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In this issue:

* Next-Generation Technologies: A New SRIC-BI Service
* A New Image for Annuities
* Networks in the Home
* Report on Plugfest 6
* The Specter of Commoditization
* The Business Case for Web Conferencing
* Personal Monitoring Devices
* Solar Cells for the Future
* Prospects for Electronic Marketplaces

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(Full text of SRIC-BI publications is available to sponsoring 
clients only.  To find out if your company is a sponsor, please 
visit http://www.sric-bi.com/info.shtml.)
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Next-Generation Technologies: A New SRIC-BI Service

Recognizing that advanced technology developments are a major 
competitive force in today's global marketplace, SRIC-BI has 
launched a new multiclient service, Next-Generation 
Technologies (NGT). Using methodologies similar to those in 
Explorer's Technology Maps, NGT examines technologies that 
SRIC-BI analysts believe will have major long-term commercial 
impacts on industrial competitiveness in the next 5 to 20 years. 
NGT is currently tracking six technologies: bioelectronics, 
self-repairing structural materials, carbon nanotubes, micro 
energy sources, affective computing, and optical data processing. 
In addition to the NGT service's long-term monitoring activities, 
a new B-I-P report examines the commercial prospects for these 
technologies.
http://www.sric-bi.com/BIP/Bulletin/B310.shtml - R859


A New Image for Annuities

Despite their lackluster image, fixed annuities have been 
among the few investments with positive returns in the past 
two years. Moreover, as Boomers head into preretirement, 
they're looking for flexible, tax-advantaged products. With 
the right packaging, a three-layered annuity--offering options 
for inflows, duration, and payouts--could become a core 
financial service for Boomers and other consumers. (Three-Levered
Annuity: The Last Retirement Account You'll Ever Need)
http://www.sric-bi.com/CFD/MRsummaries/MR.V-11.shtml


Networks in the Home

Adoption of home networks promises to grow, even in a slumping 
economy, as more people work at home or embrace home-
entertainment options. Though home networks will not necessarily 
revolutionize consumers' lifestyles or supercharge providers' 
earnings outlooks, many households will pay to obtain specific 
benefits or solve specific problems. Three strategies that focus 
on existing platforms in people's homes--PCs, video-game consoles, 
and set-top boxes for pay-TV services--are most likely to succeed. 
(Home-Network Market Forecasts and Technology Roadmaps and Three 
Home-Network Business Models)
http://www.sric-bi.com/DF/summaries/HomeNetMkt4cast0902.shtml
http://www.sric-bi.com/DF/summaries/3HomeNetBusMdls0902.shtml


Report on Plugfest 6

The highlight of the U.S. Department of Defense's (DoD's) 
Plugfest gathering this summer was the debut (in beta form) 
of SCORM 1.3. This version of the sharable content object 
reference model provides a key piece of the puzzle that the 
DoD's Advanced Distributed Learning initiative needs to solve 
if it is to provide learning in the form of interoperable, 
reusable learning objects. (LoD Travel Report: Plugfest 6 and 
the Relevance of SCORM)
http://www.sric-bi.com/LoD/travelreports.shtml


The Specter of Commoditization

As products mature and competitors rapidly gain experience 
in new markets, the companies that were first to market face 
the threat of commoditization of their products. Though this 
process is irreversible, companies may be able to postpone 
commoditization by capitalizing on existing markets, targeting 
underserved markets, developing new markets, or finding new 
points of differentiation through branding, alliances, or other 
means. (The Specter of Commoditization: Strategies That Buy Time)
http://www.sric-bi.com/BIP/Bulletin/B310.shtml - 2397


The Business Case for Web Conferencing

Web-conferencing services are one of the success stories in 
companies' efforts to adapt the Web to solve business problems. 
Not only is the technology relatively easy to implement, but 
companies can make conferencing services available to all their 
employees for only $50 000 to $100 000 a year. Moreover, once 
employees see the advantages of Web conferencing for internal 
meetings, they often move quickly to hold online meetings with 
customers and supply-chain partners as well. (Corporate
Adoption of Web-Conferencing Services)
http://www.sric-bi.com/BIP/Bulletin/B310.shtml - 2398


Personal Monitoring Devices

Responsibility for monitoring the quality of water, air, and 
food has typically fallen to government agencies or corporations. 
Now, however, a confluence of technological and social forces 
is opening the door to personal monitoring devices that allow 
consumers to have some control over their health and safety. Of 
particular commercial interest are food-spoilage monitors, 
water-quality monitors, and indoor environmental monitors. 
(Environmental Monitoring: Identifying Personal Solutions to 
Public Problems)
http://www.sric-bi.com/BIP/Bulletin/B310.shtml - 2399


Solar Cells for the Future

Although plastic conductive-polymer solar cells must 
overcome numerous barriers to commercialization, the 
technology appears to offer more promise than scientists 
originally expected. Eventually, cheap conductive-polymer 
cells could not only find use as utility-interactive systems 
but also operate as stand-alone systems, perhaps charging 
batteries in portable devices, powering traffic signs and 
signals, and providing remote-site electrification. (Plastic 
Conductive-Polymer Solar Cells)
http://www.sric-bi.com/BIP/Bulletin/B310.shtml - 2400


Prospects for Electronic Marketplaces

Interest in business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce soared 
during the dot-com boom, giving rise to hundreds of Web-
based electronic marketplaces to support trading activities 
in many industries. Though some marketplaces have shut down 
since then and others are struggling, interest in B2B 
technologies and electronic marketplaces is continuing. In 
the near term, companies will experiment with business models 
and various forms of buyer-seller relationships. (The Future 
of Electronic Marketplaces)
http://www.sric-bi.com/DF/summaries/FutElecMktplcs0902.shtml


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Copyright 2002 by SRI Consulting Business Intelligence.