simplex.nnov.ru is the website of the Nizhny Novgorod research-and-production enterprise "Simplex", a supplier of polymer raw materials and plastics-processing equipment. As the home page stated, the enterprise was "founded in 1990" and from 1992 worked "in the supply of polymer raw materials to industrial enterprises of Russia and the near abroad"; in the page title the company was explicitly marked as based in Nizhny Novgorod — "(Nizhny Novgorod)"[1]. The contact phone numbers on the site were given with the Nizhny Novgorod area code 8312[2]. Web Archive snapshots of the home page span 2001–2004; over that period the site evolved from a short business-card page into an industry portal with a price list, a forum, and its own publications.

"Polymers all year round": the 2001 business card

The earliest preserved version is a single page of text under the slogan "Polymers all year round!" According to it, the range included "more than 20 grades of plastics of various brands", and visitors were invited to get acquainted with it via a price list; all materials listed in the price list, the page claimed, were always in stock. It was noted separately that the firm was an official representative of Ticona (Germany) and cooperated with Rhodia (France) and Demag Plastservice (Germany). Among the everyday details: Simplex had its own office and warehouse space "near the entrance to Nizhny Novgorod", and, per the site's assurance, servicing a client took about two hours from start to finish[1].

The industry portal of 2002–2003

By the autumn of 2002 the site had turned into a multi-section portal. The menu was divided into four blocks: "About the company" (including "Our specialists", "How to find us", "Contacts"), "Polymer raw materials" (range, services, ordering the price list and raw materials, new arrivals), "Equipment" (Demag injection molding machines, peripheral equipment), and "Information" — with sections "Our newspaper", "Our books", "Exhibitions and seminars", "Polymer processors' forum", "Help for the technologist", "News of the world of polymers". The home page carried a "Number of visits" counter, an interactive poll on the site's own engine "simplex 2.03b" ("In which publications do you look for information about exhibitions?"), and a subscription to a news mailing with a choice of encoding — Win, Koi8, Iso — and format, txt or html. Monthly "reviews of the situation on the polymer market" were published. The news for September 20, 2002 reported participation in the Moscow exhibition "Interplastica-2002", supplies of bubble wrap film (phone numbers (8312) 73-99-73 and 23-73-34, contact person Sergei Nikitin), and a Nizhny Novgorod conference for company executives, "Company Development Strategy," where the director of NPP Simplex, A. V. Shafrov, shared his experience of strategic planning[2].

The 2003 version is noticeably broader. The page title now reads "more than 40 grades" of raw materials, DEMAG injection molding machines and KOCH peripheral equipment, plus phone numbers (8312) 73-99-55 and 73-99-88. The menu added "Simplex Photo Gallery", "Certificates and diplomas", "GWK peripheral equipment", "Simplex Exchange", and "Our newspaper" split into "Edition for technologists" and "Edition for procurement officers". The year's top news items on the site were: the signing of an agreement on exclusive rights to supply Koch Technik equipment to the Russian market, a diploma from Rhodia for long-term cooperation, the opening of a warehouse in Kirov (phone numbers with area code 8332), a seminar on June 19, 2003 at the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology held jointly with Demag Ergotech GmbH, the fifth anniversary of the company's own publication "Simplex-Inform", and supplier certification to ISO 9001:2001. There was also an English-language version — About Simplex, Range of products, Our staff, Quality certificate, Contacts[3].

A price list instead of a welcome page: 2004

In the last preserved version, the home page was given over entirely to a "Special offer for August" — an open price list with prices per ton: HDPE PND 209-04 — 61,000 rubles, recycled black LDPE — 12,800, ABS plastic 2020-30 — from 46,000 to 53,500 depending on color, "Makrolon 2605" polycarbonate (South Korea) — 122,000, Ticona-made "Hostaform C 9021" — 168,200 rubles per ton. The site gained a search function, a "Rapid Crushers" section, and registration, through which the full price list was sent by email[4].

Place in the Nizhny Novgorod internet and the site's fate

In the Nizhny Novgorod Internet of the early 2000s, Simplex belonged to the business segment rather than the entertainment one: the site is listed in the industry directory of the nn.ru portal, described as "range of polymer raw materials, supply terms, information on polymer topics". It does not appear in the preserved samples of the Counter.nn.ru counter analyzed in our Archival study of the Nizhny Novgorod internet from the counter.nn.ru rating, nor is it listed among the results of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet Day 2004 vote[5]. The site's own "Number of visits" counter was present on the home page, but its readings did not make it into the preserved text of the snapshot[2].

The last home page snapshot captured in our Web Archive sample is dated August 29, 2004[4]. In the register of defunct Nizhny Novgorod sites, the domain simplex.nnov.ru is marked as inactive; our data contains no information about a move to another address.

Sources

  1. web.archive.org — Home page, 2001 (archive)
  2. web.archive.org — Home page, 2002 (archive)
  3. web.archive.org — Home page, 2003 (archive)
  4. web.archive.org — Home page, 2004 (archive)
  5. web.archive.org — Results of the Day of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet vote, 2004 (archive)