From: Adam Rifkin -4K (adam@XeNT.ics.uci.edu)
Date: Fri Apr 28 2000 - 17:51:23 PDT
Got the following from:
http://boards.fool.com/Message.asp?id=1080158008029000
Let me get this straight. CMGi sold 12% of CMGion to Novell, Sun, and
Compaq for $60 million, and "others want in". They kept 78% for CMGi
and are giving the employees a measly 10%. Astounding greed.
CMGion will be getting revenues from several CMGi companies. CMGion
version one *is* NaviSite, a CMGi spinoff.
You gotta read the "practical example". Worldwide capture of consumer
behavior, indeed.
> per "mcmulty" off cmginvestor
> http://www.cmginvestor.com/
>
> Never before have users demanded so much refinement from a technology
> base that is commercially only five years old.
>
> Thus David Wetherell underscored the potential of CMGion, the global
> content distribution network.
>
> Makes me glad they started working on it fourteen months ago.
>
> "ion" - Internet Operating Network - is cute wordplay. In particle
> physics, an ion is an atom that carries a non-neutral electric charge,
> positive or negative, because it has lost or gained one or more
> electrons. Because it is missing something or has something to offer, an
> ion seeks to attach itself to what it needs to stabilize, i.e., to
> become complete.
>
> The CMGion development team included advanced systems architects from
> AOL, Microsoft, Phoenix, Novell and Sun Microsystems. Novell, Compaq and
> Sun are investing $20 million each for a combined 12% ownership stake
> which values the company at $500 million.
>
> NaviSite's existing data centers comprise CMGion version 1. From that
> the network will expand, by the end of this year, with the involvement
> of co-location facilities provider Level 3 Communications, to 36 to 60
> connected data centers located around the world.
>
> NaviSite, interestingly, will provide its ASP services over the network
> and will therefore be a CMGion customer. AdForce and Activate will also
> be early customers.
>
> CMGion is based on the service model; i.e., collect fees from customers
> for using its network. The company will also license some of its
> software.
>
> Imagine you're a member of the crew of the USS Enterprise and you're on
> an away mission to the surface of the planet Alderaan (before the Death
> Star blew it up) and you have one of those nifty communications devices
> pinned to your uniform. Doesn't matter where you are. Tap that gizmo and
> you're in instant verbal contact with a galaxy class starship.
>
> CMGion will bring us a step closer to that level and quality of
> communications. The network will employ an "open architecture" operating
> system that will be "platform aware" and location- and
> device-independent. In other words, the network will deliver content to
> any Internet-connected device or appliance.
>
> Sun and Compaq will supply the servers, Novell the operating system
> software.
>
> Engage software will be married to the OS. It will be the key to
> providing hyper-efficient content and services delivery. As stated in
> the press release: "The ability to conduct network-level profiling
> offers unparalleled insight into network design, user interests,
> time-of-day network activity and media measurement information that can
> dramatically impact network design, efficiency and cost factors."
>
> Basically, Engage will profile at the user level and at the network
> level, which will support, among other things, regional differentiation
> of content delivery.
>
> It's all about optimizing performance - faster connections, faster
> content access - and higher quality experience customized for the user
> in real-time.
>
> Slated to beta soon and to go into action in early 2001.
>
> A few observations I
>
> For one, I wonder where the other company CMGi will launch this year,
> the Global Web Operating System, will fit into all of this.
>
> I like the strong emphasis on personalization, and so will the companies
> that offer their content and services over CMGion.
>
> Here's a practical example. Say you own and operate a travel agency that
> specializes in custom vacation packages for young upwardly mobile
> professionals. You have a website, but by arrangement another much
> larger website P an aggregator of sites that cater to yuppies,
> Yuppie_heaven.com P features your travel service exclusively.
>
> Your site and Yuppie_heaven.com are accessible by any Web user; however,
> Yuppie_heaven.com is located on CMGion's servers.
>
> Engage anonymous profiling will see to it that the Yuppie_heaven visitor
> will be shown content tailored to his or her unique interests. By
> glancing at an ad banner or clicking a 'travel' link, the user will see
> a vacation package you have pieced together, in advance, for his or her
> individualized mix of interests.
>
> For one Yuppie_heaven visitor, a trip to Rome, a public audience with
> the Pope and a Ferrari to tour the sights. (He's a churchgoer and loves
> European history and fast cars.)
>
> For another visitor, a tour of centuries-old vineyards in France, mixed
> in with several nights of nightclub hopping in Paris. (She speaks
> French, is a wine enthusiast and loves jazz.)
>
> For another, an expedition to the Montana badlands to participate in a
> fossil hunt and excavation. (He loves the outdoors and anything to do
> with dinosaurs.)
>
> This is powerful stuff. CMGion's customers will be able to harvest the
> results of a brand new marketing approach that combines the best
> attributes of mass advertising and advertising tailored to the
> individual.
>
> I like it that this will not compromise the anonymity of users. You
> could supply your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address and
> other private information (for whatever purpose) to an Engage-enabled
> site in the CMGion network, and wherever else you travel in the network,
> no matter how many other sites you visit, only the one you shared
> private information with will ever know how to contact you by regular
> mail, e-mail or by telephone.
>
> Another thing I like about CMGion is the ownership structure. Novell and
> Sun and Compaq each get 4%. CMGi keeps 78%. The employees get 10%.
>
> The employees' equity, right from the start, is valued at $50 million.
>
> Think about that for a second. If the value of CMGion is endorsed by the
> market at the time of public offering, whenever that will be, and if DW
> is correct in his forecast that CMGion could end up being larger than
> anything CMGi has done so far, then P my gosh P the incentive the CMGion
> team has to be successful! The money they stand to make!
>
> Question: What kind of people do you get when you offer this level of
> financial compensation?
>
> Answer: The very best.
>
> A stellar management decision, in my opinion.
>
> This approach to company formation, where strategic partners are invited
> to acquire partial ownership, is cunning. Owning 100% of an enterprise
> isn't always the best way to go. (As long as everyone gets along. Compaq
> and Sun both supplying servers?!)
>
> (I'm going to slip this in here. Engage anonymous profiling is not so
> entrenched as to be immune against legislative action. It's an important
> if not vital value-added feature of CMGion, in which Sun and Compaq and
> Novell (and other corporate entities by dint of their investment in
> GMGi) have a stake. As Congress continues to evaluate Internet privacy
> issues, the voices supporting Engage's approach will be many.)
>
> CMGion is where CMGi has been headed since the day David Wetherell
> logged on to the Internet and saw the future.
>
> The network is designed for success right out of the gate and the
> industry knows it. In his April 15 market sell-off message board post
> (see last week's column), David Wetherell said of CMGion, "I numerous
> other partners want in."
>
> For certain. Who wouldn't want a piece, especially now when Internet
> infrastructure is all the rage?
>
> What do the analysts think? Dain Rauscher was persuaded to improve its
> rating of CMGi from Speculative to Aggressive. The firm describes CMGion
> as "a unified global network of profile-based services" and calls the
> "worldwide capture of consumer behavior" a "feat unmatched to date."
>
> The cover of the May issue of Business 2.0 reads, "Go Global: If You're
> Not Everywhere, You're Nowhere." CMGion has that covered.
---- Adam@4K-Associates.comCreate something small, fast, and easy to reuse, and everyone will hate you for it. -- Adam Beberg
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