Aló India ?, necesito ayuda con mis matemáticas.

WORLD BUSINESS

Hello, India? I Need Help With My Math By STEVE LOHR Published: October 31, 2007

Namas Bhojani for The New York Times Ramya Tadikonda works for TutorVista and tutors students online from her home in Chennai, India.

Adrianne Yamaki, a 32-year-old management consultant in New York, travels constantly and logs 80-hour workweeks. So to eke out more time for herself, she routinely farms out the administrative chores of her life — making travel arrangements, hair appointments and restaurant reservations and buying theater tickets — to a personal assistant service, in India. Kenneth Tham, a high school sophomore in Arcadia, Calif., strives to improve his grades and scores on standardized tests. Most afternoons, he is tutored remotely by an instructor speaking to him on a voice-over-Internet headset while he sits at his personal computer going over lessons on the screen. The tutor is in India. The Bangalore butler is the latest development in offshore outsourcing. The first wave of slicing up services work and sending it abroad has been all about business operations. Computer programming, call centers, product design and back-office jobs like accounting and billing have to some degree migrated abroad, mainly to India. The Internet, of course, makes it possible, while lower wages in developing nations make outsourcing attractive to corporate America. The second wave, according to some entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and offshoring veterans, will be the globalization of consumer services. People like Ms. Yamaki and Mr. Tham, they predict, are the early customers in a market that will one day include millions of households in the United States and other nations. They foresee an array of potential services beyond tutoring and personal assistance like health and nutrition coaching, personal tax and legal advice, help with hobbies and cooking, learning new languages and skills and more. Such services, they say, will be offered for affordable monthly fees or piecework rates. "Consumer services delivered globally should be a huge market," observed K. P. Balaraj, a managing director of the Indian arm of Sequoia Capital, a venture capital firm in Silicon Valley. But globalization of consumer services faces daunting challenges, both economic and cultural. Offshore outsourcing for big business thrived partly because the jobs were often multimillion-dollar contracts and the work was repetitive. In economic terms, there were economies of scale so that the most efficient Indian offshore specialists could become multibillion-dollar companies like Infosys Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro Technologies.

Click to Web Page Management Consultancy offered by Tata Consultancy Services.

It is not all clear that similar economies of scale can be achieved in the consumer market, where the customers are individual households and services must be priced in tens or hundreds of dollars. Then there are the matters of language, accent and cultural nuance that promise to hamper the communication and understanding needed to deliver personal services. Already, some American consumers voice frustrations in dealing with customer-service call centers in India. At the least, the spread of remotely delivered personal services will be a real test of globalization at the grass-roots level. Even optimists acknowledge the obstacles. In a report this year, Evalueserve, a research firm, predicted that "person-to-person offshoring," both consumer services and services for small businesses, would grow rapidly, to more than $2 billion by 2015. Yet consumer services, in particular, are in a "nascent phase," said Alok Aggarwal, chairman of Evalueserve and a former I.B.M. researcher. "It's promising, but it's not clear yet that you can build sizable companies in this market." Veterans of the business offshoring boom predict an emerging market, but most are not investing. Nandan M. Nilekani, co-chairman of Infosys, said there is "definitely an opportunity in the globalization of consumer services," and he listed several possibilities, even psychological counseling and religious confessionals. But, he added in an e-mail message, "This is just 'blue sky' thinking! We have no business interest at this point in this direction." What the offshore consumer services industry needs, it seems, is a solid success story in some promising market

Marissa Roth for The New York Times TutorVista has 600 tutors in India and 10,000 subscribers in the United States, including Kenneth Tham in Arcadia, Calif.

