Web Site Speed To Take Center Stage

New York may be the home of this year's World Series, but 50,000-plus IT professionals will descend on the Big Apple this week for a series of a different sort.

The Jacob Javits Center will be the site of Internet World Fall 2000, which is expected to feature a series of training and technology sessions, as well as more than 900 exhibitors touting their visions of the future of e-business.

More than 900 exhibitors are expected in the Big Apple.

"There is only one future: subsecond response times," says Jakob Nielsen, user advocate and principal of Nielsen Norman Group, Mountain View, Calif., who will make a presentation on Web usability at Internet World. "As soon as rapid response time becomes technically possible, those sites that offer it will wipe out any sites that are slower," Nielsen says.

iSharp is hoping to turn some heads by demonstrating a new version of its Web site-performance testing service, which John Gettinger, vice president of corporate development and marketing, characterizes as "a very clean model for integrators."

"A lot of [integrators] are trying to add higher value [to their services]," Gettinger says. "We have project-based licensing so they can use it for six months in conjunction with a product, or sell it to clients on an ongoing subscription basis."

Greg Lynn, quality assurance director at San Francisco-based i-drive.com, a provider of free personal Web space, says iSharp helps "shorten development cycles and increases the confidence level in delivering products on time."

Also stepping up to bat with a new upgrade to its automated methodology for measuring the user experience is Portland, Ore.-based WebCriteria. "Within the next year, companies looking to measure Web sites will need to understand the 'what' and the 'why' of Web problems," says David Reynoldson, WebCriteria's product manager. "By overlaying our data on the traffic data, customers can understand the problem."