Friday, August 20, 1999

Bits & Bytes -and- Shakers & Stirrers 8/20/99

SHAKERS & STIRRERS
Send your job updates to The Cyber Scene

Sometimes job transitions can be easy, and sometimes they are fraught with drama, as was the case when Susan Pinkwater, who handled mergers & acquisitions at Agency.com moved onto lead BBDO's interactive unit. Something was apparently in the "@tmosphere" as they say as Heather Rosen moved onto Media.com, Condy Dale (former VP of Interactive) went to APL Digital, heading up account services; and Todd O'Donald left for OnHealth.com.

MyPrimeTime.com, the company and site started by former CNNfn'ers Craig Foreman and Helen Whelan, just hired web producer veterens Mary Tudor, formerly of Third Age Media, and Jory Des Jardins, formerly of iVillage.

Heidi Raeback has accepted a position of Director of Operations for Acidtested. Acidtested already has three divisions: build and maintain websites and interactive products; management consultation, troubleshooting and implementation, restructure and implement infrastructures to make maximize operations and efficiency; and they recruit and place people in positions. Karen Plitt, the wonder of the UJA-Federation Technology & New Media Group, is getting married and moving to Sydney, Australia for about 14 months. Her will be covering the Olympics, as Sports Editor for one of the major dailies over there--- so I will be living Down Under until November of 2000. Congrats and Go Karen!

* NEWS BITS AND BYTES

Where are my manners!?!!! Special thanks go to Howard Greenstein of Microsoft for inviting me onto the NYNMA cruise with one of his guest passes. Thank you Howard!

Thinking Media and ABC Interactive announced the first-ever audit of an online advertising reporting system based on a viewer-side method of tracking. The audit was for results for July of online advertising using Thinking Media's ActiveTrack(sm) technology.

Premium Networks (Cali. based) is opening an office in New York city in September.

LivePerson is jammin' and companies are scramblin' to get an online customer service and sales support solution. With their ability to get up and running with no installation of hardware or software -- they are in the front running and just opened the SF office and passed the 100 customers mark!

Girl Groove (formerly known as ChickClique) and TheGoodEgg.Com have their slick good looks and sleak back-ends thanks to an investment by Mouse Marketing Inc., an interactive technology and marketing company doing business in the Alley since 1995. Girl Groove is a chick's sports magazine for participants in sports and life! TheGoodEgg.Com is the online catalogue of high-quality, fashion-forward performance apparel for female athletes, particularly cyclist. It's "Cool Stuff for Cool Chicks."

Jim Bumgartner's newest issue of "The Tiny Lobster" came out recently -- check it out: http://www.jbum.com/jbum/tl3/. (He was a co-founder of The Palace.com)

Yack! (www.yack.com), launched its online radio guide, The Yack! Guide to Online Radio (http://www.yack.com/editorial/radio). From Vancouver: Bingo.com is launching the world’s first free “Bingo-based” email community and destination site, www.bingo.com.

Organic opened a new Detroit office to service the automotive industry's expanded efforts on the Internet. Their first client is DaimlerChrysler.

Sharing it's success in affiliate marketing programs, magazine retailer Enews.com today announced it will extend special partnership opportunities to not-for-profit organizations and school groups through a new extension of its affiliate network.

Uh oh! A new report from Jupiter Communications reveals that 64 percent of online consumers are unlikely to trust a Web site--even if the site prominently featured a privacy policy. Yikes!

Computer Lens Corporation, announced its new E-Commerce site "TiredEyes.Com" www.tiredeyes.com for bifocal wearers. TiredEyes.Com is the exclusive Internet distributor for the revolutionary PC Lens(r), patented prism section clip-on glasses designed to end eyestrain experienced by computer users and others. The unique PC Lens, optically lowers the work surface and relaxes the muscles of the eyes for maximum comfort. TiredEyes.Com will also make available other related products (anti-glare filters, eye drops, eye vitamins, sunglasses etc.) that are of added benefit to computer users who wear bifocals.

