed that disk to disk backup really is
something that big storage users want to do.
There are no doubts about
the #1 emerging storage technology in 2002. It was
Serial ATA. 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. In July, it entered the top 10
directory subjects on STORAGEsearch, and in August hit #1, where it has been
parked ever since.
The companies of the year in 2002, measured by
STORAGEsearch reader pageviews on their company profile pages, were
LSI Logic in the #1
slot, followed closely by Maxtor,
IBM,
Adaptec and
Sony respectively.
That
was the upside. On the downside the number of top 1,000 storage companies which
had been acquired or
gone bust since the millenium passed the 130 mark. Despite that
venture capitalists
continued to pour funds into even more storage start ups.
Surprisingly
this year the number of storage related
events didn't seem to
drop off. Our
events archive
for 2002 looks just as packed as it did the year before. I can only assume that
in a market where everything seems to be changing so fast, a lot of people value
the insights they get from talking to other people in the same predicament and
being able to touch and feel products to get an idea how real they are. As a
leading publication in the industry this year we were proud to have sponsored
the following storage expos and conferences:-
IDC Storage Forum
,
Network Storage 2002,
Storage World Conference 2002,
Storage Expo 2002,
Storage Visions 2003 and
Server I/O 2003 (the latter two events
take place next month in January 2003).
2002 was also the year when the
rest of the IT publishing market finally caught onto the importance of the
storage paradigm, and you could say it was the year of the storage portal
bubble. The number of significant web based storage publications carrying
advertising grew from a few dozen in 2001, to more than a hundred in 2002. It's
hard to believe that there will be enough advertising dollars to sustain all
this frantic activity, but it's going to be a big market, so there are many
hopefuls out there.
And how did this affect the mouse site? It was
hard to notice any significant change as our readership patterns as our
readership once again doubled compared to the year before. And as we ended our
11th year as an IT directory publisher and 7th year as a dotcom, we were
pleasantly surprised to see that once again we had achieved double digit revenue
growth and were still profitable. Of course, we couldn't do this without the
help of the thousands of you readers who contribute articles, ideas and raw
content to the site, and without the help of our loyal and growing base of
advertisers who have stuck with us in good times and in bad.
To all of
you, thanks for taking the time to read STORAGEsearch. We hope you find it
useful and will bookmark this web site so you can rejoin us after the holiday in
the new year ahead. When, who know? The recovery might be for real. | |
