The Internet race.

• Author: Middleton, Saundra
• Position: Alaska's Internet industry

The technological race toward the new millennium isn't one you can ignore. You either gear up as a willing participant. Or you sit back, smug with your already proven success. But there's a warning. If you don't enter, you may be walking the road to prosperity while others blur past with souped-up engines.

Is the Internet changing the way Alaskans do business? Not nearly as much as it will be in the near future.

In the days of yesteryear, the Internet was known as the Information Highway. Data went from point A to point B without too many bumps or sharp corners.

Today, with demands increasing, Internet technology has changed so much, so rapidly, that it is now known as the Information Superhighway, what, with its megabytes per second, cable modems and digital networks. In layman's terms, the offerings produce an effect somewhat like the difference between driving a potholed road at 25 mph, or cruising along a smooth, resurfaced 65 mph section of the Glenn Highway - where auto and driver push beyond the envelope.

Today, about 70 percent of Alaskan businesses use the Internet. By 2000, 20 percent more are expected to join the telecommunications' race.

"Alaska businesses are using the Internet for e-commerce, research, and to reduce communications costs," said GCI spokesperson David Morris. "Fax has been the way to transmit documents. Now a business can attach a document to an e-mail. It is extremely fast, convenient, efficient and cost-effective."

Businesses are advertising more through the Internet as well. Hjalmar Syversen of Internet Alaska said advertising with a web page provides high exposure with low cost and maintenance. Steve Cartier of Alaska Internet Marketing, Inc. is one who uses a web page. His business client last exceeds 1,500 and encompasses the entire state from the Brooks Range to the Southeast; from the Aleutians to Tok.

Michael Gardner of Brown Bear Software took the web page a step further. Joining the e-commerce movement, he developed a storefront with Integrity Solutions, Inc. in Anchorage. He sold and downloaded his product for $50. Within a couple of months, Gardner was selling $2,000 to $3,000 per month, with an initial overhead cost of about $300.

The main drawback is speed. In Alaska, communication is far from what it could be. Those who hesitate to sign up for services repeatedly state that the slow access speeds are a deterrent, according to Morris. That's also the results of a recent survey given to Anchorage...