Wires: News and Technology for September 3, 2004

In the news... A new forecast by Jupiter Research predicts that online advertising will more than double over the next five years. The forecast, presented at the Jupiter/ClickZ Ad Forum in New York, anticipates the online ad market to grow from $6.6 billion in 2003, to $16.1 billion in 2009. Paid search is expected to increase 30 percent compounded annually over the next two years, but the forecast reports that it is no longer the sole driver of online ad spending--display ads and online classifieds will each grow more than 25 percent compounded annually over the same period. Jupiter attributes the growth primary to the increasing sophistication of advertisers and their ability to better target, measure, and convert their audiences online. "The growth in online advertising is the product of all the progress that Web sites and technology providers have made in the last two years," said Gary Stein, senior analyst at Jupiter Research, in a statement. "We've seen companies very actively working to make the Internet a more attractive advertising medium." New products... eGain Communications announced that the integration of eGain Knowledge with HP OpenView Service Desk has achieved certification as part of the HP Enterprise Management Services for Partners. This integration enables HP users to access eGain Knowledge from the HP OpenView Service Desk in the context of incident resolution, with pre-populated information about the incident, and associated symptoms for root-cause analysis and solution recommendation. It also provides the ability to automatically write information back to HP OpenView Service Desk as the call and incident are closed, and to learn about new products and related support issues via existing knowledge repositories. INSCI, a provider of enterprise content management solutions, released WebWare ActiveMedia 5.5, the newest version of its Web services-based digital asset management software. The solution offers a metadata-driven security model that enables administrators to control which individuals may gain access to an asset. ActiveMedia 5.5 also features single sign-on capability (, new desktop connections with QuarkXpress and Adobe InDesign plug-ins, and a video ingestion and delivery tool. Independent software developer Cubistix launched its CRM Front-End 2.0 product, a map-based interface for the Microsoft Business Solutions CRM system. Cubistix CRM Front-End interacts with a company's existing CRM data, and offers lead management, sales and market penetration, campaign management, and sales force automation. The product allows users to send targeted letters and customized emails to current and prospective clients with 1-Click Mail Merge and integration with Microsoft Outlook. Incorporation of MapPoint 2004 into the software also enables users to create multi-tiered marketing campaigns by segregating their campaigns into geographical containers, plotting customer leads on a map, and exporting maps into Microsoft Word documents. Astea International, a global provider of service management solutions, announced the availability of its newest version of the Astea Alliance software suite built on the Microsoft .NET platform. This latest release provides a service management platform that integrates business processes for service, logistics, sales, and marketing. IntelleDisc Technologies, a developer of business and sales automation systems, has signed a national reseller agreement with Fionda, LLC, an organization that provides technology communications tools to direct sales and affinity markets. This alliance will enable Fionda to offer the IntelleDisc Prospect Relationship Management System to its direct sale industry clients across the United States. The IntelleDisc is a sales automation system that uses an interactive-CD technology, providing real-time prospect tracking, notification, measurement, and personalization capabilities for sales and marketing presentations. The system is designed for industry-wide companies, and their sales/marketing representatives, distributors and dealers, and integrates with existing digital marketing presentations and videos.