A leading candidate to watch, according to analysts, is TutorVista, a tutoring service founded two years ago by Krishnan Ganesh, a 45-year-old Indian entrepreneur and a pioneer of offshore call centers. Concerns about the quality of K-12 education in America and the increased emphasis on standardized tests is driving the tutoring business in general. Traditional classroom tutoring services like Kaplan and Sylvan are doing well and offer online features. And there are other remote services like Growing Stars, Tutor.com and SmarThinking. Yet TutorVista, analysts say, is different in a number of ways. Other remote tutoring services generally offer hourly rates of $20 to $30 instead of the $40 to $60 hourly charges typical of on-site tutoring. By contrast, TutorVista takes an all-you-can-eat approach to instruction. Its standard offering is $99 a month for as many 45-minute tutoring sessions as a student arranges. TutorVista also stands out for its well-known venture backers, its scale and its ambition. The two-year-old company has raised more than $15 million from investors including Sequoia, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Silicon Valley Bank. TutorVista employs 760 people, including 600 tutors in India, a teaching staff it plans to double by year-end. Its 52-person technical staff has spent countless hours building the software system to schedule, monitor and connect potentially tens of thousands of tutors with students oceans away. "Our vision is to be part of the monthly budget of one million families," Mr. Ganesh said. It is a long-term goal. To date, TutorVista has signed up 10,000 subscribers in the United States, and its British service, rolled out in September, has 1,000. Further gains will depend on winning over more customers like the Tham family in California. Since he was in elementary school, Kenneth has had stints of conventional tutoring, often in classroom settings with up to 10 other students. At times, this cost the family up to $500 a month. Last year, Ernest Tham, a truck driver, noticed a reference to TutorVista on a Web site and suggested his son give it a try. "Kenneth was apprehensive at first, and I wasn't sure how it would work," Mr. Tham said. "But, shocking to say, it's gone very well." Kenneth said he initially found it "very unusual, not seeing another person. You get used to it, though. It's not a problem." He schedules one or two sessions nearly every day, mainly for English and chemistry. With a digital pen and palette, he writes sentences and grammar exercises, for example, and his work appears on his computer screen and on the screen of his tutor. They discuss the lessons using Internet-telephone headsets. "You can also get help with homework problems," Kenneth said, "but they're not supposed to do all your homework for you." In a year with the TutorVista service, Kenneth has improved both his grades and standardized test scores, his father said. Ramya Tadikonda has tutored Kenneth Tham, among many others, from her home in Chennai, India. To achieve its ambitions, TutorVista must recruit, train and retain thousands of tutors like her. Ms. Tadikonda, 26, is a college graduate who had previously worked as a software and curriculum developer for a math Web site for students, but left to raise her children. Earlier this year, she joined TutorVista, took the company's 60-hour training course, followed by tests and practice sessions for two months. She now works about 24 hours a week as a math and English tutor and makes about $200 a month. Ms. Tadikonda says she enjoys tutoring and the flexible hours. "You can have a career and still spend time with your family," she said. "I never thought I could do that." The timing is right for global tutoring, according to John J. Stuppy, TutorVista's president and a former executive at Sylvan Learning, the Educational Testing Service and The Princeton Review. Improved Internet technology and the ability to tap of vast pool of educated instructors at low cost are crucial ingredients. "It becomes possible to make high-quality, one-on-one tutoring affordable and accessible to the masses," said Mr. Stuppy, who joined TutorVista last year. Steve Ludmer, 28, and his partner Avinash G. Samudrala, 27, are betting the time is right for another kind of global consumer service. They left lucrative jobs in management consulting and private equity to start a remote personal assistant service, called Ask Sunday, which began in July. The company is based in New York, but its work force is mostly in India. It is one of a handful of startups trying to create a business in offshore personal assistant service. Some, like GetFriday, charge hourly rates of $15 or so, but Ask Sunday has a per-request model, $29 a month for 30 requests a month or $49 for 50. The requests can be unusual. A few subscribers had Ask Sunday search online dating services for short lists of people who meet their criteria. But the requests are mainly to help busy people like Ms. Yamaki, the New York management consultant, free up time and outsource hassles. During a late meeting at the office recently, Ms. Yamaki said, she sent a one-line e-mail message from her laptop that told Ask Sunday to order her usual meals from her favorite Manhattan restaurant, for delivery at 9:30 p.m. When the meeting ended, her take-out food was waiting. To handle such personal chores, Ms. Yamaki has handed Ask Sunday a wealth of personal information, including credit card numbers, birth dates of family and friends and phone numbers for doctors, car services, favorite restaurants and others. She finds the convenience well worth it. "The service is great in a pinch to make your life a little smoother," Ms. Yamaki said. "And it's available 24 hours a day, which is more than you can expect from a personal assistant at work."

