Line56: A New Direction (Line56)

A heads-up on our changing approach to the e-business marketplace, and what it means for the Line56 community

Going forward, in addition to coverage of events of general importance in e-business, Line56 will be focusing coverage in three areas:
1. Portals (enterprise portals in particular, but we will also be focusing on the human interface aspects of enterprise applications like ERP, SCM, KM, procurement, e-learning, and so forth).
2. On Demand CRM
3. Middleware (including application infrastructure, databases, and radio frequency identification technology).
Our approach to the portals category is different than the current market understanding. A portal is, of course, a standalone technology: the enterprise portal. But, as we understand it, a portal is also any online interface (relying on components like dashboards, portlets, and open standards) that gives human users access to enterprise information. Line56 is increasingly interested in the human interface to enterprise technology, wherever it resides on the technology continuum, and this is what we will be featuring going forward.
We have also decided to break out on demand customer relationship management (CRM) into a category of its own. Despite the fact that many CRM deployments remain traditional, we respect the potential of the on demand model and would like to give it expanded coverage here.
Finally, no e-business technology or process is viable without the glue that is middleware.
What does this mean for readers? The easiest explanation is that it is the depth, rather than the breadth, of our coverage that will be changing. We will be going more deeply into the portal as human interface, on demand CRM, and middleware; our coverage will provide more specific details about products, deployments, strategies, and market conditions as we move from being a general news source to a targeted provider of information to the technology buyer, particularly in the small and medium-sized business (SMB) arena.
What does this mean for vendors and PR agencies? Line56 will be more interested in product demonstrations and interviews with customers. We want to see products in action, and talk to customers who are using them.
In trying to get on our calendar, please be aware of the Line56 Yahoo Group:http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/line56/This is where you can directly schedule briefings with our Managing Editor, Demir Barlas, and check out his schedule several weeks in advance.
If you have not already done so, you can e-mail Demir at delikurt AT yahoo DOT com in order to receive an invitation to this group.
It is worth repeating that we will still cover news of general importance, and news that does not fit into the categories above. We will be more alert, however, to the focus areas above.
Thanks for your readership!
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About From The Editor: This is part of a series of high-level discussions of e-business issues that, while grounded as far as possible in data and fact, also incorporates a modicum of speculative thinking. -- Editor
"From The Editor" is an Op-ed series intended to foster critical thinking and discussion of current issues. Opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of Line56 Media as a whole.