ISRAEL 
HIGH-TECH & INVESTMENT REPORT

from the July 2000 issue


Finding One's Way on the Internet


A young Israeli company has developed and patented a software designed to provide easy access in the user's own language and in the user's own country and without using URLs, www or dot.com addresses.

"Internet for Dummies" is the world's most popular book for beginners to learn simple ways to become acquainted with the Internet and, more important, how to use it. The third edition, with great effort at clarity, explains how to find specific addresses or web sites situated in the myriad of millions of computers, any one of which we may be seeking to access. In the section titled the Duke of URL the authors blithely point out that every Web resource or location requires a single consistent name or address - its URL, an acronym for Uniform Resource Locator. Having gone this far, the reader of Internet for Dummies is advised to note how a URL is constructed. Let us take http://ishitech.co.il - the address of the Israel High-Tech & Investment Report web site wherein surfers can access the content and electronic copies of our newsletter. The word before the colon is the scheme whereby a browser gets to the web site. For a Dummy beginner the word is http or Hyper Text Transfer Protocol. Generally, a consistent syntax follows and after the colon come two slashes, always forward, and the name of the host computer. Presto! Simple, really nothing to it! Except most beginners and even experienced surfers immediately stumble across the issue of 100% accuracy. Type one letter inaccurately and the host computer or server does not respond. If one does not remember the URL address or errs, then not even Internet for Dummies has the answer. However, Net Express Ltd., an ambitious Israeli startup less than two years old, is offering Netex, software designed to provide easy access in the user's own language and in the user's own country and without using URLs, www or dot.com addresses. The current versions of the major browsers allow the user to search by company name only, but this feature is of limited use. It applies to only some USA-registered sites and requires exact names. However, the patented Netex technology solves one of the greatest routing problems, resulting from errors in keying site names and allows users to reach the site in the most natural way possible and in their own language. To get started connect up to the Netex website at www.netex.co.il and download the enabling software. The system instantaneously allows the user to access Internet sites rapidly after keying in the name or a keyword in the white space provided by the browser Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer. In other words, it "adapts itself" to the regular browser. There is no need to activate it or to execute any special operation in order to use it. One simply keys in the name of the required site in the browser address window, and Netex will bring you immediately to your desired destination.

Netex was launched in Israel in late May 1999 and immediately captured the attention of the Internet-using Israeli surfer. The number of users early in the year 2000 surpassed the 100,000 mark. The figure is growing at 10,000 new users a month. "In another year the non-English language side of the net is expected to reach 173 million users vs. 168 million English-language users. We are rapidly moving into Europe to introduce Netex to the German, French and Spanish speaking public," says Sol Gradman, Net Express Ltd., Chief Executive Officer. The Netex services are currently provided solely via personal computers. However, the company has plans to offer, in the foreseeable future, its smart routing services on mobile communication platforms like cellular phones and other wireless appliances.

The Internet industry has been criticized as long on concept and short on business models which would result in revenues that could sustain expansion and meet the rapid growth of Internet usage. The Net Express business model is based on giving the software away free and deriving revenue from 50-50 joint ventures in foreign countries. Revenues accrue from advertising sales and fees from referrals. Israel has served as an admirable testing ground for the Netex routing technology because of the difficult issues involved in accessing with a language which is written from right to left. "We have overcome some major hurdles and are fully capable of applying Netex in Europe. That is, we are able to apply Netex to all European languages. Not the least of the difficulties that we overcame was to offer support for languages with different characters. Our system works in French, German , Italian and Spanish," says Mr.Gradman. In Internet-related industries speed is the eessence. A European joint-venture partnership need not take more than three months to enter the market. Mr.Gradman will shortly announce the forging of a European partnership which should become income-producing well before the end of the year. The Net Express management team is led by Shlomo (Sol) Gradman, who has managerial experience in Israeli and American computer and high-tech companies. Among them are IBM, Optrotech, and ASP Computer Products. He obtained his first degrees from the Technion Institute of Technology and Bar-Ilan University and earned an MBA at San Jose State. The company's founders also were the providers of funds to cover early-stage activities. Mr. Ze'ev Refuah, who serves as Net Express board chairman, is managing director of the consulting firm Haft Refuah Ltd. He formerly was manager of the Government Companies Authority in the Treasury Ministry and headed the Israel government's privatization project. He is a former chairman of the Israel association of software companies. Other board members include Mr. Haim Inzelberg, who is managing director of the Ha'Aretz group, one of Israel's leading communications groups; Mr. Avi Tanenbaum, managing director of IOL, which operates Israel's largest interactive information network; and Mr.Eli Nahiasi, who is Chairman of the American company EasyNet Access Inc. and serves as chairman of Aerotel of Israel. Net Express is currently raising $2.0-$3.0 million for 10-15% of the company at a valuation of $20 million. Mr.Gradman says that a group of American financiers has already committed itself to invest $500,000. "Where do you see Netex three years from now? " we asked him. "I believe that by then we will have achieved a strong presence in Europe as well as in the Far East. We have set out an ambitious program but are confident that we can achieve our stated goals and in due course we will aim at a public offering to allow our backers to profit from their investment," says Mr. Gradman.


Reprinted from the Israel High-Tech & Investment Report July 2000

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