Copyright by the New York Times 2007

Wireless VoIP Solutions

Wireless VoIP Solutions

Robust wireless solutions are now available in two open standards: Learn from Wikipedia more about Wi-Fi versus DECT and take a look at "Best of Breed" products in both categories below. Consider calling ABP for Free Pre-Sales Support on your projects we often can help you find better solutions.

Business Wi-Fi Phones

Hitachi-Cable Wireless's IP3000 & Hitachi-Cable Wireless IP5000 Can you make sure you will never loose a call when you are inside the office and away from your desk? Hitachi-Cable offers the leading WiFi IP phones that connect to practically any IP-PBX and provide crystal clear voice communication over your 802.11b/g wireless IP network. The WirelessIP5000 supports the conveniences and functions of a digital phone like hold and transfer, call waiting, caller ID and much more and works with existing Wireless Access Points and the overall corporate network. Hitachi's stylish new Wireless IP3000 is a SIP based 802.11b wireless IP phone. Aimed at the private or business user, the Wireless IP3000 boasts many of the features of the market leading Wireless IP5000, but a lower price point. From an office primarily using analog phones to a leading-edge office that has introduced IP-PBX and migrated largely to VoIP, WirelessIP3000 flexibly supports a wide range of user environments. Create a truly ubiquitous network for all your business situations.

Dual Wi-Fi Cell (GSM) Handsets Pirelli Dual Phone Now you can deliver the convenience of a mobile Wi-Fi and cellular wireless (GSM) handset all in one DUAL phone. Pirelli's DualPhone DP-L10 combines GSM tri-band capabilities with SIP-based VoIP via an integrated WLAN 802.11b/g interface, combining cell phone technology with the added advantage of transporting phone calls over the Internet.

Wi-Fi base station - High Performance solutions for Exteriors. Altai-8 With Altai A8 Wi-Fi Base Station for outside areas, setting up a Wi-Fi cellular base system with extended coverage and a high density of clients (Wireless IP Phones or laptops) offers a better solution with less latency and less expensive compared to conventional mesh systems. With today's standard mesh technology, roughly 15 to 30 units are required to provide a square mile of coverage. Altai's higher reach technology requires significantly fewer units per square mile of coverage with savings of up to 40% over conventional mesh systems.

Desktop Phones with DECT Companion Headsets

Aastra 480i CT The Aastra 57i CT is an IP telephone that includes an integrated DECT base station and cordless handset for coverage up to 300,000 sq ft. the 57i CT base unit is fully interoperable with leading IP Telephony platforms, offering advanced XML capability to access custom applications and support for up to 9 calls simultaneously. It is ideally suited for executives, heavy telephone users who require more one touch feature keys and a large screen to take full advantage of XML based programs and mobile warehouse, support and retail staff.

ABP Technology • 1850 Crown Drive, Suite #1112 • Dallas, Texas 75234 • Phone: 972-831-1600 • Fax: 972-831-1416 © 2001-2007 ABP International, Inc.

