Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 17, 1995 TAG: 9509180001
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: STEPHEN FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Long
He wanted to let the newspaper know that at least one local businessman - himself - was already looking at commercial opportunities connected with the experiment in computer networking launched by Virginia Tech, Blacksburg and the then-Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Co.
Flash forward to the summer of 1995. The BEV now counts among its users a full third of the town's population. It has been the subject of dozens of stories in national magazines, newspapers and television shows. Interest in and use of the Internet has exploded, and corporations, newspapers and other commercial entities are recognizing the potential it holds for promoting their names and selling their products.
Blacksburgians use the BEV to talk to each other about the local news, the death of Grateful Dead leader Jerry Garcia, the BEV itself. They can look up advertisements for Wade's Supermarket, King Video and Bogen's Restaurant, among others.
That's where Mauer and his partner, Joe Wiencko, come in.
BizNet Technologies Inc., housed in two smallish, sparsely furnished rooms in Tech's Corporate Research Center, was launched a few months after BEV with the intent of capitalizing on a worldwide technological marvel now used as much in Blacksburg and surrounding communities as anywhere.
Said Mauer: "The idea was to be in between the Internet and the businesses."
For the average Blacksburg Net-surfer trolling the home pages of the BEV, BizNet's handiwork can be seen in the Web-pages it designed for companies such as Anderson & Associates Inc., a local engineering firm, Bogen's, the Tech Bookstore and dozens of other local companies. The homepages, or "Internet presence," as Mauer deems them, serve two purposes: to advertise services and permit on-line shopping.
Because of the makeup of the Internet, a company like BizNet immediately counts among its potential customers a worldwide audience of computer users. Another of its clients is NetDiamonds, located in New York. The owner, whom Mauer has never physically seen, contracted with BizNet to produce his page, which shows pictures and prices of diamonds and allows users to place orders.
The cost for setting up a company's homepage starts at $300 for three months plus a $50 start-up fee, although Mauer said the costs for local companies are substantially lower. Total charges vary depending on quality and complexity, but can range from $500 to $4,000 or more.
"It needs to be looked at as more like an adjunct to traditional media," Mauer said. "Given the amount of information you can put on them, it's a lot cheaper than going to a newspaper."
Andrew Cohill, director of the BEV, can't endorse a particular company over another, but pointed to BizNet as the first example of a previously unseen form of economic development. "Not only was BizNet the first, but we've created a booming new kind of business in the area," Cohill said.
Until recently BizNet had little competition, Mauer said, but BEV's "Village Mall" page now lists seven "communication services" in the New River Valley.
"That's probably the highest per capita," in the country, Cohill said. "We have a very good start on other places."
Some think the ability to create and maintain homepages for companies constitutes a gold mine of opportunity. Even though more and more people are learning how to make the Internet work for them, Cohill likened companies like BizNet - and other Blacksburg operations like G3 Systems Inc., New River Valley Communications or Somfaw Data Services - to printers.
"In every town in America, you'll find not one, but two or three or four," Cohill said. "Most businesses, although they could buy their own printing press, don't. I don't think everybody is going to run their own Webserver."
"I think the development companies have an unlimited future," said Ken Anderson, president of Anderson & Associates Inc., and a member of Blacksburg's telecommunications advisory committee. "I keep pressing [Mauer] to grow."
"There's a whole lot that we don't know yet and we've been at it pretty hard," Anderson said, referring to maintaining the homepage that BizNet designed for his company. Eventually, Anderson & Associates will take over maintenance of it and keep the information in its own computers, but for now, Anderson said, "There's a whole lot to know here."
To hear Mauer and Wiencko talk, however, the homepage-designing aspect of their business is only a small part of their ambition. Mauer and Wiencko admit there will be plenty of such opportunity for a while, but eventually more and more people are going to be able to do it themselves. They are looking more at the big picture.
"What we're selling is the idea of electronic villages," Mauer said. "We're really a consulting company."
They envision other localities in Virginia and around the country developing their own versions of the Blacksburg Electronic Village - and Mauer and Wiencko believe they've got knowledge in how to do that. Both have had strong hands in helping the concept develop here.
Mauer has taught computer and software classes at the community college level, and spent plenty of hours volunteering his services to help BEV users get on-line when the system was starting up. But more important, he said, is his knowledge of marketing and the people skills he's developed over the years in various jobs and ventures. "I'm a businessman," he said.
His partner, Wiencko, wrote the vision statement for the BEV in 1991. An electrical engineer who worked for Tech for eight years, he served as the BEV's project manager until leaving the university in April.
Said Mauer: "We're real deep in expertise."
The partners see other communities developing their networks and looking for help in figuring out what kinds of information to provide to residents. They'll be looking for advice on how to get local businesses interested in running their electronic villages. Potentially, Wiencko said, BizNet could be asked for advice on how to "build all their BizNet's."
"BizNet is not the goal. It's one of the enabling points" of an electronic village concept, Wiencko said. "We're looking to the needs of customers to keep us pointed in the direction that we want to go."
They have worked with a telephone company named ShenTel Service Co., based in Edinburgh, which was interested in changing the on-line services it offers its customers, Wiencko said. Other deals are in the works, he said.
But to try and figure out what BizNet's role will be in five years is impossible, they maintain. Five years ago, few had even heard of the Internet. Now its use is exploding. Five years from now, who can tell?
Mauer does have a maxim, however: "When you're riding the wave of technology, you can't be stuck where you're at."
by CNB