"Spinning a New Web" explores future of Intranets.

ARLINGTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 30, 1996--The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) today released an important new study of how companies are moving rapidly to establish Intranets.

The white paper, "Spinning a New Web," looks at various aspects of "Intranetworking," which involves the adaptation of Internet technologies, formats and standards to internal corporate systems and business-to-business applications.

"Spinning a New Web' demonstrates how companies are rushing to use Intranets to give them a competitive edge. We hope that many medium-sized companies in particular who have not yet developed Intranets will take a cue from `Spinning a New Web' and get started!" said Bob Herbold, executive vice president of Microsoft and association board member.

Spinning a New Web looks at intranetworks from two perspectives: key technologies driving this fast-growing marketplace and the innovative approaches to intranetworking taken by early adopters. The white paper also includes a directory of products and services currently available to facilitate intranetworking.

Among the paper's major findings:

-- During their "early adopter" phase, Intranets have been driven from the bottom-up. More often than not, managers in the marketing, human resources or communications fields have driven the development of these internal Web sites for occasional-use applications within their departments. By and large, these Intranets have not been driven from the top-down within a corporation.

-- More and more companies and organizations are building both groupware features and access to relational databases and online transaction processing into their Intranets. Some companies are adding an Intranet front-end to accounting, MRP, inventory management, and accounts payable and receivable systems. Various software tools have not been developed to integrate Intranets with the most sophisticated enterprise-wide information systems. But we are at the beginning phase of such wide-spread integration.

-- The explosion of Intranets and their continuing technological development will increasingly blur the lines between an organization's internal and external Web sites. Companies will use Intranet features to tie together their partners, suppliers and customers. As such, some Intranet applications will become an integral part of digital commerce.

-- The market demand for ever-more sophisticated Intranets is creating a cottage industry that is spurring the development of new software and tools geared to these internal networks. This is a nascent but rapid growth segment of the software industry that will grow in significance.

Board member Ed Adams, senior vice president of SCO commented, "As a company, we are committed to the Intranet software market. As an association, ITAA is carving out a leadership role for itself in serving this important new industry."

Marc Hebert, vice president of Oracle Corporation and a fellow member of ITAA's Software board of directors, said that "ITAA and its software division recognized early on the significance of using Internet technology within a company to create a strategic advantage. Oracle is also committed to this vision. Just this week we are unveiling a whole new series of products to help companies exploit more fully the promise of these internal corporate `Intranets.'"

Planned follow-on activities include a seminar with the Society of Information Management, developing an annual set of awards for best of breed Intranet, software products, and making "Spinning a New Web" a living document through expanding the case studies, lessons learned and product directory.

"The rapid adoption of Internet technology as the foundation for internal corporate networks and supplications has spawned an exciting new segment in the software industry. The great majority of Netscape sales today come from companies who are using Netscape SuiteSpot servers and Netscape Navigator client software to build full service Intranets," said Srivats Sampath, vice president of Server product marketing at ITAA member Netscape Communications Corp.

"We are pleased that the ITAA has made this rapid growth industry a priority and will be looking for ITAA to build a leadership role as the Intranet software market explodes in the next few years."

ITAA has also taken the lead in representing the Internet, Intranet and Network-centric business software industry on international, federal and state public policy issues with a bottom-line impact on these companies. Priority public policy and lobbying activities include:

-- encryption and information security

-- copyright and intellectual property

-- software and Internet taxation

-- digital commerce

-- regulation of the Internet

"The rapid growth of Intranets, unfettered by government oversight, helps to demonstrate why these networks -- and the Internet itself -- should be shielded from unnecessary regulatory burdens," said Jon Englund, vice president of ITAA.

"We think our new white paper will be of major benefit to any firm interested in leveraging Internet technology for internal business systems," said Doug MacIntyre, president and CEO of D&B Software and chairman of ITAA's software division. "I encourage everyone who would like to pursue this topic to point their browser to ITAA's home page (http://www.itaa.org/intranet.htm) and access this report."

ITAA consists of 9000 direct and affiliate members throughout the U.S. which produce products and services in the IT industry. The Association plays a leading role in public policy issues of concern to the IT industry, including taxes, intellectual property, telecommunications law, encryption, securities litigation reform, and human resources policy.

ITAA members range from the smallest IT start ups to industry leaders in the software, services, systems integration, telecommunications, Internet, and computer consulting fields. Learn more about ITAA and its positions on the issues by connecting to its home page at http://www.itaa.org.

CONTACT: Information Technology Association of America

Jon Englund, 703/284-5301

e-mail: [e-mail]