DePapaya.com - Manejo fácil del Conocimiento aprovechando Internet-

La banda ancha aprieta el acelerador

Octubre 29 de 2007 La banda ancha aprieta el acelerador Iván Luzardo Redactor de EL TIEMPO Nuevas regulaciones del Gobierno y el aumento en la capacidad de los cables submarinos impulsan el crecimiento. Para Une, la meta en cinco años es que cada hogar cuente con una conexión de 25 Mbps. Soluciones WiiFi IP de Linksys para el hogar. Solo se necesita banda ancha de Internet y corriente eléctrica. Videoconferencias de alta calidad, televisión por Internet (IPTV) y monitoreo del hogar desde un PC remoto a través de cámaras de videovigilancia son algunos de los servicios que los usuarios de Internet podrán disfrutar en Colombia gracias a una notable mejoría en la velocidad de las conexiones a Internet que se producirá en los próximos meses. Esas aplicaciones, comunes en algunos países, requieren conexiones de banda ancha con velocidades superiores a las que hasta ahora se han ofrecido en Colombia. Aunque el país ya tiene 10,1 millones de usuarios de Internet, y cerca del 83 por ciento de las conexiones en teoría son de alta velocidad –como las de cable y ADSL–, la realidad es que la mayoría de nuestros enlaces de banda ancha son muy lentos. Pero esa situación cambiará por cuenta de medidas del gobierno y de nuevos proyectos tecnológicos. En el primer frente está una resolución de la Comisión de Regulación de Telecomunicaciones (CRT), que este mes definió que los operadores de Internet solo podrán hablar de banda ancha cuando la conexión que ofrezcan supere los 512 kilobits por segundo (Kbps). Hasta ahora, según las definiciones del Gobierno, una conexión de 128 Kbps hacia arriba era considerada de banda ancha. Pero lo más importante es que la CRT también exigió a los operadores que garanticen las velocidades que contratan los usuarios. En otras palabras, desde el primero de enero del 2008 –cuando los operadores deben cumplir con las exigencias de la resolución– si usted contrató una conexión de 512 Kbps, por ejemplo, esa es la velocidad con la que contara, y no menos, como sucede hoy (ya que varios clientes pueden estar compartiendo un mismo canal y por eso la velocidad es variable y más baja). Eso significa que la medida obliga a los operadores a abolir la figura del 'reuso', que implica que una persona debe compartir un solo canal con varios abonados. Combo básico DePapaya.com para comunicaciones y monitoreo IP; para SOHO´s, hogares, locales comerciales etc. Medida extrema ¿Qué opinan los operadores de la medida? Sergio Restrepo, vicepresidente de tecnologías de información y comunicaciones de Une, la calificó como "extrema", aunque admite que desde el punto de vista del usuario es saludable, pues la regulación debe definir normas mínimas de calidad para que no se venda lo que no es. "Sin embargo, no hay que irse para el otro extremo. Debemos ser conscientes de la situación del país y no intentar ofrecer velocidades de banda ancha como si estuviéramos en Suecia o Estados Unidos. Para que haya tarifas asequibles debe haber reuso, por lo que es necesario buscar un punto medio", dijo Restrepo. Para el directivo, la aplicación de la norma podría tener efectos negativos en los precios, pues cuando se garantiza velocidad exclusiva el precio es alto y puede llegar incluso a un valor similar al que paga el sector corporativo. Mauricio Correa, vicepresidente de mercadeo y contenido de Telmex Hogar (antes TV Cable), considera acertada la decisión del ente regulador. No obstante, dice que "nos duele que la CRT realice su labor de forma coercitiva, aunque sabemos que es por el bien del usuario. Este tipo de medidas debería ser más responsabilidad del operador con sus clientes". Telmex duplicó hace año y medio la velocidad y es el primer operador del país que ofrece a los hogares enlaces de banda ancha de 4 Mbps, en un comienzo en Cali, Pereira y Medellín. En cuanto al reuso, Correa afirma que su compañía no lo utiliza. Por su parte, Etb no ha definido su postura frente a la norma de la CRT. La empresa afirmó que en este momento está en proceso de revisión de las implicaciones de la regulación. Según el área comercial de la compañía, como un primer paso para estar a tono con la nueva medida, ha venido duplicando, desde agosto y de forma indefinida, la velocidad que ofrece a todos sus clientes. El director ejecutivo de la CRT, Lorenzo Villegas Carrasquilla, afirmó que la medida busca proteger al usuario, ya que así sabrá lo que le están vendiendo y tendrá la seguridad de que obtendrá esa velocidad. "No es que el reuso estuviera mal, pero para la transparencia del servicio se debe establecer la velocidad efectiva y real". Se amplía la autopista Uno de los objetivos de la disposición de la CRT, según Lorenzo Villegas, es que el país tenga mayor conectividad a Internet y que los precios de los accesos de banda ancha sean menores. Pero esta meta no se habría podido lograr sin la ampliación de las 'autopistas' de alta velocidad que nos conectan con la columna vertebral de Internet en Estados Unidos. Estas vías son los cables submarinos (encierran hilos de fibra óptica), y el principal de ellos, Arcos, que suministra cerca del 50 por ciento de la conectividad a la Red del país, está en un proceso de modernización que va a disparar su capacidad a partir de noviembre del 2007. Ese mes pasará de transmitir 55 a 80 gigabits