10 Design Principles For Business Web Sites.(Industry Trend or Event)

E-business is still evolving, but there are some reliable "rules of the road"

Many of our clients are building or refining their e-business infrastructure--including corporate websites, Internet connectivity and ecommerce applications. When they ask us to help with the network design, they make two specific requests almost immediately: A reliable benchmark to test their own plans and systems against; and an analysis of their requirements that is as vendor-neutral as possible.

Both these requests are understandable and reasonable. Most major corporations seek benchmark comparisons to avoid reinventing the wheel, but, for competitive or security reasons, are reticent about showcasing their own technology solutions. They also want as wide a choice of technical solutions as possible, so as not to be dependent on a single product or vendor.

We have found we can often answer both these requests, and accelerate the network design process, by documenting a set of "guiding principles." Such principles are often used in developing software solutions, process definitions and overall information technology strategies and architectures, but they haven't generally been applied to networks. This is because networks usually evolve, rather than having a unique "beginning."

With the advent of the Internet, however, many IT shops are finding they must "begin" a new network initiative to respond to upper management's insistence on developing an "e-business presence," and all that this entails. Network managers can use the guiding principles in this article as a starting point for this new initiative.

The principles reflect our experience from repeatedly facing similar issues with our clients in many different industries as they work out the means to deliver their services and products. These projects were critical to our clients. In some cases, they had solutions in place that were not meeting expectations; in others they desired an external review prior to implementation.

The reader may not find that each principle applies to his/her scenario, but bear this point in mind: These guiding principles presuppose an environment in which network professionals work closely with both the security and the application development organizations, with adequate feedback to ensure success. Few professionals in any organization doubt the importance of this feedback, given the widespread and dramatic failure of attempts to bring up applications without such cooperation.

The principles should be created by a stakeholders group--including both business and technical leaders--as part of a project requirements definition, or shortly thereafter. By agreeing up front on the …