January/February 2001

BY LAURA GUEVIN

I spoke to several companies that have played in the traditional telephony space about their view of the ASP model and how it will impact resellers. Everyone I talked to stressed the same thing: Resellers will continue to play an integral role in delivering applications to the end user, and may in fact have a more important role as CASPs strive to market their hosted solutions to companies that have traditionally purchased software packages.

ALLIANCE SYSTEMS
Alliance Systems is well known as a provider of infrastructure equipment for voice services, as well as superior customer service to go along with it. Joe Jackson, executive vice president of business development, says the company's greatest service is providing pre- and post-sales support for resellers, end users, and ISVs.

"Availability has to be bullet-proof," says Jackson, and integrity assurance to the ISV, as well as maximum reliability for resellers, are of utmost importance. Alliance has 125 ISV partners and around 3,000 resellers globally. Before companies like Alliance came along, software manufacturers had to develop their own hardware solutions, and deal with installing their products on unfamiliar systems on their own, devoting valuable time and resources to making it all work together.

Jackson views ASPs in the same way the company views end users, and says the role of the reseller is not diminished in the hosted business model. In fact, at press time, Alliance was planning to announce their own hosting services, as well as a move to a new facility which would be mainly devoted to hosting their equipment. But Jackson says that although Alliance is getting into the hosting space, they will not be selling directly to end users, nor will they be integrating software onto their hardware systems. These are tasks that are best handled by resellers. Alliance hopes to aggregate its carrier relationships in providing hosting services, extracting ASPs from the burden of hosting infrastructure, much in the same way ISVs relieve small to medium-sized businesses from coming up with their own application solutions.

QUICKNET TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Stacey Reineccius, president and CEO of Quicknet Technologies, Inc., agrees that the roles of distributors and resellers will be emphasized, not diminished, in the hosted business model. The company recently introduced MicroTelco, a program Reineccius says will benefit carriers and customers, while also protecting Quicknet's distribution channels, namely Internet telephony service providers (ITSPs). The company considers the program to be a new category for VoIP, allowing service providers to offer low-cost long-distance rates in the same capacity as a local phone company sells PSTN services. Through the service, customers can choose from multiple service providers for the best rates or quality of service available for VoIP calls and IP faxing. If one provider is unavailable, the service automatically selects the next best available provider based on user specifications for quality and rates. The service also has a built-in billing solution from Quicknet that allows users to view their calling history online and add funds to their accounts at any time.

SYLANTRO SYSTEMS
Like many solution providers in the hosted communications market, Sylantro Systems is using its strongest reseller channel -- service providers -- to market its application switch and communication suite. The company also offers the ComConnections Partners Program to ensure interoperability among its various partners and to keep up with emerging standards. The company's ComMarketing Advantage Services give providers an array of options to accelerate adoption of advanced communication applications among their customers. Sylantro also works with Toshiba, which has an established network of revenue-ready interconnects, offering their service-provider customers an established sales force in addition to the product offering.

MOBILESTOP.COM
Wireless e-business enabler Mobilestop.com aims to unite service providers, carriers, and even sales channels in the wireless space with their potential customers through hosted portals. According to Mobilestop.com chief technology officer Arnthor Halldorsson, "The value proposition is tremendous." The Miami-based company (whose founders hail from Iceland) offers a solution that includes an e-commerce platform, multi-lingual and multi-currency support, and multiple sourcing and product fulfillment so Web operators can offer the best prices on wireless products and services without worrying about ordering and inventory management.

Halldorsson says that e-commerce enables the dealer chain, allowing Mobilestop.com customers to source their products from multiple vendors. Back-end functionality for connecting to a marketplace and posting and routing orders is also included.

Clearly, resellers will play a key role in bringing hosted communication services into the limelight. In fact, it can be argued that there's an even greater need for reseller and distribution channels in the communications ASP business model, as application providers pare down in-house personnel to focus on their core competencies.

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Although it's certainly not at the forefront of the hosted services I regularly hear about, phonecasting is an application that's beginning to gain acceptance. Typically, phonecasting or phone broadcasting allows a service provider to stream Internet-based audio to a landline or mobile telephone for providing news, entertainment, shopping, and advertising. Listeners access and control the content through voice commands.

PhoneRun is one of the first companies to enable phonecasting, and through a partnership with WorldCom, it is creating phonecasting stations at call centers and on mobile phones. These stations act as voice portals, allowing callers to access phonecasting services through voice commands, and to utilize features like creating their own radio or news stations with custom programming choices.

Mobilee (originally called Shoutmail), a wireless Internet infrastructure and ASP, offers a suite of phonecasting solutions called the Mobilee Network. The Network uses speech recognition, applications, and telecom infrastructure to direct audio content to mobile phones for advertising and mobile commerce. The product suite, aimed at broadcasters, Web content providers, and carriers, uses Nuance speech recognition for voice-activated commands. The Mobilee Network supports VoiceXML as well as streaming audio formats like RealNetworks and Microsoft Windows Media. The company is working with Lycos to develop a voice portal offering.

A new company called SoundBite Communications also offers a service they describe as phone broadcasting, which they are providing in a consumer model, a consumer business model, and an enterprise business-to-business model. The consumer model enables streaming entertainment, news, and advertising content, and the company worked on the "Rock The Vote" advertising campaign last year, streaming messages from performing artists like Jewel and Puff Daddy. The consumer model also offers interactive options so listeners can obtain more information or connect directly to advertisers. Consumer business features include group broadcasts and meeting scheduling, and SoundBite plans to market its services to vertical markets like news services and financial services on the enterprise side.

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