InfiNet shifts development gears

By using the words "Internet," "revenue" and "no capital outlay" in the same sentence, InfiNet made it easier for many newspapers to say, "Let's go on-line."

Now the ISP and on-line service bureau wants to make it easier for affiliates, as its participating newspapers are known, to step up to on-line transactions, advertising placements, site management and product selection.

That means dropping some program R&D and shifting focus to what Peter Ill, vice president of affiliate relations, calls on-line "publishing systems software."

The spotlight turned to general release in December of AdGadget, a suite of site management programs, after the curtain fell in November on InfiNet's web page design services and WebPaper, its news service.

InfiNet, jointly owned by Landmark Communications, Knight-Ridder and Gannett and based in Norfolk, Va., is considering selling some programs and adopting multiple brands of "vertical applications," such as auto classifieds, real estate listings and archive access. "Our strategy is to work with a lot of people," Ill said. "We want to be the glue underneath that."

While executives are still undecided about whether to spin off current applications or to stop developing new ones, Ill said they "might turn them over for the right developer."

While in-house development of some products is important, at companies "where 30 to 50 people are working on a specific product, they will be able to put more into it than we can," Ill said. "We aren't going to necessarily fight that. We're focusing more and more on the integration layer."

He said InfiNet's hosting and support services give it an edge as an integrator. The ability to pass customer information across applications "can't be done when you buy one service over here, one service over there."

Products that InfiNet will incorporate rather than develop include directories and mapping.

Early last month InfiNet notified affiliates that it would close the web site design and authoring business Nov. 15. Reasons include the growth of affiliate design staffs and low-cost local services.

"Everything we try is not going to work," Ill said. "We need to be straightforward about the ones that don't and cut them off."

InfiNet, (804) 628-1020, e-mail: info@infi.net.

-- MJL

See also Sites seek shovelware, straining suppliers' sufferance

From THE COLE PAPERS, December 1996, Copyright © 1996, All Rights Reserved.