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Future Queue

Our editors' opinions on hot topics in communications technology.

ASPs

The application service provider (ASP) market continues to heat up and diversify. Although there are still charges that it's the old outsourcing under a new name, there are significant differences from that period. It's the Internet again--the standardizing of protocols and interfaces means that it's easier to see exactly what services are being offered. Jack Sweeney, CEO of Epicon, is venturing into territory that most ASPs shy away from: desktop management via the Web. Applications will run from Epicon's servers and be managed from there: delivering the app, installing it, healing the desktop if anything is wrong, upgrading and removing it, if necessary. Sweeney says that the Web and the ASP movement is great for the small and midsized business. He calls it "the uncaptured market," because it has all the needs of a big business. Now, with new CLECs coming on line--there are projections that there will be 400 new CLECs by the end of 2000--broadband will be affordable for all sizes of businesses. "The killer service will be end-to-end," Sweeney says, and cheap broadband access makes it possible.

On the other hand, Jesse Berst of ZDNet says the Internet is too dicey, and renting applications has some serious downsides, including the fact that Sun and Microsoft are hinting that they may give applications away for free. Nicholas Petreley of Info World suggested in a recent column that once you've committed to an application, you and the ASP are at the mercy of price increases from the software vendors.

E-MAIL 

We're still a long way from solving the spam problem of e-mail, either internally on intranets or externally. If it's not the jokes flying around the intranet, it's the obnoxious ads coming in from outside. New laws in Virginia, North Carolina, and under consideration in a number of other states will (theoretically) prevent anyone from sending mass mailing from a hidden address. It remains to be seen if the laws will be effective. Federal regulations require that you should be offered a way to opt out, but spammers are often scofflaws as well. One trick is to give you a phone number (not an 800 number, either) that you have to call to get off the list--and then even if you try, the phone is always busy.

Jeff Angus, columnist for Information Week, suggests a very small charge for e-mail--a quarter of a cent per e-mail charged to the sender. There was a false alarm flying around the Internet earlier this year that the U.S. Postal Service was trying to get a five-cent charge tacked on, and it stirred up a lot of folk. But a quarter-cent isn't a bad idea--it would probably put a stop to the mass mailings. But is the technology there to do it?

Steve Layne, CEO of United Messaging, a new company that hosts e-mail, says that new services will start offering certified delivery, public key encryption, and digital certificates so that, at least within enterprises, mail will go where it is supposed to. Users could theoretically refused mail from anyone but a certified source. "In these highly secured environments, a per-message charge will probably apply but not in general," Layne says. His company's service does offer secure SMTP Internet connections to scan for viruses, filter out objectionable content, and filter out known spamming addresses. Most reputable ISPs do this as well, but spam still gets through.

Resources

* The International Engineering Consortium (IEC) recently added 12 new tutorials to its popular Web ProForums on-line continuing education program at www.iec.org, bringing the total number of tutorials on the latest technical and business issues to over 100. Sponsored topics most recently added include: Application Services Framework (ObjectSwitch); ATM Passive Optical Networks (Eluminant), ATM-SS7 Interworking (Hughes Software Systems), A New Switching Architecture for a New Competitive Environment (Taqua Systems), and VDSL (ViaGate). For more information on softcover, CD-ROM, or Web formats, visit the Web site, call 312-559-4612, or e-mail [e-mail].

* Intel Corp. continues its series of seminars in major cities in the U.S. To help IT executives, strategic planners, senior network and purchasing manager, integrators, and technology consultants understand how VPN technology can help transform the way corporations conduct business, Intel offers a program in: San Jose, Calif.-October 6; Long Beach, Calif.-October 7; Denver, Colo.-October 12; St. Louis, Mo.-October 13; Washington, D.C.-October 19; and Raleigh, N.C.-October 20. To obtain further details and/or sign up for any of the VPN seminars, call 800-676-0879, or visit http://seminar.shiva.com.

* Moving, reconnecting, testing computer and telecom equipment properly in a short time frame is now a critical business issue when companies move. The Alliance for Technology Relocation was formed by three Connecticut companies which provide such services and share knowledge about technology relocation issues: William B. Meyer, Inc., provider of logistics services; Citation Systems Group, Inc., a network design, management, and training firm; and Free Enterprise Telephone, a provider of voice and data cabling installation and maintenance. For periodically updated tips, case studies, and some general relocation issues, access any of the following Web sites: www.wnbmever.com. www.citation.net, or www.freeenterprisetel.com. Case studies are also accepted by the Alliance through these sites.

* LeadersOnline is an Internet recruiting service for technology professionals. Backed by Heidrick & Struggles, LeadersOnline focuses on matching emerging leaders with high caliber IT positions in the $75,000 to $150,000 compensation range. For clients, this means proactive sourcing, applicant tracking, and background verifications to fill mission-critical positions; for candidates, it means a minimized enrollment time, timely feedback, and superior matching of skills to opportunities-all accessible via a Web browser. LeadersOnline provides two secure extranet systems, one for clients and one for candidates. Its headquarters is located at 18101 Von Karman Ave., Suite 1050, Irvine, Calif. 92612. Call, fax, or visit at Tel: [phone];Fax: [phone]; www.leadersonline.com.