The 3 Day Rave

Don't let a little $14 million investment fool you -- Pseudo and it's parties continue to be seriously hip and trashy. After telling the guard at the door of 353 Broadway, "Pseudo" you will walk into a gas-station-like entranceway, park your butt in a chair and have to answer a few questions. Was this Monty Python all over again? So I complied and gave my name, email and birthdate. Some people, like filmwriter Larry Carty were even asked "tough" questions like "Who is the president of Microsoft?" You'd think Pseudo didn't need to continually accumulate free content, yet they stationed people filming throughout the party. The guy filming guests walking up the stairs and through multi-mirrors were a bit much. On the main floor were video shows, loud music and art installations. Downstairs, a large group was forming to "see the pictures." I asked the bouncer what the deal was. "You have to be picked. Step back!" Gabriel Synder of The NY Observer came out looking a bit stunned and said, "wow. the pictures are amazing." Funny since it was Pseudo's guise of creating the ever-coveted VIP room and the "pictures" were outside on the walls of the rest of the space! I was amused, additionally by the otherwise-naked-but-credit-card-clad woman running around, the sea-creatured-headdressed school of guests, pleatherd bartenders and a man who gyrated in front of a paint-splattered wall with a fish on his head. Meanwhile, upstairs was a 20' long sea creature-lizard-dragon-man slithering along the floor as another grunger held his tail and played with it, whip-like. Nat Finklestein, who did the book "Andy Warhol: The Factory Years" had an art installation of video stills of a naked woman with a monitor flashing animations behind it. As he explained his art to me in the dark, I could only make out his "Die Yuppie Scum" t-shirt. As I past the port-o-john's for the three-day 24/7 rave I decided this must be the East Coast Burning Man. One floor even further down (Dante's inferno) were shiatsu massages, a naked man examinging himself with a digital camera, a band set, Mendi tatoos and other tent-like carnival acts all set in a big white plastic 'moon walk' ala Razorfish's authentic Moon Walk at their May Day party. In the back of the space a young man screeched out his tormented comedy monologue as other bored attendees/participants stared ahead. Well. Having seen enough for one night, I headed home to rest up for Breakfast at Psuedo's rave!

TCS Intro: 8/20/99

I. This week's specials:
Quiet dinners amidst banner bashes
Wasting clicks but feasting early
Jupiter's conference spins the Net
Hot, young & sexy -- at CGMi
Getting the Fly off the Wall

Bits & Bytes

The Cyber Scene in Austin
The Cyber Scene in Washington, D.C.

II. Regular Features: (full write-ups on the site)
Shakers and Stirrers
Bits and Bytes

III. This week's audiocast (by ClickHear)

IV. Where else is The Cyber Scene?
AlleyCat News

CityTripping.com
Iconocast
Media Life
V. Subscribe!

WELCOME

*Two Quick Questions:
1. Would you prefer this newsletter as just a Table of Contents with links to the site or as HTML?
TOC
HTML

2. How many people do you send this newsletter along to?
Send along?

Your answers are most appreciated and will make you eligible for a new swanky T-shirt from The Cyber Scene! Thank You!

Best martini bar? Discuss!
This week we've got Cyber Scene reports from Austin and Washington in addition to New York. The audiocast will be up later today and I encourage you all to check out one of the newest features in the redesigned sites -- the CPC Club. There is a thriving discussion already underway and you can let the world know what you think of The Cyber Scene, where your favorite martini (or coffee) bar is or your own thoughts on any thing else Cyber Scene and Cocktail related! The boards are being administered and run by the very efficient Liv4Now team, and if you haven't heard of them, you should check out their site --they're grrreat!

Thursday, August 19, 1999

Yahoo!'s major-minor shindig

Yahoo! My RSVP was accepted! Well, this might have been the cry of some new media-ites after Yahoo! sent an invite for their party, got 1700 RSVPs and began that painful process of having to uninvite people. Fortunately my call in to Jonathan Gregg at Yahoo! was sufficient -- and now I've promised him to make his last day in New York City (9/23) to be a great one, before he heads out to California to work! Penny Urion (Ogilvy & Mather) ran up to Jon after shimmie-ing across the floor -- they were old Wunderman colleagues. David Meadows (ScreenShop) came over to say hello and told me a great quote by Harvey McKaey that "once you ride a tiger, there's no getting off." (actual quote might be a little different) Tom Hesposo of Blue Marble and I spoke about the hiring frenzy here in NYC where people with 6 months experience are demanding high salaries and options that are out of this world. Michael Terpin (Internet Wire.com) told us how this was the situation in San Francisco two years ago. There was a huge demand for people as companies grew by 500%, and while the number of people were moving to SF doubled, it still wasn't enough. It's balanced out a bit now, but both coasts are still in growth mode. Michael also told me his firm had just gotten some more funding and has over 2,000 clients. Then we switched topics from numbers in hiring to numbers of square footage of homes in LA.

