Monthly Archives: April 2010

Internet World 2010 – Get big, get niche or get out!…

As the homepage for Internet World 2000 announced in lurid pink and yellow… It’s big – It’s brash – It’s bright – It’s beyond…  From my recollections of that time, this is an excellent summary of the atmosphere and sentiment of that dotcom boom peak period.

Click to compare and contrast IW2000 to IW2010

I remember this particular show well as I attended it in a somewhat ‘shellshocked’ state as I was immersed in the launch of ntlworld – NTL’s UK wide ‘free Internet service’.  I was also working on NTL’s shopbuilder project at the time with Intershop and remember the whole buzz about eCommerce, which again, is emphasised by the exhibitors back in 2000.  So many ideas before their time! – or at least before broadband made the user experiences vaguely tolerable.

Visiting IW2010 on Wednesday, I got a sense of deja-vu, particularly with all the talk about eCommerce. The recession has clearly put much more focus on the benefits of selling online but, given this is 2010 and the height of the social media boom, today’s eCommerce comes with a Social Media twist or two.

There’s talk of ‘Web 2.0’ eTailers usurping the long-standing ‘Web 1.0’ stalwarts by combining the latest WCM, Social Media and eCommerce developments to provide far better user experiences and greater conversion levels. I can see sense in this as the battles between the Rich Internet Application frameworks and HTML5 make online shopping a more pleasurable interactive experience and the growth in user generated commentary and reviews continues to help transcend the marketing bullshit. There’s certainly opportunity to implement eCommerce and integrate its vital content processes better, easier and faster than before.

Comparing the lists of Content Management System vendors from IW2000 to IW2010 shows I have observed the following…

  • The success of the .NET Framework over the last 5 years.  By my reckoning, at least 8 of the CMS vendors listed are focused on .NET based applications. Although the PHP versus .NET debates often reach a stalemate, one thing that is generally agreed on is that .NET based sites are often faster. When you see that ‘speed’ is an increasingly important measure in Google rankings this could take on even greater significance for those who’s search rankings are vital.
  • The ‘Class of 2000’ has moved on. Of the content management orientated vendors who exhibited 10 years ago, only the original Mediasurface product offering had presence a decade later via Alterian’s heavy and visible presence at the 2010 show.  Consolidation has played a big part in this in the upper tier and growth of the mid-market has made many of the original CMS vendors irrelevant at this type of show.
  • Few remain independent. Of the exhibitors in 2000, only Percussion and Day remain in their original independent states – but for how long?
  • The rise of Scandinavian and arrival of Eastern European vendors. The Danes and Swedes are coming to dominate the CMS mid-market through very successful offerings like EPiServer and Sitecore. A younger generation is showing through now too, with Sweden’s Onclick, Estonia’s Modera and Czechoslovakia’s Kentico (growing in popularity in the UK partner base)

So, as we progress through the next decade to 2020 and Content Management becomes more commoditised through the growth of Open Source, development of infrastructure beasts like SharePoint and gathering ‘Clouds’ of different shapes and sizes – how will the 2010 exhibitors fare and will they still be standing/showing in 2020?

Based on the last ten years, the odds are against it. In commoditised markets it’s said that only the ‘big’ and ‘niche’ survive. I’ve made some wild speculation below on what path the ‘class of 2010’ might take…

Exhibiting CMS Vendors 2000 Exhibiting CMS Vendors 2010 Will they be exhibiting in 2020???? (Some wild speculation!)
Autonomy Activedition No – Out by 2020 – Regular UK CMS exhibitors such as SiteKit, EasySite and Contensis were noticeable by their absence this year and I’ll wager that Activedition goes the same way in the next couple of years, swamped by the Scandinavian systems UK implementors are increasingly favouring.
Day Alterian No – Big by 2020 – With Immediacy’s roadmap now officially dead and a renewed focus on the former Morello product with the recent ACM-professional (a Morello-lite), Alterian’s positioning in the mid-market is still unclear. As a listed company they’ll continue to add value through acquisition then look to be acquired themselves.
EMC Ektron No – Out by 2020 – Acquired by Microsoft looking to reassert itself in lighterweight .NET friendly WCM
Eprise Corporation EPiServer No – Big by 2020 – With strength in globalisation and a favourite choice of the UK partner channel, these guys will be swallowed up by an increasingly desperate upper tier operator who can only seem to expand out of a saturated market by cannibalising those beneath them
Interwoven E-Spirit No – Out by 2020 – Acquired by Alterian looking to strengthen its international offering from the UK roots of Morello and Immediacy if focus remains on the Morello core
Mediasurface Kentico No – Out by 2020 – Low Eastern European cost base might keep it running for a few years but it’s late to the .NET party in the UK – could come onto Alterian’s acquisition radar to strengthen mid-market
Merant Modera No – Out by 2020 – Lower Eastern European cost base but late to the party in the UK – can shift its attention quickly to other emerging markets
Percussion Nstein No – Already out – Following acquisition by OpenText this is the last we’ll see of Nstein at IW
Tridion Onclick No – Out by 2020 – If their proposition becomes clearer than it currently is then perhaps they’ll be acquired by their big Swedish brothers to help UI evolution and/or a php based offering
Vignette Sitecore No – Big by 2020 – Another possible target for Microsoft if it looks to revisit WCM and must be coming onto the radar of the US giants
Squiz No – Out by 2020 – At the vanguard of commercialised open source but with an Aussie English language heritage – these guys will struggle against the rising tide of Drupal in the enterprise. May shift allegience to other open source offerings and develop as a UK open source implementation specialist
Telerik No – Out by 2020 – Niche development work on Silverlight components gets them swallowed up by Microsoft within 5 years
Vyre No – Niche by 2020 – Overshawdowed by others with Nordic history, they’ll return increasingly to a niche DAM position

What are your predictions for IW2020? Will we even be talking about an ‘Internet World’ in 10 years or will it have evolved into something very different? And will we still be talking about a ‘Content Management’ industry or will long heralded mass consolidation and commoditisation prevail?

