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vides a vast source of building industry resources, references and communication. Features include a publications directory, Career & Employment Center, Health & Safety Center, Education & Training Center, Environmental Protection Center. Advertising & Marketing Center, Government & Legislation Center, a TalentBank of industry professionals, and a

Story at a Glance

What the Internet holds for the lumber industry ... what it can now and one day will be able to do for your business.

Virtual Industrial Park of businesses, people and products in 47 classifications, including architecture, engineering, construction, real estate, manufacturing and associations.

HYGNet is a new network for the Home, Yard and Garden industry. The service also custom designs Web Pages, with graphics and audio clips.

Beginning in September, the National Housewares Manufacturers Association will open NHMA Online. The electronic bulletin board includes E-mail and access to the Internet as well as to industry news, the associa- tion's publications and rnembership directory, product locator and international matchmaker databases, information on membership services, the International Housewares Show, conferences and other special events.

The second current problem with conducting financial transactions over the Internet is security. Methods of encrypting transaction messages are still in development, with experts predicting it will take 12 to 18 months for any to begin to catch on.

For ForestNet and other industryspecific networks to become forces in the industry, they need a huge base of buyers and sellers. Subscribers have been entering cautiously. Predictably, says Desmond, the lumber industry is very traditional and slow to change. "The biggest hurdle is people who stopped purchasing computers with a 286," he explains.

Desmond looks five years into the future: The local lumber retailer begins his morning by sitting at his computer and bringing up a list of his current inventory. At the push of a button he receives a list of every product that has fallen below preset stocking limits. By clicking another icon. he initiates a nationwide search for the best deals on the products needed, with his computer working out the details with the suppliers' computers.

"It's coming and I think people are going to be surprised (at how much business will be done over the computer)," Desmond muses. "But people who are used to writing things down on a yellow pad of paper are going to be completely left out of these technological breakthroughs and it's going to be pretty difficult for them to compete."

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