Getting the Fly off the Wall

Cast your net wide and you'll come up with something. Well, Flycast Networks has expanded their offerings to just web-based advertising solutions to email marketing and direct response and ROI results. And they moved into swanky new offices! So, what's a company to do when there's all this good news? Throw a party! And they did -- on Thursday, August 19th. Bright blue and orange balloons lofted above the crowd of mostly young men and women who were clients and friends. As I entered I paused to say hello to Ari Bloch and caught sight of super yummy hors d'oeuvres and desserts that were being passed around. Just a little further in was Thomas Flynn (northeast sales director, Flycast) speaking with Ed Murphy of Thomson Financial Services. Ed was saying how they're currently experiencing the "now that we're grown up, what do we want to be?" phase (a portal? a service?). Erin Brennan of ScreamingMedia.net was there with a childhood friend, Joyce Song (client service, Flycast, SF) who was also chatting with Chris Hulse (media sales, Flycast, NY). I soon realized a bunch of iballs were staring at me--er, Andrew Ralles, Patrick Cartmel and Andrew "Mag Daddy Media Planner" Chen of iballs, that is. Chen was speaking with Allan Ng of Bright Sun Consulting in a corner, so I let them alone after a while. Wes Horvath (manager, media sales, Flycast) introduced me to John McMenamin (VP, General manager, iVillage network), Nick Pahade (co-founder, CSO, Beyond Interactive), who has just opened their NY office and Amy Wilson of BroadPoint, which offers free long distance phone service for listening to ads. Jeff Lehman, VP media sales & customer service, Flycast) greeted me and Ms. Spataro and Andrew LaValle, who'd just arrived. Also just arriving was Catrina Gregory (biz dev, Sabela Media) who had a fabulous outfit on -- a stylized suit, terrific heels and a great baubly-pearl necklace! Tres chic! Heather Rosen, formerly of BBDO and now at Media.com gave me some interesting insight into her recent job change. Apparently there's something in the @tmosphere!

Wednesday, August 18, 1999

Jupiter's conference spins the Net

Heading over to Jupiter after the breakfast put me squarely in the middle of more bustle. The 2nd day of the conference, Wednesday, August 18th, was packed with people and panels. The energy in the corridors as one session let out and the expo filled up was invigorating. I've heard the comment (and said it to myself many a time) "there's so many new people!" Sometimes it's scary. Today it was great. Wow! RemarQ Communities was set up near the entrance, offering massages to weary shoulders carrying the weight of expo media kits gotten throughout the day. Just across the way, Pseudo Programs was offering free video emails. Andrew Einhorn (who's been popping up a lot lately--I've interviewed for my Columbia J-School piece, and ran into at the Nerve party) was hosting the Iviews. Being a sport, I jumped in and even offered to sing a tune. Andrew's improvs were wild and I made up lyrics that amazed me as I sang them! The Press room was quiet and busy--I spoke briefly with Kevin Werbach of Release 1.0 and chatted for a bit with Mo Krochmal (who had on an exquisite blue silk tie) about filing stories. Tho' he's working at 11 AM and I'm (still) working at 11 PM! The expo hall was full of vivacious people and I spoke with some reps from BitMagic, who showed me their fun animated entertaiment program. A group of young, cute guys from San Mateo in blue hawaiian shirts told me about AudioBase, which delivers streaming audio and voice via email and banners. Ryan Ehlinger brought me up to speed on Avenue A. Originally from Seattle, where the rest of the 170 employees are based, Ryan is one of two representatives for the New York office (the other is his roommate). While Ryan pouted his lips and said how much he misses his girlfriend and the Seattle way of life. At least there's a Starbucks on every corner, to help with that aspect. He also told me how they run and analize online ad campaigns for clients and deliver efficiency. Eddie Bauer, Gateway and Expedia are just some of their satisfied clients. Teri Franklin and Michael Leo were also on hand to answer questions and were beaming with good news to come too! (More on that in upcoming issues!)