por segundo (Gbps), una cifra muy superior a los 15 Gbps que tenía en el 2005. Además, la empresa trabaja en la instalación de un nuevo cable submarino que comunicará a Colombia con Estados Unidos de forma directa, llamado Colombia Florida Express (CFX), y que en junio del 2008 subirá la capacidad a la fabulosa cifra de 2.000 Gbps (o sea, 2 terabits por segundo). Paul Scott, presidente de Columbus Networks, compañía propietaria del cable Arcos, aseguró que han invertido unos 85 millones de dólares en reparaciones y actualizaciones. Además, se dedicarán 75 millones de dólares más a la conexión directa CFX. "Esto será útil para servicios como televisión IP, que requieren un ancho de banda alto, pues algunos operadores ya están haciendo pruebas con ellos en el país", comentó Paul Scott, de Columbus Networks. Por su parte, Telefónica-Telecom tiene entre sus planes la puesta en marcha, a finales de este año, de su cable de fibra óptica SAM-1, que aumentará en un 50 por ciento la capacidad actual de todo el país en conexiones a Internet. Esta sería la cuarta opción de conectividad para el país junto con los cables Arcos, Maya y Panamericano. Para Sergio Restrepo, de Une, los anuncios son buenos en la medida en que la oferta de velocidades en el mercado y las tasas de reuso pueden mejorar, al igual que habría un incremento en el número de conexiones en el país. En los próximos meses, Une comenzará a ofrecer Televisión IP, inicialmente con paquetes de 6 Mbps, de los cuales se dedican 5 Mbps a la televisión y lo restante a navegación por la Red. "La idea es ir aumentando estas velocidades, aunque esto también depende de los planes de modernización para llevar enlaces de fibra óptica lo más cerca de los clientes, aspecto que aumentaría la velocidad que se les puede ofrecer a los usuarios", dice Sergio Restrepo. Agrega que la meta en cinco años es que cada hogar cuente con una conexión de 25 MB. En esto coincide Mauricio Correa, de Telmex, quien afirma que los avances en este sentido mejoran los precios en toda la cadena de valor, por lo que el usuario final también percibe los beneficios. No obstante, Correa aclara que así mismo debe haber inversión en los enlaces que comunican las ciudades del interior del país con los cables submarinos. "De nada sirve tener 100 buques que viajen directo de Cartagena a la Florida (refiriéndose a la conexión que Arcos ofrece con E.U.) si no hay autopistas entre Bogotá y Cartagena". Soluciones WiFi IP de Linksys para pequeñas empresas. Solo se necesita banda ancha de Internet y corriente eléctrica. Velocidades necesarias en el hogar digital Las siguientes son las velocidades aproximadas necesarias para disfrutar de ciertas tecnologías de Internet, según estudios de Etb y Technoimport, firma que comercializa productos para hogares inteligentes. Televisión IP: 6 megabits por segundo (Mbps). Puede ser menor, dependiendo de la compresión que haga el operador de la señal. Para alta definición se necesita más y si se quiere recibir el servicio en dos puntos, hay que duplicar dicha capacidad. Videovigilancia: 256 kilobits por segundo (Kbps) por cada cámara. Por lo general, las casas utilizan cuatro o más cámaras, o sea que la cifra sería de al menos 1 Mbps (1.000 Kbps, aproximadamente). Música en Internet: 80 Kbps. Juegos en línea: 300 Kbps. Aunque es posible jugar con una velocidad menor, lo ideal es contar con el ancho de banda suficiente para que no tenga saltos o interrupciones. Centros de entretenimiento: 200 Kbps. A través de ellos se reciben contenidos multimedia de la Red. Algunos usos de la banda ancha Las conexiones de alta velocidad (de 512 Kbps o más) permiten acceder a los mismos servicios de las conexiones 'lentas', solo que con mucha más calidad y rapidez (por ejemplo, navegación web, descarga de archivos, acceso a canciones y videos, mensajería instantánea y envío de correo electrónico). Adicionalmente, las conexiones de banda ancha son imprescindibles para acceder a servicios como los siguientes: Telefonía por Internet. Con alta velocidad, las llamadas mediante Skype y otros servicios se oyen con una calidad similar a la del servicio telefónico tradicional. Videoconferencia. Es posible obtener transmisiones fluidas y con buena calidad de imagen y sonido. Video y televisión en línea. Los videos de servicios como YouTube cargan sin demora, y se puede acceder a servicios de televisión como Joost (www.joost.com). Televisión IP (IPTV). Ofrece la calidad de imagen de la TV actual, pero vía Internet, y con opciones como programación a la medida e interactividad. Radio en vivo. Las emisoras en línea se oyen sin las interrupciones de una conexión telefónica o de baja velocidad. Juegos en línea. La experiencia de los jugadores de consolas y PC es muy superior si la interacción con los contrincantes es instantánea, y si no hay interrupciones en el desarrollo de las partidas. Videovigilancia. Es posible conectar varias cámaras a la Red para tener control visual permanente sobre diferentes lugares de la casa o sobre los niños desde equipos como PC remotos y celulares. Abrir artículo en el Web Site. COPYRIGHT © 2007 CASA EDITORIAL EL TIEMPO S.A. Prohibida su reproducción total o parcial, así como su traducción a cualquier idioma sin autorización escrita de su titular. Reproduction in whole or in part, or translation without written permission is prohibited. All rights reserved.

