InformationWeek

November 20, 2000

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Perspective And Research About The IT Industry

More on broadband:

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Mall Owners Host Tenants' Web Sites
Tenants of shopping malls operated by the country's largest retail property owners have the benefit of technology-conscious landlords who see financial gain in wiring their stores with broadband Web access. General Growth Properties and Simon Property Group Inc., busy since summer providing the infrastructure for mall stores to set up online shops (see "Landlords Of Cyberspace," July 24, p. RB18; informationweek.com/796/land lord.htm), are adding broadband applications to their real-estate repertoire.

Stores will be able to conduct distance learning for sales staff, track sales more precisely, and use store cameras to give off-site executives a real-time look at customer interactions.

General Growth plans to roll out services in January and hook up 10,000 retailers in its 137 malls by March. Retailers want high-speed network connections to increase sales and productivity and save money, says Charlie Graves, General Growth's VP of E-business. "We provide lighting, trash collection, all these things that aren't our core business. Retailers need these amenities to run their business. Technology happens to be the latest amenity," he says.

But that hasn't immunized users against the vagaries of the Internet economy. In fact, one retailer has discovered that it may be better off selling online through a portal site rather than a mall site. General Growth tenants that had Web sites on the company's mall network of sites, Mallibu.com, were stripped of their E-commerce capability when hosting company Pandesic Inc. closed in August. So Mike Schuelke, owner of Checker Flag Lightning, a retail outlet for NASCAR auto-racing items in Grand Rapids, Mich., designed a site for his store on the Yahoo Shopping portal. Business is stronger than ever, with 60 orders last month.

"I'm feeling pretty good about Yahoo so far," he says. "I'm not going to be quick to get rid of it. When we get Mallibu.com back, I'll probably link to them." Yahoo gives him greater access to site contents, Schuelke says, but General Growth has promised improvements when Mallibu returns early next year.

--Christopher T. Heun

More on Digex:

WorldCom's Hosting Strategy Comes Together (11/13/00)

VARBusiness: Mark Shull -- President and CEO, Digex (11/13/00)

Computer Reseller News: DIGEX GAINS BACKBONE VIA ACQUISITION (9/11/00)

WorldCom To Integrate Digex's Web-Hosting Offerings
WorldCom isn't wasting any time supplementing its portfolio of Web-hosting services with the more advanced managed offerings of acquisition target Digex Inc. WorldCom said last week that it will integrate Digex's managed Web-hosting services with its own more basic offerings well before it completes its buyout of a controlling share in Digex, which is expected early next year.

The deal will let WorldCom augment its services, which consist of co-location, shared and dedicated hosting, and some business-applications hosting, with Digex's more advanced and more lucrative offerings, which include monitoring, management, and support for companies' Web and E-commerce sites. The merger will also let Digex connect its three Web-hosting centers to WorldCom's global IP network, bolstering the reliability of its services.

The quick integration "bodes well for current and future customers," says Joel Yaffe, a senior industry analyst at Giga Information Group.

Users agree. The arrangement not only provides more advanced hosting, but a whole slew of other necessary services, says WorldCom customer Mike Reed, president of the National Transplant Society in Northbrook, Ill.

The society is establishing the National Organ and Tissue Donor Registry to let people volunteer to donate organs and tissue online. WorldCom's association with Digex means the society can use WorldCom for the full range of services it needs, including Web design, consulting, and app-development services--none of which WorldCom provided on its own, Reed says.

In September, WorldCom said it would buy Intermedia Communications Inc. for about $6 billion, getting Intermedia's 55% equity stake and a 94% voting interest in Digex.

--John Rendleman

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