Hot, young & sexy -- at CGMi

Lara Edelbaum, Tony LaGravenis (both of Pseudo) and Karen Yedvab (TheStreet.com) were just three of the young urban hip new media shakers at the swingin' party hosted Wednesday, August 18th at The Supper Club by CMGi. Neil Cohen of AdAuction made it through the day too (I saw him first thing at the iBreakfast) and Tery Spataro was moving and schmoozin with Susan Sigel of RomanceBoutique.com (which just got funded and is hiring!). Robert Adler of Quote.com introduced me to Owen Weed and on my way downstairs to the dance floor I chatted with Mark Frieser of Xceed. Downstairs I caught up with Renee Edelman of PR21 and became reaquainted with Key Compton and Gary Gluck of Solbright. The relaunch (this week) of their new website and digital solutions software was cause for celebration. Martinis floated by in the dainty hands of tall successful beautiful women, and cigar smoke wafted by from athletic business guys in striped suits, the Swing party was in full (er) swing and the dancing was picking up! On my way out Jodie Kahn of 24/7 told me of their successful charity benefit for MOUSE at the Chelsea Piers and brewing company. Several hundred new media New Yorkers and Jupiter attendees came and tried their hands at golf, and assisted in raising reportedly several thousands of dollars for this very worthwhile non-profit for students and schools. Hoorah!

Wasting clicks but feasting early

A fancy video to introduce the show, the iBreakfast meeting on Wednesday, August 18th at the Marriott Marquis's skylobby brought out over 100 early risers. Mr. Tchong didn't let a fun night out stop him from delivering yet another dynamic and informative presentation. Just before he spoke I met first-time attendees Thomas Scozzafava of Prudential Securities and Cheryl Stoller, who's in new biz dev. for retail communications, who both came this morning to their first breakfast meeting on the recommendation of a boss and colleague (respectively). James Slusser, business manager of Scholastic.com, however, has come to these for about six months now. He was mentioning to me, as Alan Brody, producer of the iBreakfast was pitching his conference eTV, that he most likely won't be attending something on Broadband for a while, since his audience/target (teachers) are (appropriately) still more concerned with privacy issues. They are relaunching their site in the fall, for the start of school, and will have a Scholastic Network that provides a free resource for teachers. While Avram Jezer of A-L Associates was chatting with Matthew Beck of AlleyCat News, I spied some people from Uproar.com and Eleanor Hass of E-Technologies, who was making some poignant comments to Mr. Tchong before his talk. Sponsor CBS Marketwatch gave away a Millenium clock for the correct answer to name an editor with their site during the intros. As I skipped out I chatted with Sam Albert whose StarSites.com project is taking off and met John Evans of MonsterDaata.com, which provides real estate information for professionals and consumers.

Tuesday, August 17, 1999

Quiet dinners amidst banner bashes

With the onset of Jupiter's conference on Online Advertising this week, I knew once again this week in August would be a busy one. Never mind the events of the week (of which there were a-plenty), but it seems as if everyone's already also planning for their fall events. And we all know the Millennium (and the onslaught of parties) is rapidly approaching!

You may get "paid for doing it" as the Cybergold ads promise, but CEO of AllAdvantage.com, Jim Jorgensen, explained some of the key differences between these two new models for paid surfing. AllAdvantage.com's viewbar is an interesting mix between Alexa and Cybergold, but with a strong privacy policy. They're growing fast too -- 130 days old and they have 110 employees! Jim wasn't preaching during a speech, though, he was simply chatting with a few industry folks over a fine dinner at Tapika restaurant on Tuesday, August 17th. Other AllAdvantage.com-ers who were available to answer questions, and share stories of Russian traits (from where a few of them hail) were Vladimir Bernstein (NY Office manager), Victor (the "rich media" guy), Marat Roisenberg (Dir. of Biz Dev), and Brian (the sales guy). Other guests included Debbie Lightfoot (Foodline.com), Caroline Waxler (Senior writer, Forbes) and Bill McCloskey of Comet Systems, head of the Rich Media Sig, who told us the Rich Media Circus went FABULOUSLY! Michael Tchong (Iconocast) and Dara Tyson (Penton Media) stopped by for a few glasses of wine and Tery Spataro (COO of Blue Dingo) came in from a business trip to catch some interesting conversations at the end of the evening.