Silicon Valley-De nuevo las "empresitas digitales" se llenan de dólares.

BUSINESS Media & Advertising "More than 1.3 billion people around the world use the Internet, many with speedy broadband connections and a willingness to immerse themselves in digital culture."

Silicon Valley Start-Ups Awash in Dollars, Again By BRAD STONE and MATT RICHTEL Published: October 17, 2007

Para ver el gráfico ampliado favor hacer "click" aquí o encima de la imagen.

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 16 — Silicon Valley's math is getting fuzzy again. Great Expectations Internet companies with funny names, little revenue and few customers are commanding high prices. And investors, having seemingly forgotten the pain of the first dot-com bust, are displaying symptoms of the disorder known as irrational exuberance. Consider Facebook, the popular but financially unproven social network, which is reportedly being valued by investors at up to $15 billion. That is nearly half the value of Yahoo, a company with 38 times the number of employees and, based on estimates of Facebook's income, 32 times the revenue. Google, which recently surged past $600 a share, is now worth more than I.B.M., a company with eight times the revenue. More broadly, Internet start-ups are drawing investment based on their ability to build an audience, not bring in revenue — the very alchemy that many say led to the inflation and bursting of the dot-com bubble. The surge in the perceived value of some start-ups has even surprised some entrepreneurs who are benefiting from it. A year ago, Yahoo invested in Right Media, a New York-based company developing an online advertising network. Yahoo's investment valued the firm at $200 million. Six months later, when Yahoo acquired Right Media outright, the purchase price had swelled to $850 million. What changed? According to Right Media's chief technology officer, Brian O'Kelley, very little, except that Yahoo's rivals, Microsoft and Google, were writing billion-dollar checks to buy online advertising networks, and Yahoo thought it needed to pay any price to keep up. "I have to say I giggled," Mr. O'Kelley, 30, said of the deal that earned him millions. He has since left Right Media and is starting another company. "There is no way we quadrupled the value of the company in six months." The trend is described as a return to madness (by skeptics) or as a rational approach to unlimited opportunities presented by the Internet (by true believers). Greed, fear and a desperate rush to pick the next big winner are all adding fuel to the fire that is Silicon Valley's resurgence. "There's definitely a lot of betting going on, and it's not rational," said Tim O'Reilly, a technology conference promoter and book publisher. Mr. O'Reilly is credited with coining the phrase "Web 2.0," which refers to a new generation of Web sites that encourage users to contribute material. His Web 2.0 conference, which begins Wednesday in San Francisco, has become a nexus for the optimism around the latest set of society-changing online tools. But that has not stopped Mr. O'Reilly from worrying that the industry is minting too many copycat companies, half-baked business plans and overpriced buyouts. When the bubble inevitably pops, he said, "there are going to be a lot of people out of work again." Putting a value on start-ups has always been a mix of science and speculation. But as in the first dot-com boom and the recent surge in housing, seasoned financial professionals are seeming to indulge in some strange instinct to turn away from the science and lean instead on the speculation. This time around, people indulging in that optimistic thinking are not mom-and-pop investors or day traders but venture capitalists whose coffers are overflowing with money from university endowments and hedge funds. Many of those financial professionals say that this time, everything is different. More than 1.3 billion people around the world use the Internet, many with speedy broadband connections and a willingness to immerse themselves in digital culture. The flood of advertising dollars to the Web has become an indomitable trend and a proven way for these start-ups to make money, while the revenue models of the dot-coms of yesteryear were often little more than sleight of hand. "The environmental factors are much different than they were eight years ago," said Roelof Botha, a partner at Sequoia Capital and an early backer of YouTube. "The cost of doing business has declined dramatically, and