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he Silverlake Group is a design and publishing consulting firm specializing in multimedia web presentations, e-commerce and Internet graphic design. We are a diverse group of unique talented individuals with the ability to work independently as well as a team.  Our highly collaborative and instinctive business structure allows us to give to our clients the personal attention they deserve.  We thrive on the challenges presented by new ideas, technologies and attitudes.

We want to work with companies, advertisers and professionals who share our goal of bringing expression and beauty to the simplest design. We approach our profession and the projects we involve ourselves in with a clear vision, balanced and inspired approach.

In plain words, we turn business dreams into cost-effective realities on the Net.

INTRODUCTION

Who are Net users?
As discussed in an article of The Wall Street Journal (Dec.6, 1996), Net users follow some typical profiles.  The average Net user is relatively young and more likely to be a man.  Most users still earn higher-than-average incomes, though less so than before.  The user is probably more educated than the average person and is probably in a computer-related or professional job.

A recent issue of Business Week reports, however, that some Net demographics are shifting based on a study conducted by Louis Harris & Associates, Inc. and Baruch College of the City University of New York.  Increasingly more women are on the Net, and the gender gap is steadily closing.  Women made up 41 percent of the Net population in 1997.  The number of Americans using the Net has nearly doubled over the last year.  One quarter of Net users --some 10 million people-- have purchased something online.  The Net is not just for the young.  45 percent of adults surfing the Net are 40 or over, with baby boomers -- those in their 40s -- making up the largest group of all web users, at 26 percent.  This contrasts with 32 percent of Net users who are between 18 and 29.

On the other hand, the Baruch College-Harris Poll confirms other Net demographics features.  Adult Net users are more affluent and better educated than the population as a whole.  More than 42 percent have household incomes greater than $50,000, compared with 33 percent of the overall population.  73 percent of Net users have attended college, versus 46 percent of the total population.  Nonetheless, given the dynamics and changing nature of the Net, these demographics patterns can change over time.  As more and more people venture onto the Net, the Net population may begin to reflect more the general population.

Internet Commerce Projections
Various companies have given forecasts about the potential size of online commerce.  For example, Arthur D. Little, Inc., a consulting firm headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, projected that internet commerce would total US$175 billion by the year 2000 and US$1 trillion by the year 2010.  ActiveMedia, Inc., a research company in Peterborough, New Hampshire, forecasted internet commerce would reach US$275 billion by the year 2000.  According to a research report (July 1997) by Forrester Research, Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Internet business-to-business trade could skyrocket from $8 billion in 1997 to $105 billion in 2000, with manufacturing for durables ($37 billion), wholesale and retail ($48 billion), and services ($11 billion) the three largest sectors.  The International Data Corporation in Framingham, Massachusetts, predicted Internet commerce could grow to more than $220 billion during 2001.

In regard to the number of Internet users, a market study report (November 1996) by Jupiter Communications, LLC, a New York City-based new media research company, suggested that the number of online households will rise from 14.7 million in 1996 to 36 million in 2000 for the U.S. and from 23.4 million in 1996 to 66.7 million in 2000 worldwide.  More recently, e-land Inc. projected the number of Internet users will reach 142 million by the year 2000, with 71 million of them coming from the U.S.

For more information about expanding Hispanic business opportunities via the World Wide Web, please visit our NEW Flash website.The Silverlake Group.  Thanks for visiting the Silverlake Group

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