CMGI, Sumitomo In Tie-Up For Japanese Internet
Advertising Network
CMG Information Services and Sumitomo Corporation of Japan announced an
alliance to tap into Japan’s burgeoning Internet marketplace via services
including interactive advertising and direct marketing.
CMGI’s brands include Planet Direct, ADSmart, Engage
Technologies, Lycos, and GeoCities. Sumitomo, the ninth largest global
corporation with revenues of approximately $125 billion, is the leading
investor in Japan’s top ISP, Internet Initiative Japan (IIJ), and is a
cofounder and part owner of the Asian Internet Holding company.
“This collaboration marks a significant first step in expanding CMG’s
affiliate businesses into the Asian interactive marketplace,” said
David Wetherell, CEO of CMGI. “We believe this alliance will create a
powerful marriage of infrastructure and content serving the Asian
Internet community,” said Isao Momota of Sumitomo.
(Web Vision, India; February 20, 1998)
CEOs At World Economic Forum Highlight Role Of Electronic
Commerce
Nearly 80 percent of surveyed CEOs in North America, Asia, and Europe
believe electronic commerce will reshape competition in their
industries, according to a Price Waterhouse/World Economic Forum
survey.
Twenty percent of those surveyed think electronic commerce will
completely reshape how they do business, while 59 percent say it will
lead to a significant change.
Price Waterhouse CEO James J. Schiro gave
the results in a presentation to the 1998 World Economic Forum in
Davos, Switzerland. Survey participants included 377 CEOs from among
the world’s largest 2000 companies. Three-quarters of CEOs reported
that their companies always or frequently use the Net internally and
internationally.
(Web Vision, India; February 20, 1998)
America Online In Partnership For Online Service In
Hong Kong
America Online announced a new partnership with the China Internet
Corporation (owned by China’s official Xinhua News Agency) to provide
online services in Hong Kong.
AOL already has a foothold in Australia and Japan. Hong King, a city of 6.4
million people, has an estimated 300,000 to 600,000 Internet users, with
the number expected to grow to 1 million by the year 2000.
AOL’s Hong Kong service will be built around its U.S. service, but will be
tailored to Hong Kong consumers by providing additional original local
content in English and Chinese. The service is expected to be launched
within a year.
(Associated Press; February 10, 1998)
Australian Information Economist Urges Companies To
Harness E-Commerce
Australia’s National Office of the Information Economy now has a top
executive: Paul Twomey, the executive general manager of Europe for
Austrade and a former McKinsey consultant.
Twomey said the online revolution of the late 20th century was like the
“railway revolution” of the mid-19th century in newly industrialising
England. He urged CEOs
of Australian businesses to focus on the issues of e-commerce for an
upcoming summit in April.
(Sydney Morning Herald; February 10, 1998)
Free Indian Language Software To Be Distributed Via
Web
India’s Department of Electroncis (DoE) announced the online
availability of free software for Indian languages as part of a
national initiative to promote information technology and local content
in Indian languages.
Users will be able to download Indian-language word processors from the Web
site of the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) based in
Pune. Stressing the need for computer education in Indian languages, V. P.
Bhatkar, executive
director of C-DAC, said HTML standards, Internet browsers, and e-mail
technology for Indian languages should be developed.
The National Centre for Software Technology (NCST) in Mumbai is working on
software
to translate English news stories to Hindi, which could be used by news
agencies and Hindi newspapers.
(Business Standard; February 10, 1998)
Web Sites Provide Useful News, Resources In Black
History Month
February is Black History Month in the U.S. “Over the last couple of
years, the visibility of sites about the month has greatly increased,”
said Joel Dreyfuss, former editor of Our World News.
Useful sites in this regard include Netnoir, Martin Luther King
Jr. papers at Stanford, Afro-Americ@’s Black
History Museum, Encyclopaedia Britannica’s Guide to
Black History, Carter G. Woodson, NAACP, W.E.B. DuBois Institute, Schomburg
Center for Research in Black Culture, and Black Voices.
(New York Times; February 9, 1998)
Singapore Web-based Trade Service Gets Deals For Local
Companies
“Compared with the traditional ways of doing business with letters,
faxes and long-distance calls, the Internet can save time and money,”
says Ronald Chew, CEO of Singapore-based Sitra Wood Products.
Thanks to the online trading service Singapore Connect, Chew recently
secured business deals in the Middle East and Eastern Europe worth $250,00
via the Net.
A growing number of local companies are finding the Net to be an
effective way to get business information and make contact with
potential partners abroad.
SingaporeConnect is a national project jointly run by newspaper group
Singapore Press Holdings and three government agencies–Productivity and
Standards Board (PSB), National Computer Board (NCB), and Trade Development
Board (TDB). Chew received
his contacts via posts on the “Looking for Foreign Partners” bulletin
board.
(Singapore Business Times; February 9, 1998)
Internet Forum Seeks To Boost Ties Between Asia,
European Union
“The Eurasia Cyberforum
seeks to strengthen EU-Asian relations,” according to Raymond Le Ruyet,
manager of the first Internet-based forum dedicated to boost European
Union-Asian ties.
It is an initiative of the European Institute for Asian Studies (EIAS), a
Brussels-based think-tank. It aims to offer updated information on EU-Asia
relations,
and facilitate exchanges between specialists in various sectors. There
is also online discussion on business and education.
The Cyberforum has participated in the recent seminar on the impact of the
Asian currency crisis on European Monetary Union and economic growth.
(Straits Times, Singapore; February 9, 1998)
Search Engines Emerge For Arab-Related Content On The
Web
Arabia On Line, a pioneer in the field of Arab-related Internet
information, has developed a search engine called Arabia Web, which
trawls the Internet for sites about the Arab world.
Another company, Arabist, is also developing a search engine called
“Arabist Search
Engine.”
(The Star, Jordan; January 28, 1997)