Friday, August 13, 1999

The Cyber Scene in Washington, DC ~ by Sacha Cohen

Am I dreaming or are writers and editors finally getting some well-deserved respect in new media? After all, "ink-stained wretches" are often the brains behind sticky content, scintillating copy, and typo-free sites. But more often than not, writing tends to be lots of work and very little glory.

Well, even if we're not getting any more respect, we may be getting more visibility and a more cohesive, active community.

Last week, I attended Content & Coffee, an event organized and hosted by the talented and exuberant Web editor and writer Merry Bruns. Merry, the self-proclaimed "ringleader for this shebang," has been a fixture in the DC new media scene for years and has paved the way for many aspiring online writers. She started the event in 1998. "It was intimate at first," says Merry, "and then grew, as more and more people needed a place to talk with others about non-technical aspects of Web sites."

We've corresponded many times over the years, but this was the first time I had the chance to meet Merry in person. Washingtonpost.com agreed to host the event at its Rosslyn office, across the river from its venerable print counterpart. When I arrived and saw a room packed with people and tables overflowing with food and drinks, I knew it would be a few hours well spent.

Find out how the evening went, on the site.

Last week's bashes

This week we've got Cyber Scene reports from Austin and Washington in addition to New York. The audiocast will be up later today and I encourage you all to check out one of the newest features in the redesigned sites -- the CPC Club. There is a thriving discussion already underway and you can let the world know what you think of The Cyber Scene, where your favorite martini (or coffee) bar is or your own thoughts on any thing else Cyber Scene and Cocktail related! The boards are being administered and run by the very efficient Liv4Now team, and if you haven't heard of them, you should check out their site --they're grrreat!

Parties, parties, parties! I left town for my 2nd "Cocktails with Courtney" in Austin, and left the party-going to some capable friends. I heard the Underline party, in their new office on Thursday, August 5th was a respectable affair, contrasted with The Globe.com's wild bash, which drew more than 600 young urban hipsters. Monday, August 9th was the beginning of the Interactive Music Xpo and the perfect party to attend for this (among the MANY) was CDKnet's swingin' soiree at the Spy bar.

TCS Intro: 8/13/99

--------------------------------------------------------------------
The Cyber Scene (tm) ~ by Courtney Pulitzer ~ August 13th, 1999
--------------------------------------------------------------------

WELCOME

I. This week's specials:
Last week's bashes
Cocktails with Courtney pictures are live!
NYNMA & Ad Club 3-hour tour
Rich Media Circus
PDA signs of affection
Register.com's live and thrivin'
A Soliloquy soiree
The Cyber Scene in Austin
The Cyber Scene in Washington, D.C.

II. Regular Features: (full write-ups on the site) Shakers and Stirrers
Bits and Bytes

III. This week's audiocast (by ClickHear)

IV. Where else is The Cyber Scene?
ICONOCAST
Media Life
AlleyCat News

V. Subscribe!

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Two Quick Questions:
1. Would you prefer this newsletter as just a Table of Contents with links to the site or as HTML?
TOC
HTML

2. How many people do you send this newsletter along to?
Send along?
Your answers are most appreciated and will make you eligible for a new swanky T-shirt from The Cyber Scene! Thank You!

Thursday, August 12, 1999

Register.com's live and thrivin'

As usual, Thursday delivered on its promise of a full line-up of fetes. Getting in my boat-time, I started off this night at Register.com's friends and family Riverfront Fiesta on August 12th at The Barge at Chelsea Piers. I met a few register.com-ers (there's about 60 now), including Sascha Mornell, Sacha Keogan and Robert Pina. The company is growing rapidly and is the first of the five ICANN-accredited domain registration companies to go live. Unlike their competitors, who have other aspects to their business, Register.com is completely focused on just domain name registration. They also are intent on making their employees happy and feel empowered--each one (regardless of position) gets $50 a month towards a leased computer or a DSL line at home. Cool! Richard Forman, Pres. & CEO, was a little hesitant to talk with me--apparently there were some competitors in the crowd--and as we hadn't yet met, he wasn't sure who I was. Fortunately Josh Glantz of Rare Medium spoke right up and confirmed that I'd been around the scene for quite some time and was "okay." Whew! Josh was telling us how he was just about to buy a house in Jersey, when his wife suddenly refused! Why? Because he's living the life of all us new media worker-bees and doesn't get home before 10:30 PM and leaves at 7:00 AM!

