A PARADIGM SHIFT IN THE SOFTWARE INDUSTRY: EVER HEARD OF NET NATIVE?

There's a potentially earthshaking shift occurring in the way software is sold and deployed but even the most sophisticated computer users would be hard-pressed to describe the term "Net Native"-although many already engage the type of online software the term describes.

January 20, 2003 - There's a potentially earthshaking shift occurring in the way software is sold and deployed but even the most sophisticated computer users would be hard-pressed to describe the term "Net Native"-although many already engage the type of online software the term describes.

The common denominator is of course the Internet. When you turn on your computer and check into your customized My.Yahoo.com home page and look at a customized news portal, receive e-mail and check an online calendar and address book, that's Net Native. The only software required to access the my.yahoo page is a Web browser and it doesn't matter whether it sits on top of Windows, Mac OS, Linux or any other operating system. It's all Net Native. The actual software that powers these applications is situated on servers that could be anywhere in the world; Yahoo upgrades and maintains it at all times.

Even though Net Native is a new concept, the larger companies are backing it strongly, with Microsoft at the lead with its .Net technology.

"Net-native software is designed from inception to live in the Internet and to be remotely accessed across the Internet," explained Douglas Kerwin, founder and CEO of the Princeton, NJ Metaverse Corporation, leading provider of Net Native content management software for the business. "It's a many to one relationship-many clients access the same application."

This is of course in contrast to consumers purchasing a box of software and bringing it home to install and later to upgrade to a newer version, or install a patch or fix a bug. At the business level, the potential shift is even more profound.

When a business maintains a Web site, its software requires even more care. A great deal of time and effort and manpower is directed toward maintaining and updating enterprise- level software with content management software. In the traditional model, great deal of consulting time is required to launch and support this software because customization is inevitable.

Kerwin predicts that these days are soon over. "A new software environment is at hand," he stated. Metaverse enjoys a first mover advantage for the purely net-native option and is an early follower of the new trend to shift from providing licensed packaged software to supplying as a service over the Web. The Metaverse Content Server allows users to place their content on Web sites without the use of a technical resource. Using Microsoft Word or a similar product, they now have a mechanism to get their content to the Web site without the assistance of a technical resource.

"Net native software is a low risk, low investment, high return software alternative," added Kerwin. "Our content management system comes with a monthly or annual subscription fee. We host and maintain our own software so clients can quickly deploy an enterprise-class solution cost effectively, without the trouble or cost of continued maintenance. We think that's the way it should be. It contains all the benefits and none of the headaches of Content Management software. It carries with it the opportunity to concentrate on the return on investment that it delivers when combined with workflow and the tuning of business processes."

"It is the logical extension of the Internet and the history of software development," Kerwin says. "When browsers like Netscape and Internet Explorer functioned across all platforms, it was a breakthrough that has led to this revolution in the making today."

As Kerwin sees it, Webmasters who must manage large dynamic websites, changing content on behalf of an enterprise, will soon become a quaint notion of the past, with their jobs will converting to something that will aid work flow, functionality or even esthetics. Fewer will also be required, another cost savings, Kerwin said. Content owners will also be engaged in the process from the creation to the publishing of traditional and web documents.

"By ending the need for Webmasters to manage huge flows of rich media, graphical, text and numerical information or make tiny changes in prices or replace sections of content, they can be freed to work in new ways that are just emerging make the site better, make it look better or offer better services," added Kerwin. "New flows of large data will emerge that add value for customer and will lead to the creation of new information products and services."

Kerwin sees the new Webmaster as performing a kind of "curatorial" function in which content, curation and technical consulting could help customers focus on creating new products and services and tuning business processes. This is especially true of high-content environments. "When terabytes of data can flow through a website on the fly you are in a new place," said Kerwin.

"A new focus will emerge," Kerwin added. "We see a new esthetic emerging in these web environments." To evangelize the potential of this new esthetic vision, his company even hosts an art gallery project that demonstrates the possibilities of moving creatively in new as yet to be fully defined directions. "There is room for pioneers," Kerwin said. "Our business development process is looking for such innovators. Web developers and developers using or interested in using Microsoft .NET and Web Services in dramatically new ways. We know Microsoft is watching for these new leaders to emerge as art and industry work together."

Kerwin believes that virtually all enterprise software will someday be Net Native and that significant cost savings will result. "When software is freed from its box and the need for heavy consulting support--that is good for the client and good for the industry, there is no longer a need for heavy consulting support. The software company's attention is directed toward providing the most value to customers, not performing installations all over the country. The cost savings is dramatic and the opportunity to innovate rises by a quantum leap."

"Providing technology as a service focuses on the benefits to the business," Kerwin also commented. "Senior managers in the end do not really care about databases and application servers apart from the benefit they can bring their businesses. When software becomes a subscription service, you pay for the value you receive from the software and the cost and maintenance of the infrastructure. That becomes the responsibility of the vendor."

Kerwin advises companies thinking of shifting to the new paradigm to consider the following in analyzing future software needs:

-   Most large and small companies can benefit from the shift in the software model. There are packages for smaller companies that are very cost-effective, especially when retaining onsite Webmasters is not an option.

-   Trust is a key consideration. In considering whether to trust an outside company or an internal person to maintain and secure databases, it becomes a question of priorities. For the outsourced company, like the content management firm, it's not just their job to perform these functions-it's their core business.

-   Consider who is supporting the Net Native technology. Microsoft is at the top of the list. Microsoft believes that this is the wave of the future and is betting heavily on the technology, supporting such companies as Metaverse and others in the field.

-   Companies should also ask themselves what is their own external priority. To improve a Web site's functionality, look and feel and appearance or maintain a costly internal IT staff?

"This revolution has just begun," Kerwin added. "People have seen what a Web browser can do, bringing together all operating systems. Now they will understand what door that finally opened-a world in which all software works together over the Internet."

##

For further information, contact:
Howard Oliver or Richard Rotman
What If What Next Consulting
Tel: 416-638-8582
Fax: 416-483-5439
E-mail: mailto:whatifwhatnext@on.aibn.com

THIS RELEASE HAS BEEN DISTRIBUTED BY WEBITPR (www.webitpr.com)

Disclaimer:

Whilst WebitPR.com Limited endeavor to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this Release, WebitPR.com Limited cannot accept any liability for:-

-   the inaccuracy or otherwise of any information contained in this Release; or
-   any loss liability or expense which may be suffered by any party in consequence of acting or omitting to act as a result of any information contained in or omitted from this Release.; or
-   any loss or suffering which may be caused by or to any party either as a result of the information contained in this Release or such information contained in this Release being inaccurate or otherwise misleading.

In the event that any information contained in this Release is inaccurate or misleading then please contact WebitPR.com at the above e-mail address.