On average, deep Web sites receive about 50 per cent greater monthly traffic than surface sites and are more highly linked to than surface sites; however, the typical (median) deep Web site is not well known to the Internet search public. The deep Web is the largest growing category of new information on the Internet. Deep Web sites tend to be narrower with deeper content than conventional surface sites. Total quality content of the deep Web is at least 1,000 to 2,000 times greater than that of the surface Web. More than half of the deep Web content resides in topic specific databases.

A full 95 per cent of the deep Web is publicly accessible information - not subject to fees or subscriptions. The problem is that conventional search engines cannot access these documents and databases. Hence it has developed a new search methodology and technology called LexiBot. The LexiBot allows searchers to dive deep and explore hidden data from multiple sources simultaneously using directed queries. Businesses, researchers and consumers now have access to the most valuable and hard-to-find information on the Web and can retrieve it with pinpoint accuracy, says BrightPlanet.

Signaling gateway revenue may top $190 million
The US market is going to be a hot spot for signaling gateways and communications devices that act as bridges between dissimilar networks and networking protocols. Growth is expected to be at 96.3 per cent for the next four years, compounded annually, according to research report conducted by US firm Insight Research. Driving this will be the migration of US telecom from analog to a converged digital network. The report, entitled Gateways and the Telecom Carrier: Middleware and Mediation Platforms for Next-Generation Networks, is available at a cost of $4,195.

It points out that carrier networks are going to migrate from analog circuit-switched systems to packet-switched systems capable of handling large volumes of voice and data traffic simultaneously on the same network. Currently, a lot of them are using traditional switching when voice and data travels on the same network. Packet switching is a more efficient system for the same purpose. But the carriers are not going to find junking their existing legacy systems all over that easy and affordable. They will have to use signaling gateways to bridge the gap. Insight predicts that signaling gateway revenues will top $190 million this year, increasing to $2.83 billion in 2004. The report also four-year forecasts in terms of revenue, shipment, and pricing for 10 types of signaling gateways including Internet telephony and voice over IP packet gateways.

B2C firms beware!
It' something all dot-commers have known. B2C is a worse cuss word than B2B. And now there is some evidence to back that feeling. New York based restructuring firm Getzler & Co conducted a study to see if the gut feel was right. The study revealed that 119 b-to-c firms have experienced layoffs or been shut down, compared with only nine b-to-b companies. Rediffs, indya.com's, etc of the world beware. The company kept a close watch on 150 technology companies that have issued pink slips to more than 10,000 employees in the past seven months. 31 of these companies shuttered themselves. Getzler & CO discovered the situation is getting worse every month. In April this year, only eight employees were given the sack. 34 companies booted employees in May going up to 49 companies in June. Of the 120 b-to-c companies undergoing restructuring, 52 were e-tailers, 36 were content providers, 19 service companies, eight online communities and eight portals. Worse still is the news about content providers - sites thatpublish news and other information in the hopes of generating ad revenue.

They were responsible for 75 per cent of the layoffs. Health care, entertainment and toy sites were those who were extremely trigger happy with layoffs. Health care dotcoms were responsible for 15 per cent of the layoffs. Getzler & Co says that the lopping off of employees is not happening because of mergers between dot coms; it was more on account of downsizing or companies going broke.

The author is CEO of http://indiantelevision.com, India's cable, satellite and terrestrial television portal. Email: television@vsnl.com, television@hotmail.com