I also met Alex Sodi of Manhattan Creative Partners (who designed the logo for Register.com) and Myles Weissleder (I-Traffic) introduced me to his cousin Adam. Adam, a recent MBA grad, just moved to NYC after a disruptive experience with his first job out of school. Digital Daytimer hired him for a job in SF, CA. He got a car, and apartment and arrived at work on time, only to be among a massive layoff the 2nd day! I tell ya, this biz is tough!

Jon Serbin of Morgan Stanley made an appearance at this fine soiree, and along with all the other guests enjoyed the fine Southwestern BBQ by Lightship Catering. Bernardo Joselevich introduced me to a bunch of people like James Kreckler, Jay Chicoy and George Presto of Doubleclick; Jonathan Nathan and Andrew Weinstein of JNMedia; and Lisa Castleman of Fox News. Benjamin Willman and Roger Hollander were telling me about their new company (6 mos old) UStreamIt and the wild party they had at the Cheetah club the night before. Their company allows users to have their own channel where you can stream your content from anywhere to anywhere anytime! Just before leaving I met Stephanie Worley of BusinessWire and John Stampfel of Video Monitoring Services. And as I walked out, people were still dancing to "You Spin Me Round" and enjoying that wide open bar on the side of the wide open Hudson River....

A Soliloquy soiree

I wasn't done yet though, and made my way down to TriBeCa where Catherine Winchester of Soliloquy was entertaining some recent MBA grad hires, some potential hires and some friends from the industry on her roof-deck patio atop her deluxe duplex loft space. Guests enjoyed a delicious home-cooked meal from Amy, who Catherine employed while living in Hong Kong, and enjoyed the sunset and lower Broadway skyline views. I spent most of my time chatting with the very interesting Jonathan Perrelli of Reston, VA. He was telling me about his new company and what they do, but they're so new I'm bound to secrecy. Ed Bennett came up to enjoy the views and we chatted for a bit before I looked at the clock and realized "oh no! I have work to do!" And with that I bid my adieus and skipped back to my devoted computer, waiting anxiously for me!

Wednesday, August 11, 1999

PDA signs of affection

If you read Mary Jo Fahey's excellent article in "AlleyCat News" (July/Aug. pg. 28) then you know the sorry state New York is in regarding access and infrastructure. With the buzz about wireless technology we've got a few encouraging signs that this becoming more of an issue, beyond just in magazines. The Mobile and PDA Expo from August 11-13 at the NY Hilton & Towers. The expo, which had plenty of pubic displays of affection with sales pitches drew a decent attendance for seminars on smart technology, various mobile platforms and issues in public safety.

Tuesday, August 10, 1999

My Class on Spotting Trends in Silicon Alley

Meanwhile, down the street, at 55 Broad, I was conducting a very civilized class on "How to Spot Trends in Silicon Alley, and How to Profit From Them" for The Learning Annex. The Learning Annex seems to be attracting all sorts of new media pros like Scott Kurnit and Dave Kansas. My class covered the history of Internet development from a broad POV and from the Silicon Alley perspective. Class attendees even got to hear about some of the more wild parties that have happened and how many of our beloved web shops, organizations, and the scene started and developed. Unable to resist a little "social hour" I brought along some scrumptious desserts and juices for a mini "Juice & Cookies With Courtney" at the end of class!

Rich Media Circus

No, they didn't walk elephants through the Holland Tunnel, but the Rich Media Circus had plenty to marvel at on Tuesday, August 10th at Open-i Media on Franklin Street. Circus treats, acts and (as the invite indicated) "death-defying demos, awe-inspiring artists, dangerous developers, and terrifying technology vendors" coupled with an open bar -- this place was a scene!

