Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Dell Technologies Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: kemble s. matter who wrote (155104)	3/17/2000 10:35:00 AM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 176387

MSD and DELL invest in this new company....FYI... <<Friday March 17 10:09 AM ET New Internet Start-Up Offers 'Amazon in a Box' PALO ALTO, Calif. (Reuters) - Propel, a new Internet start-up, officially launched its business this week, saying it can deliver ``Amazon in a box' to other would-be online retailers. ``It took Amazon hundreds of man years to develop their infrastructure,' explains Propel founder Steve Kirsch. ``We are making that available to people so that they can get their businesses up and running quickly.' Kirsch, who also founded the Internet portal Infoseek that was later acquired by Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS - news), said the idea for Propel grew out of the frustrations he had maintaining the back-end infrastructure at Infoseek. Like Infoseek, a business focused on delivering news, information and other content, many consumer Internet businesses would rather not be bothered with the intricacies of their back-office systems, he said. ``I saw the problem first-hand at Infoseek. We were always wondering, if there was standardized platform so that we could get out of the infrastructure business,' said Kirsch. Propel joins several other companies including BroadVision Inc (NasdaqNM:BVSN - news), Allaire Corp (NasdaqNM:ALLR - news) and Blue Martini Software, which are also developing products that e-tailers can use to quickly set up a Web site, sparing them the costly and time-consuming process of starting from scratch. The explosion of e-commerce has triggered a corresponding race to develop e-commerce-enabling software, which has lately become one of the hottest sectors of the Internet industry. Propel says it is aiming to develop a more complete solution than many of its rivals offer. ``There are people who offer turnkey service at the low end, and custom tools at the high end, but they offer only pieces,' said Kirsch. ``What we do is different. It is almost like prefabricating a car.' He said Propel's products are designed for high-volume, high-performance Web sites, rather than the small mom-and-pop online stores. The company has attracted an A-list group of investors, including Dell Computer Chief Executive (NasdaqNM:DELL - news) Michael Dell, eBay Inc (NasdaqNM:EBAY - news) Chief Executive Meg Whitman, Intel Corp (NasdaqNM:INTC - news) Chairman Andy Grove, Netscape founder Marc Andreessen, as well as Colin Powell.>>