The IGN Data Hub - Feb 23, 2000

Online Employment Services Get Complex

Online job searches and offerings will eventually be combined into all-encompassing career networks, according to Forrester Research. Three essential components will comprise such networks: a jobs database, a profile database and a matching engine. Plus, the sites will have the ability to learn preferences to save users' time, and will aggregate jobs, company information and more. By 2005, online recruitment advertising will total $4 billion, human resources applications will generate $1 billion, online assessment and training will net $2 billion, and 55 percent of all revenues will go to career networks.

B2B E-Commerce to Top $7 Trillion by 2004

GartnerGroup has released a series of reports studying worldwide business-to-business e-commerce, which is projected to reach $7.29 trillion by 2004. North America will account for 39 percent of the market or $2.84 trillion, while Europe is expected to surpass $2.34 trillion.

The Asia/Pacific area is undergoing explosive growth, also. The area's e-commerce transactions are projected to hit $29.9 billion in 2000, followed by $93.4 billion in 2001. In 2002, the region's market will increase to $258.5 billion, and by the end of 2003 it's forecast to reach $510.7 billion.

Japan, which attained $11.1 billion in B2B e-commerce revenues, is expected to reach $861 billion in 2004. Finally, Latin American has accounted for the least amount of B2B e-commerce revenues, having reached $1 billion in 1999. The market is expected to see huge increase, however, likely reaching $124 billion by 2004.

Broadband Is up and Coming

Broadband wireless equipment vendors are jostling to secure the first contracts for field trials and subsequent deployment of an infant market, hoping to become the big names in the next big industry. In fact, Datamonitor's new report, "Broadband Wireless: Opportunities in Global Markets" foresees a massive growth spurt for the industry. By 2004, Datamonitor says, there will 13.4 million household subscribers and 2 million business subscribers to fixed broadband wireless services globally, compared to only 370,000 subscribers in 2000

New Choices Include DSL

Yankee Group reports that even though cable modems are likely to remain the leading broadband access tool, there will be a surge in DSL usage. Last year, about 1.4 million homes had some sort of high-speed Internet access, mainly through cable modems. By 2004, 16.6 million homes will have high-speed access, nearly half of them via DSL services.

PCs Face Competition

PCs are no longer the only information devices on the market. A study just published by International Data shows the sales of competing devices, including Internet gaming consoles, interactive TVs, Web terminals, email terminals and screen telephones, will outpace PC sales by 2002. Plus, their sales will surpass $17.8 billion by 2004, compared to last year's total of $2.4 billion.