Ducking and diving down under…

Seeing a 3 metre shark heading straight for me with it’s mouth open, I heeded the divemaster’s advice from the briefing session and ducked down behind the reef.  The experience of that shark passing less than half a metre over the top of me is one I won’t forget. I was close enough to have plucked out one of the teeth it was about to shed from the front of its jaw – but remembering just how sharp one tooth felt when we handled it in the briefing session, I kept my hands well away.

Sounds dramatic? The stuff of dreams or nightmares? OK – let me come clean… Yes I was in the water with the shark and yes it came that close to me with it’s mouth open.   However, I was diving at the Aquarium of Western Australia (AQWA) and not the open sea on this occasion and an encounter like that was almost guaranteed when you’re in a tank full of large nurse sharks and smaller whaler sharks.

Despite their size and scary ‘open mouthed’ appearance, nurse sharks are relatively placid, particularly if they’ve spent a fair chunk of their lives being waited on hand and foot in a big bath.  However, if you were to pop up right in front of them when they’re not expecting it then they have been known to bite, so the emphasis of the briefing before entering the water is to make sure you have excellent buoyancy control and stay close to the bottom of the aquarium at all times.

Having not been under the water for a couple of years, I was grateful for the open water refresher I’d done on a wreck trail dive the week before – at least I knew if I my mask was flicked off by another diver’s fin or I had problems with buoyancy I would deal with it calmly and not inadvertently head into the path of an oncoming shark or stingray.

I must admit feeling a twinge of apprehension as I was about to enter the water and looked down to see a large grey outline with a fin breaking the surface. If you’re watching these creatures through the glass tunnels and windows below, firstly you won’t see this classic view of the shark’s fin and secondly, the effect of the glass reduces the apparent size of the object being viewed by 30%.

This size reduction caused much hilarity amongst the audience gathered in the observation tunnel below as, according to my wife and daughters later, we looked ‘like hobbits’ when we entered the water. Diving with an audience was certainly a new experience and quite disconcerting when you see them pointing at things around you that you can’t see as quickly – The narrow field of view from the mask, restriction of the regulator feed,  position of the air tank and resistance of the water makes rapid head and body turning harder. It was only on playing back some of the video my daughter was taking of me from the observation tunnel that I appreciated how close I was to some of the tank’s inhabitants, particularly the stingray who seems to have developed a bit of a game of darting underneath the divers at unexpected moments.

click for larger view

For any divers heading out to Western Australia for the first time then I recommend Bell Scuba for their excellent range of gear for hire. These guys also take some responsibility for looking after the Bell Park Wreck Trail dive site which is literally off the shore opposite their beach front premises.

It’s in a tank, only 5 metres down and the inhabitants are more like pets than wild creatures – but, it’s an amazing experience and well worth doing if you can.  Find the Shark Dive Experience details here and a Virtual Tour that gives a better idea than my fuzzy pics.

Gone 'rideabout' down under…

The Western Australian city of Perth has changed a fair bit over the last 15 years since my first visit out there. When you revisit places over a long time period, the change is very noticeable. The city skyline is still a familiar shape with it’s distinctive modern skyscrapers set on the banks of the Swan River but the northern suburbs, where my brother-in-law has lived for 20 years, have expanded dramatically since my last visit in 2000.  The shopping malls and retail areas have doubled and tripled in size and the once relatively peaceful freeways (by UK standards) are now bursting with traffic. The traffic ‘squeeze’, as it is referred to over there, is becoming a severe problem and various schemes are underway to relieve the pressures on the road system.

Cars were also in the press for another reason on our arrival as we landed in Perth in the aftermath of a dramatic and violent storm.  The newspapers, TV and web were full of images of cars that had suffered the effect of being hit by hailstones the size of golf balls and bigger – when metal panels and glass meet fast falling lumps of ice – the ice wins – big time!

My brother-in-law’s solution to commuting misery has been to buy a motorbike – which makes the journey in and out of the city relatively painless as he just rides between the lines of stationary or crawling cars. As soon as we arrived at his place I was drooling over the Triumph Street Triple he rides and was both somewhat surprised and delighted that my suggestion about hiring a bike met with approval from my wife – who has never been the biggest of bike fans.

A quick search on the web and I discovered Sunset Motorcycle Hire who had an interesting range of larger Suzukis available. I rang Colin, who runs the company, and arranged to pick up a DL 650 V-Strom during the following week.

It turned out to be a good choice for someone of my height and size as the riding position is very comfortable but it still offers the kind of capable performance I’ve experienced on larger Sports Tourers in the past such as GSXs, VFRs and my beloved modified GPZ750R.

I’ve plotted out the road trip we did on this Google Map but basically it can be summarised as…

  • Connolly to Mundaring Weir (where the Mundaring Weir Hotel is recommended for a break/drink)
  • Mundaring Weir to Serpertine Falls (great/quiet roads through the hills and good for a refreshing dip – wild kangaroos seem guaranteed)
  • Serpentine Falls into the City (ride in the shadows of the skyscrapers then out through Northbridge, the old quarter)
  • City to Connolly via the Sunset Coast road (time this for the evening for the full effect of the sun setting over the ocean)

click for larger view...

So, if you’re heading for Perth and want to enjoy the sights without getting stuck in traffic then I recommend contacting Sunset Motorcycle Hire for their good range of bikes and excellent service. Then get out into the Perth Hills, along the quiet outback roads, tour the City then head along the sunset coast for a memorable day’s biking.