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After a highly successful print campaign, Bacardi USA took its Bombay Sapphire marketing online. With the help of a Flash application, the company soon had consumers designing their own martini […]

With the growing acceptance of Internet technologies as serious business tools, companies have evolved their Web sites over the years to provide better applications and services to their customers. Executives […]

Microsoft is continuing to develop Microsoft .Net, which aims to use the Internet to interconnect devices, data and applications. .Net, which is based on XML, is supposed to enable users to access applications and data wherever they reside, using whatever device is most convenient. Critics warn that .Net raises questions involving privacy and security.

Electronic Ink Pres and CEO Harold Hambrose says technology should work for the user. Electronic Ink, started by Hambrose in 1990, designs electronic interfaces, including intranets, extranets and Web sites. Hambrose believes things should not be incorporated into designs simply because they can be placed there, but should only be included if they serve some useful purpose. He says people will only use technology if it is made appealing to them. The aim, in the digital era, as in other times, ought to be beautiful objects that are absolutely utilitarian.

American Floral Services (AFS) is meeting the challenge of fierce competition from companies such as FTD and Teleflora by using the World Wide Web to provide services to 24,000 North American member florists and 55,000 overseas affiliates. AFS charges its members $79.95 per month, plus a 9 percent transaction fee, but CEO Tom Butler says wire orders have plateaued. AFS offers various services, including educational publications and workshops on topics ranging from floral design to computer technology to shop management. Rosebud, AFS's accounting and shop-management software package, is tailored to the needs of retail florists and is specifically meant for non-technical users.

Last autumn Vauxhall managed to beat the rest of the motor industry to the punch when it launched its Internet-exclusive '.com' range of new cars. And Vauxhall certainly wasn't slow […]

Cybersettle.com, founded in 1996, offers an automated negotiating service that enables attorneys to settle some kinds of insurance claims online. Cybersettle's Website, launched in 1998, has 120 employees, and relationships have been established with 11 major insurance companies. The advantage of using the company's service is that claims can be settled in hours or days rather than months. Cybersettle was begun by two attorneys, James Burchetta and Charles Brofman.

Amazon.com is an example of an Internet-based company whose success has been predicated on the service it gives to its customers. Other successful online companies have customer service similar to Amazon.com. Online companies have learned to diversify their products and services to attract new customers. For instance, Amazon.com has gone beyond selling books on the Internet and has ventured into videos, music and auctions. The opportunity to customize on the Internet leads to loyal customers. My Yahoo is one of Yahoo's most popular feature where users can create their own pages.

When Michael Levy visualized the idea of an online service that would deliver sports information back in 1994, there weren't many takers. Television, radio, and the print media were so […]

Arnold Communications' new Internet standards-based e-mail system lets the agency live up to its name. The advertising industry has a well-earned reputation for being a cut-throat business. In the face […]

The Web supposedly pushed groupware off the stage, but it's merely in the dressing room preparing for its second act. If you're looking for a groupware package these days, you're […]

Providing end-to-end management for demanding enterprise customers in a heterogeneous, fast-changing environment. Exodus Communications (Santa Clara, CA) characterizes itself as a provider of Internet data centers. The data center part […]

Your customers want the Web. It's an inescapable fact of our time: Business is in the midst of a vast migration to the Web. Some 80 percent of Fortune 500 […]

Put yourself in my shoes. I'm the chief technology officer at Network Computing's mythical AppLogistics Inc., and I represent an international group of people with different companies and different names, […]

Loan services firm hopes speed and reduced costs will give it an edge Lereta Corp., a provider of information services to mortgage lenders, is at best a distant third in […]

More than a year has passed since Netscape Communications Corp. went public, and nearly as much time has elapsed since Microsoft summoned the industry's elite to Seattle to unveil its […]

GTE unit picks object database for multimedia Web-based directory services Suppose it's your wedding anniversary. You want to take your spouse for a candlelit dinner-filet mignon, Chateauneuf du Pape, perhaps […]

A world leader in PC software, Symantec Corp. is different things to different people. To users of the company's programming tools, Symantec is a software company at the high end […]

Editor's Note: Microsoft Chairman and Chief Executive Bill Gates outlined Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft's strategy for delivering the next generation of intranet solutions at Microsoft's Intranet Strategy Day held this summer. […]

First of two parts. Microsoft has made no secret of its desire to dominate the Internet the way it has dominated so many other software categories. With the recent release […]

SEVEN YEARS AGO REED BUSINESS Information made a decision about publishing online which it claims "by a bit of luck and a lot of judgement" has made the company a […]

In Japan, the success of NTT DoCoMo's I-Mode wireless data service has seen no fewer than 4,000 pure-play independent portals appear in less than two years. For a while it […]

E.N.E.N.'s network broadcasts live and prerecorded multimedia events over the Internet using streaming technologies. Forget pay-per-view on cable TV. Concerts, boxing events, and chess matches are now standard fare on […]

When David Cane started Connected Corp. two years ago with the idea of offering a backup service over the Internet, he knew he had to set new standards for availability. […]