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- MAINE AND NEW HAMPSHIRE'S COMPUTER MAGAZINE interfdce monfhlv L,.-=tr -rllrt' \-c Llrlr t-'LcL l:i I r i.': ,.rq *='r*-t':iti. .1 '-1-l:-;x-rl dor: .; 4.r "!F.i llLLIL L:lllr.':^ 1lre [,Lri[rL t: [Lr 1he l:e[Lr.r Ci: \cuL LtsLrus ,j .l i I

Early Magazine Article on "How-to-Choose an Internet Service Provider"

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"How-to-Choose an Internet Service Provider" article I wrote for Interface Monthly with interviews of CEO\'s of early ISPs and cable companies

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Page 1: Early Magazine Article on "How-to-Choose an Internet Service Provider"

- MAINE AND NEW HAMPSHIRE'S COMPUTER MAGAZINE

interfdcemonfhlv

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Page 2: Early Magazine Article on "How-to-Choose an Internet Service Provider"

GruosncAN h'rmr[Er Smvro kouum

Vherher lour lnrerner markehngpians require a wrde audrence. or a tocal one, the cosr ro put your businessonline has never been lower Ifyou,reconsidering rhe possibility of conducr-ing business on the Inrernet, rhere aresome questions you should ask your-self before proceedins:

(l) what a.e rny business goals andexpectarions from tbe tntemet?

(2) Am I doing rhis as a way ro pro-mor€ and develop my present business,or am I going to culrivare an entkelynew, perhaps internaiional market andl

€) Can I keep access local toavoidbeing inundated by long distance inquiri€s? A Maine or New Hamp$hirereslaurant with quick delivery seNice,fo. example, doesn't want to take orders from Nome, Alaska.

(4) How commitred am i ro

What t0 cltxsider BEF)REyut go on-lhreBr Gruu Vel 0roen

achieving this goal?(5) Do I wanr to sell something, pro,

mote an image, o. bo!h?(6) Do I want to communicare wirh

customers? Do I undersrand how to in-teract online wirh those cusromers(mailbots, darabases, auromaredlhtservs, mailing lisrs)?

(7) Should I design, mainrain andput up my own page, hire a consuhant,o. conracr alr ourside service?

(8) How do I shop for an InternerSeffice Provider (lsp) and/or veb de,velopment company?

Determine your Goals

Companies going on ihe tnternetdo so with a variery ofgoals. Some rryto promote and develop an already es,tablished business while orhers try tocultilare a niche as a whole new busi

\vhen determining your businessgoals and expectations from the Inre.,ner, a lor depends on $rhat kind ofbusiness you have. Fo. example, amanufactu.ing company mighr derivenore benefit from an online p.esencethan a clothing srore. Typica y, a manu-facturing company s objecrive is rogenerate inquiries or leads ro potentialnew custoDrers, while a clothing srorewould seek .er2il s2les

Regardless of what rype of businessyou have, the firsr step is ro determine

"If all you want ro do is open upyour company ro the global power ofe mail, rhen you may ofiy need a simplemail feed from an Interner Seryice prcvider,' points our M t. Shoer, presidentof Blue Fin Sysrems of porrsmouth, anISP and \veb site developmenr com-panv.

"l iowever, if you wish ro establish I

you Erperietrce what the World Wide WebService Can Do for your Business,

It's Amazing How Basy itis for Customers to tr'ind

You - All Over the World.

Solar Eclipse Information ServicesMonument Squarc- (207) 7?5-384t -800-892-0042http://wrdw.seis.com - Intemet Access .- BBS

Intenace Monthly . O.iober 1995 . Pqg. 35

Page 3: Early Magazine Article on "How-to-Choose an Internet Service Provider"

2 truly global, 'round the clock pres-ence fo. your company, then a fullaccess/tull service ptovider that can ful-fill your requirements is essential '

ingo Roemer of Rocket ScienceCompute. Services in Portsmouth, an ISP

& veb dev€lopment company, stresses

that your expectations from the lnter-

"Your busioess goals shouldn'tchange that much. Your expectations,how€ver, may hav€ to. There is lots olpress about the Interne! and all the n€atthings that are on-line," says Roemer'

"Everyday we hea. about incrediblesales .esults from a simPle \veb page orthe large amoun6 of cyber'iunl whatis real and what is fiction can be di'vided by a very fine line, he wa.tu

