E-Freight New services allow you to send oversized files across the Net.

You've just written up a lengthy contract and need to showit to a far-flung group of clients ASAP. Or maybe it's acomplex business proposal you've prepared--with complicatedspreadsheets, a set of PowerPoint slides and maybe even a narrationyou've recorded on your computer's hard drive. You couldsend paper copies or computer disks by overnight mail, butthere's no time. Faxing the papers would be faster, but yourslides would arrive only in black and white. Oh, you say, just sendthe materials via regular e-mail. Alas, beyond a couple ofmegabytes in size, large files often fail to traverse the Internetintact. And e-mail delivery is neither guaranteed nortraceable.

One solution: Use one of the Web's new document deliveryservices. They're specifically designed to transfer largedigital files--up to a full gigabyte--with complete, intact andsecure delivery guaranteed. By employing their own powerful serversas relay stations, these services get around the limits that manyISPs and corporations impose on the size of e-mails they'llhandle. And like their physical counterparts, such as FedEx andUPS, they provide notification when your intended recipients openthe files you send them.

Among the companies offering these courier services: ThedocSpace Company Inc. (http://www.docspace.com), TumbleweedSoftware Corp. (http://www.tumbleweed.com) ande-Parcel LLC (http://www.e-parcel.com). Each hasits own pricing, technical features and distribution strategy.Tumbleweed is available through UPS (http://www.exchange.ups.com), forinstance, while Compaq Computer (http://www.compaq.com) is a maindistributor of e-Parcel's service.

To send a file containing 100MB--a typical size for a large,digitized color photograph--e-Parcel charges $5. After registeringfor the service, you and your intended recipient install thecompany's software. Then you use that program to transfer thephoto from your computer to e-Parcel's server. Because thisprocess runs in the background, so to speak, you can continue touse other programs. The data will be forwarded to your recipientautomatically when the file arrives at e-Parcel, with no need tovisit a Web site for retrieval.

And there's more. For 25 cents each, e-Parcel can copyrightfiles to help prevent unauthorized copying. And for extra safety,the firm even offers a digital shredder for disposing of unwantedfiles.

John W. Verity reported and edited for 10 years atElectronic News, Datamation and Business Week. Since 1997, hehas been freelancing from his Brooklyn, New York, home.

Big Blue Thinks Small

IBM aims a host of products right at you.

I f there's any company innately associated with bigbusiness, surely it's IBM. But now Big Blue is making a bigeffort to reach the vast small-business market. Building on itslegacy as the leading supplier of computers for small companies,IBM is spending $100 million on marketing its new Web-basedservices designed to help those firms make the most ofe-commerce.

These services are all part of the IBM Small Business Program,available via the company's Web site (http://www.ibm.com/smallbusiness).Some are supplied by IBM itself, others by a growing list ofpartners. Use the company's Home Page Creator service, andwithin days you can be processing credit-card orders on a new,customized Web site that costs between $24.95 and $200 per month.And say you want to know how the security of your firm's sitestacks up against others'. As part of the service, IBM can senda team of "ethical" computer hackers to test yoursite's security provisions. Pass and you'll be entitled toIBM's seal of approval, which could make visitors feel moreconfident in ordering from you online. There's also helpavailable for preparing and distributing your press releases.

Some of the services are purely technical. IBM offers adata-vaulting service for PC-based firms. For just $9.95 a month,you can store the entire contents of your desktop or laptopPC's hard drive on remote IBM-run computers. Then, if troublestrikes--a laptop gets stolen, for instance--all your data isavailable via the Web.