Consumers ISPs still generate more revenue than those catering to businesses, but a new report says the balance will shift in 2000. By 2002, Cahners In-Stat Group believes the US business ISP market will be worth more than $63m. What’s more, margins will be higher there than in the cut-throat consumer business, the company claims. All the major business internet service providers are seeing revenue growth of almost 100% in 1999, said analyst Kate Von Goeler. Although WorldCom/UUNet looks like a speeding train dominating the business internet service market, the track will become curvy as new service offerings appear. Look for emerging technologies and small business markets to open opportunities for second-tier business ISPs. Cahners says upstarts are not yet locked out: value-added services could give them room to wrest power from the incumbents. But ISPs who aspire to the status of application service provider (ASP) must bulk up their data centers and bandwidth to prepare for the demands of real-time applications.
