"Many Internet users logon, perform several specific tasks, and then logoff. Their experiences online are often too impersonal, complicated and frustrating for them to enjoy the richness and diversity that the Net has to offer. Why do Netizens' online experiences have to be a hundred times more frustrating than getting around offline?"

- Panel discussion at a national Internet show

With broadband growth falling short of recent predictions and the telecom sector and broadband verticals under duress; CEOs, day traders, venture capitalists and marketing executives alike seek to identify the next "killer application" that will drive broadband sales, customer satisfaction, and Internet usage. Some predict that it could be streaming video - which has the potential of offering broadband users unprecedented choice and the ability to interact with their "infoentertainment" experience. Other predict that once broadband usage reaches a critical mass - perhaps only 35% - then new and compelling content will be created and will serve as a catalyst to usher in the beginning of a golden age that will transform broadband usage. Still others suggest that some yet undiscovered but compelling technological innovation that is powered by the Internet will require everyone to subscribe to broadband.

However, broadband's killer application could be both more modest and powerful than the predictions of many prognosticators. It could be something as humble but profoundly useful as Netscape's browser or Yahoo's first search engine - which were some of the first killer application that drove users to the Internet and made it somewhat more "human centric."

So what is the next innovation will help drive broadband adoption because it offers an elegant solution to a problem that retards usage of the Internet?

"Personal portals" - or a portal specifically designed and customized for an individual Net user - will provide Netizens a personalized Web experience. It will reduce frustration and inefficiencies that are inherent in the Internet of 2002. It will organize the chaos of Internet novices while allowing experienced power users to be more productive and efficient than every before. The importance of personal portals cannot be overstated. Today's journey through the Net is similar to being without a home and being required to sleep at a different hotel each night. Some hotels would be elegant and delightful; other would be without customary amenities and lose their guests' reservations, while still others might be like camping in a pup tent. But all would be unfamiliar and even the best hotel would not feel like home. Personal portals are home. Imagine a website that contains the functionality and information most useful to each individual user so they spend most of their online time at one single website.

Today, much of the technology exists that will enable Netizens to create a "personal portal," a website that empowers Net users by offering them the empowerment that results from a human centric rather than a technology centric website. Not a typical "one-size-fits-all" website, personal portals are quickly and efficiently created and customized for individual users, borrowing a successful approach employed by Dell when they build each computer designed specifically an individual customer. For the same reason that there is little need for an individual to check into some hotel when their home is readily available, Netizens will spend much of their online time working and playing at their personal portal. To be this relevant, the personal portal will offer unprecedented control, relevance, and functionality. Some of the most important elements of a personal portal include:

· Customized content. "Best of the Web" content is helpful for novice Internet users, but those broadband customers that have spent time on the Net and surfed to many websites typically have their own favorite set of websites. Why does a user prefer the extended forecast at www.weather.com over the one at www.accuweather or the breaking news at www.cnn.com rather than www.foxnews.com? Because they are human beings with an infinite number and a series of continually changing choices. As multi-channel video operators offering satellite delivered programming with narrowcasted content gained popularity over more general broadcasted programming lineups, personal portals will allow users to select the content from their favorite sites and aggregate it in their personal portal with a level of precision not possible with television. Users will realize significant productivity gains by being able to view the most current and up-to-date content from their favorite but disparate websites on their personal portal. No more surfing from site to site - it will all be loaded, available, and organized in a manner that is specified and most relevant to the user.
· Personalization software. Personalization engines help anticipate a user's interests and requirements in such a way as to make the Net more useful and relevant. They learn from the choices that the user makes and thereby are able to more effectively recommend and fine-tune the user's online experience so that it seems to know the user. As an example, www.amazon.com uses a personalization engine that suggests additional products that a visitor might be interested in purchasing. But since today's personalization engine technology is often as imprecise as it is helpful, its recommendations are not always relevant. Next generation personalization software will correct this, and personal portals will incorporate personalization engines to empower search and bots so that they work for rather than sell to users, artificially anticipating a user's requests and interests, and making the user's online experience more productive and efficient.
· Customized infoentertainment channels. A retired grandmother in Phoenix. An honors high school student on the football team. A thirty-something working mom managing a household of children while juggling scores of work responsibilities. A busy executive that travels internationally. What do they have in common? Nothing - unless they all subscribe to America On Line. Then, these four very different people are required to choose from the same few dozen pre-created content channels that AOL believes best reflect the average interests of their average user. Consequently, the channels may not be relevant to any individual customer. New intelligent filtering technology is being deployed that will allow users to target specific and relevant interest areas into a channel flowing with the most current of information. Netizens will be able to create and fine-tune numerous channels to reflect their interests and information requirements. Conflicting concepts such as "a 500 channel universe" and a "vast video wasteland" will be replaced by a five or ten channels reality of infoentertainment specifically designed by and completely relevant to an individual user.
· Customer profile. If personal portals are to be relevant, they cannot be mass created and must be built customer by customer. Technology coupled with an excellent user interface will enable each user to quickly and effortlessly create a secure profile. Personal portals will leapfrog the controversy swirling around Microsoft's Passport, because they will be directly owned and controlled by each user, and not available to any third party to sell or otherwise profit from. This profile and the personal portal's technology will serve as a Rosetta Stone for the rest of the Internet, making redundant multiple sign-ins, numerous passwords and the requirement to establish new profiles at disparate websites.

