It's never too late to join the segmented frontier Whew, what an issue! Now while I don't make a habit of using this space to talk up the material content of NREI (no, I'd rather cover diverse topics like why the world is round), in this case I couldn't resist. And since this is the first issue in our year-long celebration of NREI's 40th anniversary, I can't wait to see what lies ahead.

As you read this in January of the new year, we've worked hard just before the December Holidays to put out one of the largest issues of NREI ever.

In addition to our main issue, which features stories on shopping center finance, appraisal and property taxes and our annual software review, we've loaded up on a few post-Holiday goodies that we hope you'll find enticing. They include:

* Landauer 1998 Forecast (36 pages) * Wall Street Wrap (28 pages) * Multifamily Monitor (24 pages) * NIC Lender & Investor Directory (124 pages) * January issue (76 pages) Total page count: (288 pages)

At a cursory glance, the page count is significant in its sheer number, but the story behind the numbers is equally important.

Why have we divvied up the book this way? For some pretty sound reasons, we think. First, we've considered your reading habits. Most of the folks we talk to today have a harder and harder time finding any gaps in their day to read magazines, newspaper or even surf the Internet for news and information (in fact many people actually feel guilty if they're seen reading a newspaper in the office while others are busy scurrying around doing deals). One person we know loads up his briefcase with publications every evening.

With this in mind, and realizing that the commercial real estate industry is segmented and stratified today like never before, we too have begun segmenting out much of our monthly information in more manageable and targeted quarterly packages for easier reading. It also gives us the opportunity to even better showcase specific parts of our industry and the people who make those parts into a whole.

For example, we've showcased Credit Suisse First Boston's Andy Stone on our front cover and also on the cover of our new Wall Street Wrap to drive you directly to one of the most interesting segments of our business, the Wall Street scene. And we've also showcased Equity Residential's Doug Crocker on the cover of our new Multifamily Monitor special section.

And since NREI has been a pioneer rather than a follower in the seniors housing market, we partnered with the National Investment Conference (NIC) to produce a 124-page directory of seniors housing lenders and investors.

And for the eighth straight year, we are the only magazine to carry the Landauer Real Estate Market Forecast, one of the industry's most respected and authoritative views on what's ahead in the commercial real estate market for 1998.

Now that's a "whew!" And this is only January... Bring on the rest of 1998!

Intertec real estate group home page: www.internetreview.com

Ben Johnson: ben_johnson@intertec.com Melanie Gibbs: melanie_gibbs@intertec.com Tracy Heath: tracy_heath@intertec.com Randy Henry: randy_henry@intertec.com Kelly Angell: kelly_angell@intertec.com