Monday, August 09, 1999

NYNMA & Ad Club 3-hour tour

With summer's hot days all around us, the booze cruises are in full swing. Not one to shy away from doing what's hot, NYNMA, together with The Ad Club, hosted their boat tour around the Lower part of the Hudson River on Monday, August 9th. A cry of dismay came from many members who got shut out due to the quick response and limited spaces, but those who could make it enjoyed a big, hot buffet of pasta and cooling breezes as the boat chugged along its way. Lisa Lahde and Debbie Newman of DejaNews corrected me on the last week's Austin Cyber Scene on the moving of the company headquarters. In fact, there are still about 85 people down there and about 45 here in NYC. So don't worry, there's still plenty of Deja-ers enjoying the great Austin Scene!

Mark Stahlman, one of the cornerstones of Silicon Alley, was seated with a tres chic beret on the upper deck with Sunny Bates (Sunny Bates Associates) in a sunny orange blouse and NYNMA Exec. Dir. Alice O'Rourke was simply elegant in a light Indian-inspired silk sarong.

Cella Irvine (NYNMA board member) was entertaining a small group about origins of her name (basement, or atrium) and her family history (in Brooklyn since 1720)! Kim Freeman (Bowne), Jeff Cannon (Marcis Interactive) and Steve Ratti (Posnick & Kolker) were out on the front, enjoying the views, and Raphi Salem (Salem Global Internet), Catrina Gregory and Steven Wright-Mark (Schwartz PR) were inside groovin' to the tunes. Bernardo Joselevich (DutyFreeGuide) introduced me to Sean O'Neal (Sony Online) and Sean Jacobsohn (a recent Harvard MBA).

Amy Brownstein of KPE told me they just launched ABC Monday night football's Website (abcmnf.com) and Dara Tyson (Internet.com) was a hit in her perfect Nautical-inspired outfit. Marcelo Weinberg (Redwood Partners), Jill Samame (Connors Communications) and Debra Soffel were also some lucky NYNMA-ers who made the enjoyable cruise. On my way out I chatted with marketing consultant Denise Brown, and brushed shoulders with some of the wacky performers from the mid-cruise show.

Wednesday, August 04, 1999

THE CYBER SCENE IN AUSTIN ~ by Will Kreth & Bill Holloway

Party Platform Shoes
Outside it was sticky, but inside it was smooth at the Speakeasy in Austin on August 4th. And being that it was only Courtney's second Austin event of the year (ever?) - the turnout was quite sizeable, perhaps around 100 people over the course of the evening. (Not present at this event, was Benchmark Capital's wunderkind giant and UT MBA grad Bill Gurley, who somehow escaped mention - and the cameras - at the May event.) Local codeslingers and Photoshop-abusers who couldn't tear themselves away from their keyboards and monitors missed a great party. How she does it, I'm just not sure. (Note to Courtney: if you're going to increasingly fly around the country, you should ask the man who always enjoys a good party - Richard Branson of Virgin Airlines - to sponsor your travels. Oh, wait. Virgin doesn't fly domestic, do they? Well, there's always our Texas-native airline led by its own colorful character [Herb Kelleher and Southwest], if you don't happen to have any peanut allergies, that is.) Read the rest of Will's piece, and Bill Holloway's report on KDI of Austin, Dell's doings and AMD!

The first ever Direct Optical Co-location Center

Back in the dog days of August, when there wasn't a drop of rain near, I had an amazing tour of MSI Holding's facilities. As Christopher Levy of ClickHear drove me to the appointment, I was excited to meet with some Austinians, but had no idea of what was ahead. Well. I was in for the tour of my life! Now, Globix's facilities on Centre Street in New York are by no means shabby, but what I saw on this back road warehouse, just feet from some railroad tracks knocked my socks off.

MSI is now a Direct Optical Co-location Center (DOCC tm), and they have received the first ever certification by BBN Technologies, a business unit of GTE Internetworking for network architecture, security architecture and facility design. BBN Technologies is considered the “Father of the Internet” due to their pioneering efforts over 30 years ago that developed and invented what we now call the Internet. Through these alliances and certification, the DOCC offers clients top-notch, guaranteed hosting service in a state of the art, fault tolerant facility. For instance, if there's a power failure, the generators kick in to power the facility, which then feeds electricity back to them, thus continually being operational.

They also offer virtually unlimited bandwidth by bypassing local loops for access too, since the Internet literally runs into their building. Remember Victoria Secret's webcast? They used less than five T1's to access the Internet. Well, MSI has hundreds of T3's with direct optical connection to the Internet--they don't have to get access to the Internet--it's just in the other room and they plug right into it.

