Kevin Deeble at Cisco speaks for many, I believe, when he says that Cisco has a "very robust corporate real estate web site," although it is not available to the public. Internal visitors to Cisco's web site "can access a vast array of information about our portfolio, including floor plans for every facility, maps and driving directions, and descriptions of site amenities (including, for example, daily menus at our cafeterias and events at our fitness centers)."

Hey, that's great for employees. But what about the business public? "If you are interested in finding out about our space requirements, or surplus properties we may have, then perhaps you should visit www.joneslanglasalle.com or www.staubach.com." Of course, from Cisco's web site you wouldn't really know where to go. And that's true for 90% of corporate web sites. So some folks must be wasting a lot of time just trying to access basic CRE information.

On the other hand, maybe things can go too far! As Mike Clark, a broker in Houston writes, "I fail to see how the fact that a retailer has formed its own real estate division that not only goes 'direct' by listing on LoopNet, but also provides ancillary services presumably for a fee is positive for the real estate industry at large. Next will be Wal-Mart Brokerage Services, Wal-Mart Title Company, Wal-Mart Mortgage, Wal-Mart Capital and Wal-Mart Realty Trust." Oops. (For background, see the Oct 6, 2003, BusinessWeek cover story, "Is Wal-Mart Too Powerful?")

Spread the Word... Many thanks to Fraser Williams, developers of commercial real estate software, and Alison Walden for sponsoring the PikeNet Dispatch this week. If you would like to promote your company to commercial real estate professionals around the world, please send e-mail or call me at 415-485-6700.

--Peter Pike