ARYN is about to explode, I cut this off the RB board. Also it was mentioned there that ARYN is being talked about on four different boards. Here's the article.
Making Virtual Communication a Reality
comLinx CEO Eric Korb has built one high-tech company after another.
By Patricia Kutza
for Office.com
You're proud of the way your business has identified its markets. And you're really ecstatic about the way you've managed to sharpen your messages. But there's just one thing that claws at your gut at night when the din of the day has receded. You're still spending three arms and five legs on expensive media campaigns in conventional print channels. Add to that the rising costs of travel, hotel and conference accommodations and the total expenditure can very quickly turn your entire budget on its head.
OK, you say you're beyond all that already? It is true, the emergence of computer-based training and the explosive growth of the Internet have changed this risk-laden scenario in dramatic and beneficial ways. Most likely, you are now file sharing via Intranets, taking advantage of the Web, and regularly accessing online databases. In addition, teleconferencing, with live audio and video feeds, is decreasing the need to spend from your limited travel budget to satisfy the demands of your company's marketing and training goals. Indeed, these are now all commonplace ways of sharing information within a company.
Companies are increasingly choosing Web-based solutions for their training needs. Inside Technology Training (ITT) magazine's recent "Computer-based Training and Online Learning Executive Summary" reports that 78 percent of survey respondents say their Web-based training was increasing. This growing opportunity is spurring a number of fledgling enterprises (and some large ones, too) trying to catch on to this latest Web-related trend.
An Early Entrant in a Competitive Market
Enter Eric Korb, whose recent successes include the development of Access Graphics, a $2 billion market leader in high-technology goods and services. Korb envisions a future where even the smallest of businesses do not have to skimp when it comes to providing the best in communication technology between its internal and external customers. Korb's latest venture, comLinx, Inc, a privately held company based in New Jersey, is on a mission to redefine the way businesses conduct meetings, give presentations and participate in teleconferences with a proprietary Webcasting service called WEBinar. But the path to comLinx's success started many years ago.
Indeed, Korb is no stranger to the business start-up. The entrepreneur spent the better part of the last two decades starting and building software and high-technology service companies that utilize indirect distribution channels. For example, Korb formed Access Graphics in 1989 by merging another of his companies, CADsource, with two similar firms. Shortly afterwards, Korb led Access into the UNIX workstation business market in a partnership with Digital Equipment Corporation and Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Next, Korb founded Xecute, Inc. in 1990, building it into a $9 million master reseller of high-end TCP/IP, X-Windows and telecommunications products and services. That same year, he was selected by Reseller Management magazine as one of its "Key Players in Distribution." Korb's strong background in the resellers industry no doubt contributed to the development of his latest venture, comLinx.
Korb cites businesses that utilize independent marketing channels as comLinx's particular focus. These companies include franchises, home-based industries, manufacturers and distributors, as well as those businesses with geographically dispersed channel partners. He believes that his proprietary Webcasting service, touted WEBinar, provides a low-cost and high-impact way for a franchiser to conduct recruiting, train franchisees and facilitate other communication processes.
WEBinar: Making the World a Smaller Place
"We have brought a new meaning to Web-based seminars with our first Internet-based, interactive desktop meeting and presentation service called a WEBinar," explains Korb. He intends for this product, and its associated services, to help customers establish a virtual communication bridge with their targeted audiences, closing the gap between contacts, which can be spread worldwide in today's global village.
While still somewhat of a novelty on the Internet, Web-based seminars are increasing in number and variety. A recent online search for Web-based seminars uncovered such diverse training options as a course for refining business etiquette skills, a workshop for police and crime mapping professionals, as well as a primer on self-hypnosis.
What separates the WEBinar from other interactive web-based events, Korb stresses, is its 'turnkey' nature -- the fact that no special software or hardware requirements are needed to plan a WEBinar session. "All you need is Internet access, a PC with 166 MHz (or higher) processor, 32 megabytes of RAM, Windows95, a Java-enabled Web browser, a 28.8k or better network connection, a media player (easily downloadable from RealNetworks or Microsoft), speakers and a microphone."
A Competitive Suite of Products and Service
Korb likes to point out that much of what is now available in the Web-based interactive solutions market comes at a lofty price. The current system of mixing and matching components, he says, is like ordering dinner items a la carte instead of as an entire meal. While companies have had to piece together his competitors' services to conduct an interactive meeting, Webinar seamlessly integrates Web-based teleconferencing, interactive presentations and polling into a single environment, giving comLinx a decided advantage in this growing market.
