 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 | ||||
The more you share the more you kno... Taking the gap leaves big hole... Service that is more than just pretty p... Ready to tap Internet's potential... All set to become a major force... Get in the swing with Ernie ... Hired guns taking aim at business target... Vital role for information provider... Turning couch potatoes into mouse potato... Interim plan, lasting succes... Downsizing not always up to the require... Taking the guesswork out of productio... The firm which took Toco's bull by the h... Fads dropped in favour of fact... Companies still keen to consul... |
All set to become a major force
M-WEB was formed in 1997 to take advantage of the opportunities created by the growth of the Internet. Operating primarily as an Internet service provider, the company aims to develop the home and small business sectors as well as its interests in the large corporate Internet services sector. "We hope to become a major force in the South African Internet market," says M-Web spokesman Andrew Milne. "We can do this by capturing the mind-set of South African consumers through a programme of brand building and by providing a high-quality, low-cost service provision infrastructure," he says. Already, M-Web offers a host of Internet products and services for both home and business users, including: ý Dial-up connectivity to the Internet for home users. This is available through the company's network infrastructure, which has sufficient coverage of South Africa to allow the majority of its customers access through a cheap local call. Access can be via a standard telephone line or via a basic rate digital line at up to 128kbps. M-Web supplies its customers with software based on Microsoft's Internet Explorer software to allow easier connection and browsing; ý Computicket, an M-Web Holdings subsidiary. This provides vendors of various consumer goods with a distribution channel that has about 110 retail outlets in shopping centres and other high-traffic areas throughout South Africa. The service offered includes ticketing for cinemas, arts, sports, music concerts, hotel bookings, financial services, Internet starter packs and mobile phone subscriptions. There are many similarities to the Internet services that M-Web provides, but in a non-Internet, non-online environment. There are also similarities between the two organisations' operations, as both consist of powerful computer networks and call centres. M-Web has the capability to transform the Computicket business in an Internet online environment, providing more services to a new, larger audience ý A successful online information and info-tainment service comprising a number of Web sites under the M-Web brand. These include the company's own site, www.mweb.co.za, which offers a range of information and interactive services, as well as the electronic Mail & Guardian (www.mg.co.za) - the country's most popular online newspaper. In January 1998, the total of pages served from these sites was just under three million, making M-Web the largest online publisher in South Africa. Plans are under way to expand the company's online content services; ý Access to CompuServe. For a monthly fee, subscribers can access CompuServe's servers which provide information ranging from news, sports and entertainment to education, weather and financial data; ý Advertisers are finding M-Web's site an increasingly attractive vehicle for their campaigns. Through an agreement with advertising sales house, Oracle, M-Web is marketing space on its site. Advertisers may put banners on the most popular pages for their target audience with click-through links to their own sites. Companies can also choose to sponsor pages by applying their own logo and corporate identity to pages within the site. M-Web believes that this ability to target advertising and directly monitor response will make online advertising a premium service medium; ý E-commerce is set to become increasingly popular as the Internet market expands in South Africa. In expectation of this trend, M-Web intends to offer secure E-commerce transactions to consumers through its own site. These facilities will also be available to other content providers whose content is hosted within M-Web's site; ý A business dial-up service will soon be offered, along the same broad lines as a home service. However, larger businesses, with the potential of many more users, may prefer direct connection of their own local area network to the Internet service provider network via a dedicated leased circuit. This would provide a better quality service, with faster downloading of data from remote sites. The service provider may also host the business user's Web-site, typically containing information about the user's products and services, customer care facilities and contact information. Business users may also require increased levels of security to prevent unauthorised access to internal systems by external users. Fees are based on the speed of the connection to the Internet, the size of the Web site hosted and the amount of traffic generated; ý Large business users typically require direct connection to the Internet from their corporate LAN at their larger locations. M-Web offers leased line connections at a range of speeds from 9.6kpbs up to 2Mbit/s, depending on customer requirements. A number of security options are available to protect the client's network from intrusion by external Internal users; ý Small-business customers are provided with up to 10Mb of free space on M-Web's services to house their Web site. This is included in the cost of the basic dial-up subscription in line with market practice. For larger Web sites, such as those often operated by corporate customers, additional disk space is available at competitive rates. Customers benefit from renting space from M-Web because of the close coupling of the customer's Web site and the M-Web network which supports it. There is little constraint on incoming traffic and this ensures that no potential visitors are denied access; and ý The company offers a Web site design and development service to its customers including concept development, design, creation, technical design and implementation. Top of page
|
