GRAPHIC EMAIL ABOUT TO SKYROCKET 21 January 2003 The simple email remains the mighty Internet’s most powerful application. And it’s growing rapidly. Jupiter Media Metrix projects spending on email marketing to reach $9.6 billion in 2006. The new trend is graphic email: or GraphicMail for short. GraphicMail describes how the simple email is becoming a multi-media interaction. The South African company to coin the phrase, Quattro, with offices in Brussels and Cape Town, has given life to the concept by launching a tool called GraphicMail. The tool empowers small and medium-sized businesses with the ability to create well-designed graphic communications every bit as professional as those of multinational corporations. GraphicMail is accessible online, where users insert images, animations, colors and fonts into their designs or preformatted templates. The system automatically sends emails and manages distribution lists, including bounces and subscribers. “Email is the great equalizer” says GraphicMail Marketing Director Nick Eckert. “The future trend of mass marketing is electronic.” He should know. In the fiercely competitive dot com days, he co-piloted www.all-hotels.com through choppy waters filled with hundreds of thousands of competitors. In 1999, All-Hotels became the number one independent travel website. Eckert says, "The ongoing evolution of the Internet will see even the smallest companies and individuals becoming producers of their own multimedia." For more information, contact: Steve Pike info@graphicmail.com Cape Town, South Africa, Tel 27 21 448 8832 RapidWeb is Launched 8 September 2001 A browser-based website creation tool called RapidWEB could provide a simple, all-in-one Web solution for smaller businesses. RapidWEB, to be launched by Quattro Web Solutions at the Cape Computer Faire next week (Tues 11th-16th), gives companies a simple point-and-click interface to build and manage their own websites within a Web browser. According to Nick Maunder, Quattro Project Manager, his new product saves companies from tackling complex development processes and hefty web development bills, while shielding them from unscrupulous web developers who leverage ignorance to overcharge clients. "Once logged in through their normal, every-day Web browser, the delegated webmaster of the company is provided with options to set up pages using a flexible page editor similar to Microsoft Word(tm). The company can add any pre-defined module (common website functions such as news, links, downloads, feedback and calendar). Maunder says that the research and development of RapidWEB was to build a range of common Internet tools into RapidWEB, but using a simple-to-use modular format. "We are selling a core system where people can create and edit free-form pages and link a number of different modules. If they want a feedback form, they simply activate that function by linking to it. The page designer include tables, pictures, links, font changes and colours. Users can copy text from other programs and paste it into their browser window. A menu editor enables users to link modules and pages for easy site navigation, and they can edit their corporate identity by setting up styles, fonts, background colours, images and user-defined menu buttons. "Basically, we give organisations a low-cost website with a whole range of modules that make it incredibly scalable. They can add or subtract functionality at whim, literally with the click of a mouse." RapidWEB comes with 11 modules. These are Guest Book, Staff, Calendar, Products, Glossary, Links, Feedback, Newsletter, Downloads, News and FAQs. A number of other modules will be added soon. Forthcoming attractions include Postcards, Tour Builder (for the tourism industry) and a property module for estate agents. "For industry-specific modules we have created the Module Architect Program. What we are saying is that anyone out there can approach us to customise build a module for their specific industry. They might find that not all the modules are suited to their industry. For a reduced development rate, we will work with the client to create a module with industry-specific functionality for their Website strategy. The proviso would be that we can on-sell that module framework to others in their industry." "We do offer proprietary developments in that we can customise or add specific modules to their site, but still provide the basic functions as per our RapidWEB Standard product," Maunder said. To build websites, users need a copy of Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 or higher. Nothing else is required, apart from a working knowledge of Microsoft Office(tm) applications, notably Microsoft Word for PC. No programs or plugins are needed. For companies who already have websites, most can be easily transferred to the RapidWEB system, says Maunder. The product runs from a SQL 2000 database server on Internet Information Server 5. Each RapidWEB is a separate SQL database installation hosted separately from other websites. It costs R285 per month, including hosting and there is an initial set-up fee of R850. Domain registration costs R250. There is a 10% discount if you pay annually upfront. Prices exclude VAT. For more information, please visit www.rapidweb.co.za Further information contact: Paul Honig +27 21 448 8832 Quattro Web Solutions paul@quattro.co.za