Lots of new media companies proudly show off their new facilities and mention the raised floors and lowered ceilings as technological advancements. Well, MSI had the original members of the Arpanet team converge in Austin for four months to consult on all policies and procedures and then certify the facility. Since BBN invented the Internet, they have the highest standards for it. Now those raised floors are fine if you've got someone who's always dusting under there, but what if the cleaning company doesn't show up all the time? The Arpanet team devised a better system of magnetic tiles for the floor and ceiling that attract and hold the dust away from the equipment.

The equipment and servers are also contained in highly cooled secure rooms with locking cabinet enclosures and the facility features the new Inergen Fire Suppression System. All this was revealed to me on August 4th, but on the 25th was the 30th anniversary of the Internet and their official launch day.

Ken Pogram, one of the members of the original BBN team, and now with GTE Professional Services, took some time this morning to speak with me a bit about their role with MSI and with their other clients. Their main focus is network security issues and helping their clients address these issues. With this as a main driver for their business, they are one of the top two or three firms in this area. They also work with ISPs targeting a niche audience. Typical clients could include ISPs for an ethnic affliliation that offers certain services; a company that wants to add ISP services to others that their customers already purchase (an electric company for instance); or a computer vendor or store that wants to offer this in a package. In MSI's instance, GTE was giving them a jumpstart to the progress they were making and planning on making. MSI's focus will now shift from building the facility to maintaining it, and with their rapid growth, there will be lots to maintain!

Cocktails with Courtney ~ Austin 1999


Cocktails with Courtney in Austin was hotter than ever -- and not just because of the famous Austin heat. Sponsored by The Net-Worker, this event drew over 150 industry-related CEOs, managers, artists, webcasters and technology-related professionals. Held at the SpeakEasy on Wednesday, August 4th, we had food from Wholefoods(and the dot com) and once again Gundlach Bundschu, that lovely family-owned vineyard in California, provided some fine wines for the night. ClickHear set up a full stage for webcasting the entire party, and MSI Austin also prepared some delicious treats for the guests. And when the hors d'oeuvres ran out, we ordered in more pizzas! I got to meet Hugh Forrest, Event Director for the SXSW conference and Karen Johnson of The Loomis Group. Shane Cook of 1stBuy.com devoted much of his evening to taking digital photographs of the event. Glenn Birk, Terrell Lewis, Steve Cunningham and Gary Fortlin of MSI Austin came by to meet other new media Austinites. I'd been in their facility earlier that day for a mind-blowing tour -- I literally almost TOUCHED THE INTERNET! Wow...(more on this later) Carrie Beaton and Ken Perry of Renaissance, Cheryl Seeman of RJ Kolar and Joe McLean of Computer Moms came by. A great group of NetWorkers like executive publisher Marc Bruneman and editors Amy Davis, Stacy Short, Stephanie Dauphin came by for some networking. Scott Miller and Melissa Windgard-Philips of PC Order and Marc Armstrong of Pencom and Elizabeth Billups of SpringBok PR were out for the fun night. Other guests who came were Dean Patton of Tidal Software, Troy Miller of Single Cell Productions, Giuseppe Ferrigno of MedStat, Chris Treadaway of Stratfor, Mike Morrison of Activerse and Michael Ho of Trilogy. Qwest was represented by Patrick Rohrbough and Jenny Mossman; Bill Kleinebecker and David Smith came from Technology Futures; and Clay Goodwin (a regular) of House of Moves and Rosie Vonzurmuehlen of Alchemy Studios (another regular) also showed up in support of the Austin Cocktails. Even the FG Squared top-tier crew, including Jason Fellman, Steve Golby, Doug Collins and a few others came by after a private dinner to check out the scene. Brent Davis of New England Financial and Craig Negoescu of Frogdesign were some of the new guests, and what was personally encouraging was hearing from many people that they'd heard about the cocktail party from several people. The word spreads quickly and hopefully the good spirits of the fun night did too!

* Check out Cyber Scene contributors Will Kreth's (Agillion) and Bill Holloway's (Antera Consulting) notes on the scene too!

* And don't miss the WEBCAST SHOW, Compliments of ClickHear!