brea ughor will the In m obsolete?

lllveryone's heard of CD-ROMs, lZbut in what wavs are lumber and building products companies putting them to work and how will this technology affect the industry in the future?

Possessing nearly 1,000 times the storage capacity of a floppy disk, a CD-ROM (Compact Disk Read-Only Memory) is designed for the storage, retrieval and distribution of large quantities of information. It is estimated that 29Vo of remodelers have access to a CD-ROM.

With its growing popularity, what can the CD-ROM offer the building products professional?

Current uses include:

(1) Topic Searches. With its storage capacity, the CD-ROM can consolidate vast bits of product information on one disc. However, this storage can lead to a delay in locating specific information. To remedy this delay, some building product professionals have incorporated a search engine, enabling users to enter a word, like "glulam," and access all matching entries.

For example, a search engine can be found on a CD-ROM fea- ! turing24ofthe f, most popular f. publications available from

Wood Association which erature, builder tips, publications index, product specifications, and design tables used frequently by construction professionals.

"The most frequent readers of our publications keep the CD for a reference document," says Marilyn LeMoine, publications mgr. of the Tacoma, Wa.-based organization.

(2) Product Demonstrations. With its digitized images, the CDROM demonstrates a product in use or in combination with other products without visiting a showroom or job site.

Masco's virtual reality CD-ROM of an 8,500-sq. ft. classic revival showhome located in Columbia, Md., provides digital panoramic views of all rooms in the house and exterior which can be electronically navigated using pictures, floor plans or listings of the individual rooms and products.

"By putting an actual showhome on CD-ROM, consumers can take a real-life tour of a house via computer without leaving the home builder's office," says Ray Kennedy of Masco. "We're making the decision-making process easier and providing builders with a new marketing tool to help attract potential home buyers."

The digitized images also provide a marketing tool for products that are otherwise hard to demonstrate-as is the case with structural lumber options.

"The computer strips away the skin of the structure to look at the bones. Usually the person depends on the builder to select the structural parts," says Trus Joist MacMillan's Dede Ryan. "It can be very impractical for the buyer to go to the building site to see the product in action."

(3) Company profiles and cataloguing. Firms are creating graphics-based CD-ROMs so customers can quickly access key information about their company and product lines using a personal computer.

Trus Joist MacMillan has recently launched a multimedia press kit which leads users through a tour of the company and its products.

REALITY CD-ROMs provide digital images that can be electronically navigated in the convenience tF tool for the sales staff," says Ryan. "If successful, we are considering putting our automation software on CDROM."

Beginning in June, East Coast Millwork Distributors, North Wilkesboro, N.C., will streamline its telemarketing and order entry with a CD-ROM featuring its product lines.

"We're testing the envelope to see what this technology can do for us," says East Coast Millwork's Matt Sidden. "This provides an easy, convenient and thorough access to our products."

CertainTeed's Insulation Group has developed a company and product profile designed for architects, builders, contractors, specifiers and engineers.

The CD-ROM contains company background, residential and HVAC insulation product specifications, data and installation information, product photos, material safety data sheets, and two videos.

"I anticipate it to be used more heavily in every industry to disseminate product catalogs for manufacturers and wholesalers," says Jim Hassenstab, pres. of Distribution Management Systems, Inc. "I see it continuing and evolving into greater usg."

(4) Instructional Tools. CDROMs that provide useful rePair and home improvement projects for d-iyers are becoming increasingly popular items for retailers to sell alongside how-to books.

"Home Improvement L-2-3" CDROM from Home DePot, Better Homes & Gardens and Meredith Books, for example, features 165 repair and home improvement Projects with more than 2,000 illustrations. The CD-ROM, complete with tips for saving time and money, includes more than 50 how-to videos, 40 3-D animations, printable instruc- tions and pictures, and a construction calculator to estimate project costs.

"The CD-ROM lends itself to instructional information," says Ben

Story at a Glance

What CD-ROMs can and can't do ...why some see them being replaced by the Internet.

Allen, editor, Meredith Books. "It is not expensive once the material that is being placed on the CD-ROM is created. The extent that animation, sound and video are used determines the overall cost."

Although the CD-ROM is considered by some to be the latest technological breakthrough for marketing, other industry experts speculate that the CD-ROM's disadvantages over competing technologies may lead to its demise.

One disadvantage is the difficulty in updating information.

"It doesn't work for one or a few times application. That is the primary reason people aren't using it verY heavily today," claims Hassenstab.

"To change the information, a new CD-ROM has to be sent out."

Another disadvantage is the inability to print out information provided on the CD-ROM.

"I discovered that most instruction- al CD-ROMs don't have the capability to print the information on the CD," says Allen. "IJsers want something that they can take into a sawdust area where it can be stepped on or have paint spilled on it."

Some believe the CD-ROM will be replaced by the Internet. "The CD-ROM is not really a significant technology, it is not an earth- shattering technology for anyone," Hassenstab says. "I believe the Internet will make it somewhat obsolete. If any technology supersedes it, it would be the Internet. If it does supersede it, it will supersede it before it gets too large."

Experts agree that the Internet would have to have faster processing time to compete with the instantaneous access of information offered by the CD-ROM.

"The CD-ROM will gain popularity as it gains a greater penetration into the computer market, unless another technology supersedes it, such as the Internet," affirms Allen. "The Internet will have to provide a fast enough processor, plus publishers would have to be able to control the access and use of the information."

Ryan agrees: "The problem with the Internet is the time it takes to download snappy graphics and video. The Internet can't use the same caliber of graphics until the processing is quicker. With the CD-ROM, information is presented immediately."

Sidden believes the CD-ROM will work side by side with the Internet because the CD-ROM is a true multimedia. "I don't see it going away. If it is well designed, it can offer an abundant amount of information to customers. In one little platter, it gives them endless room to sell your products," he says.

"Not only is our industry staiting to realize avenues that we can use, but avenues that we must use," muses Sidden.