STAR-BULLETIN / 1999 CyberCom founder Peter Kay said yesterday he is refocusing the business toward technology-related consulting and will no longer create and host Web sites. It will lay off all its staff.

CyberCom leaves
Web business

The firm will lay off 25 employees
as it focuses on consulting

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By Russ Lynch
rlynch@starbulletin.com

CyberCom Inc., a pioneer in the design and creation of commercial Web sites in Hawaii, will get out of the Web design and hosting business at the end of August, laying off all its staff.

Founder Peter Kay, who said the company last year had $2.4 million worth of business and a staff of 25, said the growth rate in the business of developing high-end, complex Web sites for clients has slowed to the point where it doesn't justify its capital requirements.

But CyberCom will still be around in a different form.

The business will be a broader consulting firm, helping clients integrate Internet use with their overall marketing and development strategies, he said.

"Most of the capital we had invested was to create a company that could deliver (complex interactive Web sites)," he said.

The growth rate in that business, once phenomenal, has slowed way down, he said.

The company created its first commercial Web site for Outrigger Hotels & Resorts in the mid-1990s, said Kay, adding he believes it was the first commercial site in the state.

Kay got hooked on the possibilities of the Web in 1993 when he taught a course about the Internet at Honolulu Community College. He formed CyberCom in 1994 and went on to develop sites for clients such as Bank of Hawaii and Hawaiian Airlines.

Kay also is known for his radio and television shows about computers and how to use them. The shows will continue and he expected more television exposure in the future, he said.

The change in his business will be seamless to the companies CyberCom has been working with, said Kay. The Web hosting activities are being transferred to another local company, Century Computers Inc.

Another Hawaii Web developer and consultant, Burt Ramos, agreed with Kay's assessment of the changing environment. Ramos, director of client services for StarrTech Interactive, said the key these days is to show people how to use all aspects of the Internet as a a central part of their strategy and marketing, Ramos said.

"Traditionally, the Web component has been kind of an afterthought, not really pooled in with the company's resources or strategic thinking. Businesses didn't devote enough time and attention to it.

"There really is room for more high-end Web development, but it has to be more than a brochure site. It has to be a real vehicle in which the marketing for a corporation is integrated into the whole structure and strategy," said Ramos.