"Corporate America is using itheavily for information distribution, e

ma,l, and file transfers. lwhether yourcompaoy is large or small and is lookin8 to get on-line, approach it carefullyinternet providers are springing up everywhere some good, some not soFind a company that is solid and will-in8 ro provide for your needs as yourdemand grows," Roemer continues.You re not g€tting a cable connectionfo. a TV, this is telecommunications

A company selling Producis mailorder fiom a calalo8 might wmi to puttheir entire collection of inventory on aWeb site to be petused on a twenry-four hour basis- with no brochure,paper, and mailing costs, or phone/PeFsomel bills involved. They can tackwhich ilems of inventory are looked alon a daily basis, the number ofhitr, orcuslomers contacG, and how much tlme(to the nillisecondl) people spend l@k-ing at a particular paSe or inventory

Mos! provide.s will include statis'tics like these as parr of the overallpackage ln mosr cases You will ev€nbe ,hlc ro rell what rompany or indi-vidual looked at you. page.

Another oplion, not always requir-ing a large initial investment, isdevelopment ol a new comPany or con-cept on Iine. whose sole purpose is tofocus on a parlicula! asPect of thecompznys Presenl operations, o. sim_ply limit on-line activity to a certainnjche. A good way to learn about youroptions on-line is to brows€ over theplethora ol oferings curendy on theweb, examine the assortment of pmcti_cal advice, rAQs (frequently askedquestions), and newsgroups available

Vhen creating a business Plan, al_

locate time and resources for the newproject. Initial considerations will in-clude muldmedia effects and content,such as links to other interesting Web

sites. interactive hosting of business-re

lated topics and services or evenunrelated services such as a bullednboard conf€rence. These can be on anysubjeci- primary candidates, or a newlow-fat garlic bread recipe, for exampleBe caretul, however, of the addinonaltime required lo dowrioad Sraphics-most peoPle dont like to wair'

Though the variations a.e endless,you may opt fof a Sradual introductionro cyberspace by sFning out with a no-frills, inexpensive $/eb site containingbasic information about your curentbusiness, minimal use of graphics, anda brief outline of your services andlo.products. You may also want Io get on'iine and check our whai others in thesame line of business are doing (access

one of the largest directories for this in'formation at hft p://yahoo.com)

Keeping It l-ocal

lf you want to avoid being inun-dated by inquiries from all pans ofthe

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PAGI 36 . Inteface Mondny . octobet 1995

Page 4: Early Magazine Article on "How-to-Choose an Internet Service Provider"

world you have several optiora. Youcan design your page ro presem a re-que$ form for the viewer io fill out forfurlher iniormation. After a browsersig.s oli a mailbot can be configur€dto (a) deny rhe request based on thegeographical location of the recipient,and (b) test for bogus e-mail addressesby an e mail validation check to theusers account. In many instances search,ers will arbitrarily limit their data baseinquiry geographically anyrvay, so thatyou wiu not even be brought up by an"Ajia" search or a "California look-up.Before you decide to eliminate all butthe local market make sure thar rhere isno benefit in reaching a narional or in-te.national markel Many smal businessowners iocus on iocal markeb becauseofthe.esources required to go tu(herVith the Inferne!, it s no more expen-sive to marker across lhe srare han

Having set goals and expectatiora.you should be zble ro caiculate approxi,mately how much time and money willbe required fo. your ventur€. Many'world wide web sites a.e filled wi$"unde. construcrion' postings which, toa lot ofpeople, indicates a site in whichthe crearor lost int€rest. If your sire re-

quires frequent updating (includes stockprices, weather, dates, or anlthing thatflucnrates), make su.e you stay curent.Nothing gives away a neSlected sitemore so rhan our of dare infomation.

To Sell, Promote, or Both

If you wish to promote an imageyour options will include building andmaintaining a Web site, interacting withprospects and customers online*rough e-mail, newsgroups, listsews(more private and pointed than Usen€tnewsgroups) and, in oprimum ci.cum-s'ances, becoming sawy yourself withthe culture of the Internet. Rememberthal when people are looking 2t yourWeb site tlEy are looking at you. Ifthereare Pro8ram er.ors, unlinked code,sloppysegues and t ansitions, or mean-ingless verbiage, then you wilt bemaking a negative first impression. Andsince the.e are so many places to go onlhe NeI, people probably wont com€

If you want to sell a product, youwill n ant to make sure that you have aplan for secure commercial tnnsactions.Many of the larger online services in-cluding Amedca On-Line, Compuserve,

MCI, and sprinq as well as some soii-ware companies like Nerscape andMicrosoft, are offering s€cure Interne!$ansaction capabilities built into theiron-line software with Visa andMaslercard acceptance.

