Technology and real estate report released on the web.

Technology and Real Estate, the latest paper from The L&B Group's Research Department, has been published it on the Internet, accessible through the Hot Topics section of the firm's website at www.lbgroup.com. In addition, a hard copy is also available.

Technology and Real Estate examines the effects of recent advances in Internet, Electronic Commerce and Information Systems technology on the real estate industry. According to the findings of this paper, "New and unexplored technological tools promise to reshape virtually every aspect of the real estate investment process."

Indeed, from e-mail to cyber malls and on-line banking, the interactive capabilities of this new technology provide users with the ability to share information in minutes rather than days. And that's only a small part of its potential.

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the on-line version is its utilization of links within the document to allow readers to obtain more information. Links to other web site addresses appear throughout the paper, embedded in the text much like footnotes.

For example, when reference is made to President Clinton's A Framework for Global Electronic Commerce, the reader who wants to learn more merely clicks on the underlined words to activate a hyperlink that accesses the actual document at the President's Information Infrastructure Task Force web site. Within the framework of this position paper, even a novice user becomes a nimble spider on the web.

More than 60 links appear throughout the paper to other web sites, including PikeNet, Dow Jones, the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries, and the International Council of Shopping Centers.

According to Joseph W. Dingman, L&B's executive vice president, utilization of the Internet is only one of the many tools through which the investment management community is enhancing its client service. "In my mind, technology has tremendous potential for improving virtually every step of the process, making more efficient use of our resources and improving client investment performance," Dingman said. "Individually, we at L&B were each quick to see tremendous potential in the Internet, but we saw it in different ways."

According to Dingman, some saw the Internet's greatest benefit in processing property-level data; others saw it delivering immediate performance information to clients. For a property manager, the Internet means enhanced market information and better retail marketing.

"While we each had a different view," Dingman said, "it turns out we were all correct. We now have developed a much sharper focus on where our information systems are headed and improved client servicing is our immediate goal."

The L&B Group, with more than $3 billion in assets under management, provides real estate investment advisory and management services to institutional investors and individual clients and manages a portfolio of more than 27 million square feet of office, retail, industrial and multifamily properties across the country.