To offer this capability, WEBinar features a suite of three proprietary applications: voiceLinx Teleconferencing, viewLinx Presentations and instapoll Polling. An integrated T.120 service, voice-Linx offers such features as automatic participant identification, real time document sharing, attendance and time reporting, and toll free access. ViewLinx supports group sizes from 10 to 200 with live question and answer capability, breakout chat sessions, slides, streaming media, Web pages, annotated text presentation, and archives that allow absent clients to view past WEBinar sessions. Providing such functions as performance gap measurement, yes/no, key attributes, and collective preference, instapoll aims to actively involve the presentation audience.
In addition to all-in-one functionality and user interactivity, Webinar offers another important feature, one that is often lacking in the high-tech arena -- customer service.
"We do it all," says Korb. "We hand-hold our customers through the entire process, from sending out the invitations to monitoring the WEBinar while in progress. Our Service Division helps in publication (content creation and re-formatting), promotion (event management, logistics, notification, results) and production (technical support, training, delivery, applications, registration security) for all WEBinars."
Roadblocks on the Internet Superhighway
Korb admits that the WEBinar experience is not without the occasional wrinkle. Users often fail to follow the provided instructions, while others still need to update their Web browsers. Korb says five minutes before a WEBinar sessions starts, the technical support lines begin ringing off the hook with these and other questions.
Another roadblock, which critics claim may be an insurmountable handicap, is the perception that the exponential growth and penetration of technology in almost every aspect of daily life is depersonalizing communication. Korb's mission is to create a feeling of intimacy among Internet users, which are entering the on-ramp at the staggering rate of more than two million users each month.
"Intimacy is the key to building lasting relationships," he says. "Our WEBinars build interpersonal interaction and stimulate interaction with groups vital to a business's prosperity."
Korb recognizes that convincing companies to move their meetings from a physical to a virtual location, in itself, is a formidable challenge. "This isn't a technical issue as much as it has to do with changing corporate culture -- changing our customers' communication methods from face-to-face meetings to holding them over the Internet."
ITT's executive summary bodes more good news for comLinx's product. Larger companies, which are more likely to think "traditional" computer-based training (i.e. CD-ROM and LAN-based) also see Web-based training as an emerging application. ITT experts say that computer-based training has a substantial impact in all dimensions: knowledge outcome, overall return on investment, performance outcome, time to completion, and retention. Still, analysts are somewhat skeptical of Web-based training and believe it has a lesser impact in all dimensions.
Korb is optimistic that these traditional attitudes about the "right ways of doing business" will evolve. "This will change over time", he says, "and we see more early adopters coming along every day."
Current network constraints also play a role in defining the boundaries of WEBinar's success. Solving bandwidth issues will be key to fueling the continued success of comLinx, as well as many other technology-based companies.
"Future features are ready, but are on hold until the bandwidth is there," says Korb. "We are trying to keep WEBinar technology easy to use. Having a lot of bells and whistles is easy for us, but a nightmare for our users. We've learned this the hard way --keep it simple at first."
A Bright Future Ahead
comLinx's current portfolio of customers includes a variety of clients, among them Apple Computer, SDRC, Foundation Technologies and Zoring International. What lies ahead for comLinx and WEBinar? Are there any sector of industries which Korb has yet to exploit? His answer is a resounding "yes."
"We feel that the live and interactive nature of WEBinars are ideal for advertisers, direct marketers and content publishers to provide infomercials to targeted audiences via an e-zine's hosting site," explains Korb. "For example, an e-zine that focuses on computer networking could offer their print advertisers, like 3COM, an opportunity to sponsor a WEBinar. Instead of using a dull and non-engaging chat room or banner ad, they could deliver their content at a highly interactive WEBinar. At the end of the WEBinar, the participant could purchase the product or service right on-line. WEBinars drive e-commerce opportunities."
Company Snapshot
Name: ComLinx, Inc.
Location: North Plainfield, NJ
Founder: Eric Korb
Founded: 1998
URL: http://www.comlinx.com
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. Bottom line, it's hard to say with these pennies when and if they'll touch the sky...shareholder sentiment sometimes moves mountains. Mark my words, on TRDY for example, when they get the much sought after buyer, they'll see .20 again. I'm ready...lol! 
