So, what exactly is a dot-com?
"It's a really blurry area," says Laura Kvinge, director of communications at Campus Pipeline.
Some people call Campus Pipeline a dot-com, but the company calls itself a "Web-based platform." The company couldn't exist without the Internet. On the other hand, it provides technology "infrastructure" (software, for example) as opposed to just "content" or e-tailing, so that makes it not a dot-com, says Kvinge.
A company like Amazon.com or CitySearch is a "pure play" dot-com. Some e-tailers are "click and mortar," meaning they have a presence both on the Internet and in an actual building that sells stuff.
"Because of the wipeout in e-commerce, people are trying to claim they're not a dot-com. So nothing's a dot-com anymore!" laughs Kent Madsen, a partner with Wasatch Venture Fund.
Just because a business has a dot and a com after its name on the Web doesn't mean it's a dot-com, since most businesses have an Internet presence these days. And some dot-coms are dotless. That makes it pretty hard to know just how many dot-coms, dead or alive, there are in Utah.