The "Computer Review" reports about the Internet Forum that took place in Kiev at the end of September and was sponsored by InterSvit and Euro-Atlantic Information Fund. The Forum consisted of various conferences where the managers of the top companies operating in the Ukrainian Internet market shared their experience and ideas. It is worth highlighting some interesting points that were made.

Vasyl Bondarev (SigmaBleyzer) presented an Internet incubator that is currently creating several prospective web projects. He said that his SigmaBlazer does not intend to control the fledgling Internet companies. "We are just observing, consulting and helping to do business"-noted the speaker.

Sun Microsystems commenting on the "Investment projects in the Internet" offered the support program for the companies that get into the Internet business for the first time. Aaron Smith, the manager for the international department at the Moscow Sun office, claimed that the program's objective is to foster Internet companies to get off the ground and do their business more effectively. In fact, Sun Developer Essentials Hardware is intended to provide hardware at discounted prices. Another Sun Startup Accelerator program is a kind of a "technical incubator" that is supposed to facilitate the inceptive Internet Service Providers. All the offered equipment is provided at a flexible leasing deal.

Ann Ovdiyenko from PricewaterhouseCoopers emphasized the need of the B2B projects in the Ukrainian Internet. The Kiev-based company Automatic Systems & Technologies created MarketLand, the first B2B project. MarketLand is supposed to become a horizontal business portal that will combine several Web-resources. It is oriented at the small and medium companies that pay a reasonable fee to use the systems' resources for primarily finding partners and promoting its goods.

A great deal of reports was devoted to the Internet-advertising. Sergey Betsura from the Internet Expert Agency argues that advertising market is growing rapidly, "The 1999 advertising volume in the Internet was worth $50, 000 and this year it is up to $300,000". Now, besides banners' network there are also some specialized advertising resources, media-buying agencies like Dom.com, Dialla.com, www.reklamaster.com and others. It comes to be clear that new approaches that will involve the maximum of the Internet resources should underlie the advertising campaigns.

Nevertheless, most of the advertisers underestimate the advertising in the I-net and do not fully realize the interactivity as its major distinctive feature, said Lev Gleyzer of the Russian Web-company AdWatch at the "E-commerce 2000: Advertising, marketing, investment" conference. His report was based on the analysis of the advertising in the RU-net. Experts claim that this year it was worth $6 million.

According to Mr. Gleyzer, his company applies its own approach to the solutions in the online advertising. Its goal is to assist an advertiser in finding the audience and conveying the message quickly and effectively. The Adwatch's system allows detecting the site visitors' preferences. It eventually enables advertiser to point out the target audience. Internet publishers, online media agencies and large advertisers are Adwatch's main customers. The company is currently researching the potential demand for its services in the Ukrainian market, so that it could further expand.