The best and the brightest of San Diego’s growing e-business community showcased their many talents during Spring Internet World 2000 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. More than two dozen exhibitors helped San Diego join the ranks of San Jose, Seattle, Austin and New York as a leading center of e-business represented at the event, the year’s largest trade show and conference for e-business.

World Premieres

Many first-time San Diego exhibitors turned into showstoppers with attention-grabbing products and displays. One Voice Technologies led the way with its personable mascot, IVAN, the new spokesperson for voice activated Internet browsing. IVAN demonstrated One Voice's upcoming release of myIVAN.com, which will allow computer users to find sites and information on the Internet with voice commands. IVAN responds in plain English and is so simple to use that young children can log on to the Internet before they learn how to type.

The youth market received an additional boost from exhibitor Children's Technology Group. President Neville Billimoria demonstrated the CTG portal, which combines the wealth of resources on the Internet with a preselection of suitable "G" rated content so that parents can let their kids surf the Net without unwelcome surprises.

Another San Diego exhibitor that is building a business with selective access to Internet content is Websense. "We help corporations manage their employees' access to the Internet," explains product manager Chris Metcalf at Websense's booth in the Microsoft partner pavilion.

NeoPoint also was a newcomer to the April 5 to 7 Spring Internet World, underscoring the convergence of wireless and Internet technologies that has positioned San Diego at the leading edge of new developments. NeoPoint demonstrated its Internet portal, myAladdin.com, which can work on any handheld wireless device. Vice President Kevin Thornton showed visitors how to use NeoPoint's own handheld personal communicators to access myAladdin.com, which he bills as "the services that matter the most when you’re on the go."

Tachyon.net debuted with its wireless access to the Internet using satellite communications. Its exhibit turned in an encore performance following the successful early-April launch of Tachyon de Mexico at an e-business show in Mexico City. Tachyon.net is in discussions with major commercial ISPs in that country and expects to announce agreements with large ISPs in Europe and the United States in the coming months. "We have to enter the consciousness of ISPs and potential customers," observes John Koehler, Tachyon's chief executive. "These shows are useful for that."

Downtown-headquartered CollegeClub.com announced its forthcoming wireless program at Spring Internet World as well, plus a partnership with Ericsson for international markets. CollegeClub.com now has more than 4 million members in better than 60 countries. Manager Jojo Platt reported, "We’re happy with the entire flow of the show. People have been coming to see us in particular. That says a lot about our brand being built out and now being very successful."

One of San Diego’s newest e-businesses, Kabl!nk, introduced a new affiliate program, making the Internet into a marketing and sales channel. Many Spring Internet World exhibitors and visitors signed up right away at the show, making Kabl!nk's image storage and distribution service available to hundreds of thousands of subscribers on the Internet. Marketing Vice President Chris Newman found it easy to persuade businesses which have products to show that Kabl!nk is one of the best ways for prospective customers to "get the picture."

The audience also was packed with customers for V2Commerce, which has tailored its online customer relationship management programs for the growing e-businesses which converged at Internet World. V2Commerce benefited from the extensive network of industry contacts at the show, as it rolled out its newest programs for co-branded and private label solutions, targeted at Web hosting services, Internet service providers, e-business consulting firms and Web site builders. Its offer of free service until June 30 turned out to be one of the show's biggest hits.

Encore Performers

WebSideStory returned to Spring Internet World after a highly successful premiere last year, which won not only dozens of new clients, but also the decision of a large venture capital partnership to invest $30 million in the fast-growing company. Vice President Geoff Johnson saw literally hundreds of reasons to return to the show again, noting "every company here could use our HitBox Enterprise Service. We’re hoping to get a lot of sales leads." WebSideStory also had a great offer for its advertiser-supported standard Web site measurement service — it’s available at no cost. The company also is now selling subscriptions to its StatMart benchmarks of Internet usage, which were demonstrated at its booth.

Internet World also provided a good opportunity to interact with customers for Stellcom, a systems integrator that develops Internet technologies which many large companies sell under their own brand name. Vice President Larry Mittag was pleased with the higher profile of wireless Internet technologies at this year’s show, reporting, "Now we’re talking to companies that are tailoring Web site content for wireless data. We can use their technology and integrate it into a better solution for our customers."

Technology gurus flocked to VelociGen, which develops software for dynamic content broadcast on the Internet. The Webcasting fans were similarly impressed with Intervu, which showcased its full-service programs for video and audio transmission over the Internet.

Rave Reviews

One of San Diego’s biggest fans at Internet World was Paul Sagan, president of Boston area headquartered Akamai, which recently acquired San Diego-based InterVu. Following a conference presentation on media convergence, Sagan discussed Akamai's enthusiasm for expanding in San Diego. "San Diego and Seattle, where InterVu has located its R&D, are the ideal additions to our R&D presence," says Sagan. "After Intervu is merged with Akamai, roughly one-half of the total R&D talent will be based on the West Coast. Attracting and keeping great engineers is critical for the company. We’re in the right four cities for that." Sagan also praised San Diego’s excellent communications infrastructure.

Spring Internet World 2000 was more than successful — space at next year’s show in Los Angeles is almost sold out. Producer Penton Media says it is important for start-ups which do not have the opportunity to reserve space a year or more in advance to add new perspectives to the show, so it has made extra room for "Launching Pad" exhibitors founded within the last 12 months. These exhibitors receive special discounts and advice on designing their exhibits.

NetCreate President Dwayne Domi strongly advises exhibiting at the show. After a successful showing last year, NetCreate quadrupled the size of its exhibit, which more than paid for itself and generated national attention for NetCreate's Web site builder — and for San Diego.

Max Donner is a contributing editor at San Diego Metropolitan and author of "California.com."