Today, there's a lot not to like about the Internet…searches that return hundreds of thousands of irrelevant returns…banner advertising…"one-size-fits-all" websites tailored to the lowest common denominator of user that doesn't meet anyone's specific requirements...confusing user interfaces…spending time clicking on favorites to visit website after website after website...remembering multiple passwords…the frustration of wasting time online…while the Internet has much to offer, it also offers much frustration, chaos, and confusion. To some, it is no surprise that some Net users are actually spending less time on the Internet than they did in previous years.

Personal portals are human centric rather than technology centric. And while there have been some attempts to customize portals, they have been very limited in functionality and scope, clumsy and awkward to customize, and created to support the parent website. As an example, Yahoo launched www.MyYahoo.com, which offers users a somewhat clumsy and limited ability to choose selected pre-created content. While this may be half of a step in the right direction, MyYahoo receives complaints about the time involved to customize the service and that the choices are limited, only a few percent of those that use Yahoo as their primary search engine have customized and regularly uses MyYahoo.

If the browser and search engines helped make the Internet more user friendly and transformed the Net into a mainstream product accessed by more than 50% of the households in the United States, then personal portals can do the same for broadband. Personal portals will dramatically improve customer satisfaction, and this satisfaction will translate into a significantly improved customer experience for users. And for ISPs, personal portals will equate to reduced voluntary churn rates, higher customer numbers, and lower customer acquisition costs.

There is a compelling need for the personal portal, as anyone that has had conducted a search with a search engine, surfed from Website to Website seeking information, or memorized multiple passwords, can attest. And since much of the underlying technology that will be used to create personal portals is becoming available, ISP will eventually have personal portals to use as a marketing, customer satisfaction and customer retention tool. The personal portal is an elegant solution that propels Netizens' use and satisfaction of the Internet, and will help transform broadband into a mainstream product that is usable by most everyone. By creating a comfortable, efficient, and relevant Internet that is customized to each user, personal portals will be the next killer application that drives broadband penetration to new levels.

About the Author

Don Kent is CEO of eCablevision, a broadband consulting company and a monthly columnist for Broadband Properties Magazine. He has spent 26 years working with early stage companies, and specializes in Net empowering brick and mortar companies and creating value added service for broadband and video providers. Please address questions or topics that you'd like discussed in subsequent columns to Dkent@eCablevsion.com.

Sidebar 1
Per´.so.nal por´.tal - (noun) a customized website designed to meet the individual infoentertainment requirements of a specific user, built specifically for that user and relevant only to that user; incorporating all general portal functionality, a personalization engine, and customized applications.

Sidebar 2
The next generation of portal - or the personal portal - will provide users unparalleled choice, control, and convenience. Some of the more important product benefits that enable this portal to meet the specific requirements of the user include:
q Not only "Best of the Web" content but also users will be able to incorporate their own personal sections of their favorite websites into their personal portal.
q Personalization software that learns based upon the user's likes and dislikes
q Customized infoentertainment channels that meet the specific interests of the user
q Customer profile is created quickly and effortlessly by user