traditional media companies have also woken up to the opportunities of the Web. "That does open up the aperture for a different outcome this time," he said. Some trace the start of the new bubble to eBay's $3.1 billion acquisition of the Internet telephone start-up Skype in 2005. EBay's chief executive, Meg Whitman, reportedly outbid Google for the company. This month, eBay conceded it had grossly overpaid for Skype by about $1.43 billion, and announced that Niklas Zennstrom, a Skype co-founder, had left the company. Google's acquisition of YouTube last year for $1.65 billion, under similarly competitive bidding, might have accelerated the transition to loftier values. Google executives and many analysts argued that YouTube was well worth the price tag if it became the next entertainment juggernaut. It still might. More than 205 million people visit YouTube each month, according to the research firm comScore. Still, Citigroup estimated that YouTube would bring in $135 million in revenue next year. At that rate, YouTube would have to grow considerably to account for just 5 percent of Google's annual revenue of nearly $12 billion. "We are almost going back to year 2000 types of errors," said Aaron Kessler, an Internet analyst at Piper Jaffray. Internet companies "are buying users instead of revenue and profitability," he said. The Skype and YouTube windfalls helped to give the newest batch of Internet entrepreneurs dreams of improbable wealth. They also brought back practices that had seemingly been discredited during the first boom. For example, in the first dot-com gold rush, Internet companies did not have to make money to acquire serious investments dollars. Now that once again is true. Twitter, a company in San Francisco that lets users alert friends to what they are doing at any given moment over their mobile phones, recently raised an undisclosed amount of financing. Its co-founder and creative director, Biz Stone, says that the company was not currently focused on making money and that no one in the company was even working on how to do so. "At the moment, we're focused on growing our network and our user experience," he said. "When you have a lot of traffic, there's always a clear business model." That is not necessarily illogical in the current climate. A European competitor, Jaiku, which is similarly devoid of a mature business model, was acquired last week by Google for an undisclosed sum. With the competitive logic that prevails at the major Internet companies, the deal might have further raised Twitter's appeal to Google's rivals. The high value placed on many start-ups and minimal requirements for financial performance are raising expectations of other entrepreneurs. Sharon Wienbar, managing director of Scale Ventures Partners, an investment firm, cited the $100 million valuation that investors gave to the Internet genealogy site Geni.com, founded last year in Los Angeles by a veteran of PayPal. "Now every entrepreneur thinks he should get that," Ms. Wienbar said. "I have a feeling a lot of entrepreneurs are secretly meeting for beers on the Peninsula, saying, 'Hey, look what I got.'" Mr. O'Kelley, formerly of Right Media, said other entrepreneurs had begun to think that the financing game is best played by avoiding actual revenues — since that only limits the imagination of investors. "It's a screwed-up incentive structure, just like you had in the first bubble," he said. Another company benefiting from the exuberance is Ning, which allows users to create their ownMySpace-style ad-supported social networks. It was recently valued by investors at more than $200 million, mainly because its main backer and founder, Marc Andreessen, has a successful history with the Internet hits Netscape and Opsware. Mr. Andreessen argues on his blog that there is no bubble and that the high prices represent a rational desire to stake a claim in the potentially huge markets of the future. But he acknowledges that a seemingly inexhaustible flood of capital into Silicon Valley is helping to power the boom. Venture capitalists are flush with cash from institutional investors, eager for Internet-style returns on their money. "The upward valuations pressure is the result of decisions being made by people wearing suits in cities like New York and Boston who would never ever meet with start-ups," Mr. Andreessen said in an interview. "If that ever goes away, it will have consequences. But it doesn't look like they will change their minds."

Copyright by the New York Times 2007