"Intemet Service Providers come inail shapes and sizes,' says Shoer "Thetrick is to look for a provider that can

You will also want to be sure thatyour \veb pase developer (unless you rea do-ii-yourselfer) has intimate knowl-edge about your business provided byyou or previous indusrry experience, inorder ro become a pan of online pub-

Communicaring With CustomersThrough Ma ing fists

There are a number of methodsfor gen€rating "lntemet Mailing Lisls.'On€ way is to subscribe to a Usenernewsgroup and find out what othermail lists (list processo.s) are availablefor a target ma.ket. Then, €-mail a"Lisf or "info" command to the "List,pfocessor", subscribe to a panicularlist and run a "review" ofall6ubscrib-€rs to that list. Before using that list to

Some peoplz see it clear\ whilcothers dnn't see it at aIL

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Interfae Monthly . october 1995 . P.|gc 37

Page 5: Early Magazine Article on "How-to-Choose an Internet Service Provider"

contact its members, lea.n the degreeof "netiquette" peculiar to each list.You can get a feel fo. this by following the postings ior a while, thenauempting an innocuous postins in anattempt to 8et to know some of the

To Outsource Or Not Tooutsourc€

Iiyour inilial stan-up application issimple, you may want !o try your handat coding documents by using HTML(HyperText Markup LanguaSe). User-fri€ndly code SeneGlors are beconingmore popula!, such as Navisoft bYNavipress (a subsidiary of America on-!ine), zndrwebsiE (o Reilly Associates).For mo.e complicated projects, yourHTML pages will require Common GaIe-way Intefface scripting, in a morelechnical language like Perl or visualBasic.

" DeveLoping your own pages isexciring and quile simple," says Roemer."But you should be carefDl not lo takeon more rhan you can handLe.

"The Internet can be a very unfor-giving place. If your page isunprofessional or do€snt wolk corectly,

a negative image is made of your com-pany," adds Roemer. Fortunalely youdon't have to spend lhousands up fronLveb pages are easyto add to. So as yourcrompany grows, so can your veb ste.

Hiring a consultant may b€ lhe an-swer for those who are comfortable withoutsourcing much of the leg work. Ad-vice in choosinS an ISP,^web D€veloPeris an important f2cet of the consuhanfsoverall importance to the proc€ss. If youwant unbiased advice, make sur€ you.consultant is noi associated with 2ny ISP

or Development company.

Shopping for an ISP andlor Webd€velopment company

Rich Adams. Chakman & FounderUUNET Technologies, and developer oflhe Microsoft Nerwork, is a p.ovider ofAlternet lnternet Servic€s out of FallsChurch, Va., with PoinLs ot Presence

"Buying an Inlernet Connection is a

lot like buying a computer, Adans says..Your choice of Inlernet provides shouldbe driven by your inlended use. If youare looking lor a minimum cost, ba'ebones computer for your kids, you olghtseek oDt the lowest priced system in the

backofa magazine. Howeve., ifyou are

buyins somethins for your company, touwould probably choose differently. '

"For your business, you mightconsider buying the mosl expensilesolution exercising the lheory that youget what you pay for, Adams continues. "However, once youve reall!srudied the question, lhe riShi choicemight well lurn oul to be a mid rangesystem fiom a siable, narionally recog-

Adam leels an impoftant lactor whenconsidering a provider is topology.

'Network topology can help youunderstand hoer lulnerable the networkis to outages, how much.zpaciry is avail'able when the network experienceshea!,y use a.d mos! importantly, hoRwell the pror'ider unde.slands networkenginee.ing

'Any compeleni providershould behappy to shos you their netwo.k topol-ogy. Its a Sood way lo. ihem todemonsrate how well lhey understandIhei! busioess, Adams says.

''Look closely ai whal ihey shosyou. Some providers will give you a vnualbackbone nap Vinual netwo.k zre

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Page 6: Early Magazine Article on "How-to-Choose an Internet Service Provider"

.at r|te.t li1r flle j.e

ncrnirgless Y(rr drtr docs nd lr.rvel()n ;L virtlrxl netqork iL lrxvels on a

vnturl nctivorl{ n ps rrc represenrurions ol xll rhc prfis Lhrr could bei rplenrenred by thc Nppli$s vi uxl.ircun s*,itching c.luipncnl. b!r whichrlry nor.xist. \iiirLrl ncl\!(n'ks rt LLsu

rlly used to dodge rlrc issuc ol phvsic.l.xpability A supplicr nccds ft) undcrsnnd phrsicrl ncl$orks ro lnde$rind\vhdt is nnponanL la. na\ ing their cusIomcb. Ilsorneonc tells )( rhrt Physi(rlropok)gy is unnnponrnr.Iher eithcr donllnderstlnd hoN lo engincer r neti\l)rkor .re trying Lo disguisc ltncrhnrg.

