Web page hosting, other Internet services

The IEEE is introducing a new service -- Entity Web Hosting (EWH) -- for sections, chapters and so on. Let me put this into the context of IEEE's evolving electronic services.

DOING BUSINESS.   Should the IEEE do business on the Internet? There are differences of opinion among IEEE members on this topic. I hear many answers: "yes," "no," "unsure," "not yet" and "perhaps not for me." I also hear the impatience and frustration of many members who use the Internet every day and are disappointed that we at the IEEE have done so little to date -- relative to the many companies and societies who currently offer on-line services of every kind.

We have offered e-mail services for many years and are offering some Web-based services. But are we prepared to take the plunge and make the necessary investment to compete with the best?

IEEE DECISION.   The IEEE Board of Directors is being asked to make that decision this year. The concept was presented at the February Board meeting (reported in this column in the April issue as IEEE's Internet Project), followed by an interim report last July, and a decision is expected to be made at the next Board meeting, to be held in November.

The costs are non-trivial and the investment in new hardware, software and business practices is significant. Our staff and volunteer leadership are preparing detailed plans so that the Board can make an informed and prudent decision.

INTERNET SERVICES.   The objective is to do our business over the Internet -- phasing in during 1998 and 1999.

These IEEE business operations include membership application, renewal and service changes; information delivery related to technical, educational, professional and local interests; and product catalog searching and ordering.

Assuming support from the Board, Internet-based services will be phased in to serve those who can make use of them. Traditional services will be maintained for our members who cannot or choose not to use Internet services. The preceding services are basic business processes and represent a major change in the way we do our business. During the current year or so, both volunteers and staff have piloted a wide variety of electronic services (quite apart from the massive effort to convert all publications to electronic form). One of the challenges is to effectively integrate where possible and select where necessary from the varied tools which have been developed.

In the future, additional specific electronic services will be added once the basic infrastructure is in place.

INTERNET USE.   Survey results suggest the Internet is becoming more widely used in ways that relate to the IEEE.

NON-IEEE SURVEYS.   These results are from my newspaper
"http://www.TheGlobeAndMail.com/docs/webextra/middle_kingdomcyb/MKcybdex.html":
* Business use has surpassed home use -- a market research study reports that business users are on-line 5.75 hours per person per month compared 3.5 hours for home users ( http://www.npd.com ).
* Book sales -- Amazon reported book sales over the Internet of US$27.9 million in the second quarter of 1997.
* Buyers search for product information on the Internet before making purchases -- Commercenet and Nielsen Media Research report that 39 percent of all Web users searched the Net before ordering.
* The average user of the Internet is male, in his 20s, very well educated, currently a graduate student or a young professional earning well over US$40,000 a year
( http://www.survey.net/inet2r.html ). Lots of interesting data at this site.
* The gender gap is closing -- during the past year the percentage of women using the Internet increased from 34 percent to 42 percent.

IEEE SURVEY.   The IEEE is conducting a survey to assess the market within IEEE for additional specific Internet-related services. If you get a survey form, I urge you to respond.

ENTITY WEB HOSTING.   This new service is intended to meet the needs of IEEE entities -- sections, chapters, societies, and so on -- that want to have their own Web sites and have the know-how to develop and maintain Web pages but lack the facilities for storing these HTML and graphics files.

While this service is included in the overall plan being presented to the Board of Directors, it is being implemented first because it is relatively much lower in cost and much simpler to do.

For the past year or so, the IEEE has been experimenting with the hosting of Web pages for a few sections and regions on a server called "Sandbox" -- which was set up to be a developmental server for student activities and pilot projects within the Regional Activities Board.

We now have a new server -- EWH -- for entity Web hosting being installed at our IEEE Operations Center on the outside of the firewall that protects our internal IEEE servers and business operations from external interference.

WHO DOES WHAT.   IEEE staff will manage the server and provide the Web-hosting facilities -- this includes installation of all hardware and operating systems, regular maintenance and backups and monitoring of usage.

IEEE volunteers will define operating rules, approve entity requests for hosting, monitor adherence to relevant IEEE policies, and make the decision to delete files and remove access permission to entities that do not cooperate.

IEEE entities that are assigned file space will upload and maintain their own files that constitute their Web site. Each entity will be individually responsible for its own content and keeping it current.

MORE INFORMATION.   To find out more details about IEEE entity Web hosting, view the page at "http://www.ewh.ieee.org". Initially this page will contain preliminary information about when the service will begin and how the number and type of users will be phased in. This information will be updated and expanded as we learn how to manage and evaluate this new service.

The plan is to provide a basic Web-hosting service first and expand from there. A key objective is to provide reliable performance.

The phase-in process is as follows: alpha testing by staff, beta testing with a few selected sections, then limited production service with sections who have applied through the EWH site. Service for other entities should begin as early as possible in 1998, assuming the phase-in process yields favorable results.

IEEE POLICY.   IEEE Web-related policies and guidelines are published on the main IEEE Web site at "http://www.ieee.org". The use of IEEE templates and style guides helps us develop some degree of consistency in appearance and functionality in an organization with many volunteers worldwide contributing to the IEEE effort.