Fnr2uy. considc. thc sc(,n!lxnd prcnnnion of lhc \cb sile it c)bersPlcc'l his de.ision c.n bc r ..iti.dl ir.ftr. innr.ccssiul pron)()t()n ()l \(trtr coDP.nl.

Ricluud Co\, (lFlO ol \ed:tcgislcr, x

v'eb devcloper out ol\lrnchcsLcf. N.H..poses rhe queslion. .do Iou hr!.c fotro$,n do'rxin nrnre?'lhis is your lDlcrnet.lomain nxnre or Unitbmr Rcsour(c l.()

c!ror (lJRt) ol Ihc lorn htlp: .

$a!$ yourcomPrnr conr.'''lheF is on\'onr thins \r{rse tlrxn

no! hdving louro\r donlin nit.re l.ltlrnd thet is onc Lhrl poirlrs to ihe lsl']shoore p!gc, cox savs "l){dr be iircledby f.nc) suili\es Iike hrtp ,./N${ yourlSP..onr/-you,.omp.nyl Thc(inrenveirry lnrer.ct hdteler rvillleavc ollrlic t/-yourconrprn.vl rn.l ilnd )ou.lsP\

.'Inragine hos. you \\1r1d feel .ficrspending xlld t nrorer prcDotiDg yourdomrin nxorL'only k)fnrl(nrL Lllt pcopiei.tendnrg ftr visil vou sct sidcur(kc.l byanod.r comprn-v on \our ISl'] s home

OccrsionJlly, dcxling Nirh high ie.hlbsrrrclbns srLch rs rh)se ,ntolved intelcconnnunicllions ..rn becoDe . orxjor distrrctjon il you xrc geft,ng negrtivelccdbrck lionr _vour Isl'(.nrlcis. Ile.defr olrnrone tryingtu i okes.reentheirosn jgnoance behni r br.rtrgeofbuzzrvods .rnd rechi jxrg()n In prniculxr dono! ler someone inrrnri.lrtc yo! our oftexr olshowing x ldck ol knowlcdge. Be\ery clexr xnd up tionl rbou( (his with$lDmcrer you .lerl $ith rcm(nberrhrr vou xr dre .ustomer.

''I.re.ncl scnr.e Pr.vi.lers comc iD

rllshrDes xnd sizes lhe m.rke( is nr!ruring \eq npid\' Fo.rhe clLst(nnel thcbcnclirs lre trll dreirs. srys shoc. Thismirtu'lti()n is p(nh(ing hlghcr qulliLypr^iders sirh \c.) .osl cft..rirc fuLcs.

T|e nn:k $ tr) kx)k i;r . pr^ klcr LLll

cxn ttuli bc i pJl1ner. \i)u \r.nl Lr) findx conprn) thrl hrs ! soli.lhistory. soundrcsourccs.r..l rire rdlent ro bdng xllLlrtrrrogelhc.lar rhe benefir oithc cus(lncr

Thc drvs oi brsdncn( oper!tn)nslrc fudirg trst. Shoer continu(s. Pn!!iders nccd ro pft)vidc.xcorflrr\customc.sc i.e. rt d P.i.e th.t &)cs nl)(sr(dJlcc lhe quxlit! ol lln)sc scr\i(csThit couplcrL NiIh drc ksourecs 1() cirlthcscricc ta ud rnd fro\i.lc r lunc(lscl ()l rrs(iurccs lo nce( Y(tr'r unlq(cbusincss ne..l\ $ill pn^c lo l)t x gi1'xrNss(J r() lolr arsincss.

The Iclcc()nrnruni(rli()n ()pri.ns

.Lr.ri,ltt Io compinies tod.t i]tu Plenlir!l '.,r.1 ine\p.nsnc. \'()! onll hl\c t()

rrr.r[t rhr nxNe ro becomc prjl ()l l]re

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|Iilnt drLlnds p nlu..l rnlo lt)ut trntdiA dinlt Dtnl'! l:*71 Dr[ia uitl] drnftttultlr:i/dl ttli\ rs \1t .tt1t r.acl) hi t atrd t'rtittl a\ru\pt)t tld. e1.rd1|nlt)ta,tL,u t:t, rt\l11Ltt, Outpost 4ttd)-)ta;)-/)jti

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