Rockstar's Gearbox Connection Kit 3.0.1 offers client license tracking and enhanced broadband scripting for dialup and broadband internet service providers. An alliance with Rodopi adds features for Rodopi customers.

by Wayne Kawamoto [July 3, 2002]

Rockstar Software, a provider of subscriber access and management solutions, recently announced the release of its Gearbox Connection Kit 3.0.1. According to the company, the Gearbox Connection Kit is signup and subscriber management software for Internet service providers that improves subscriber-lifecycle management over dialup, DSL, cable, wireless, and satellite channels, and is designed to reduce the cost of subscriber acquisitions, lower support costs, and increase profit margins. The new release is based on Rockstar customer feedback and includes support of Netscape 6.2, optional client license tracking and custom subscriber updates.

The company says that ISPs want to build profit margins without spending additional money on services and management costs. And for this, the Gearbox Connection Kit is designed to help providers increase their subscriber bases while reducing support and management costs.

Key features found in the Gearbox Connection Kit 3.0.1 include:

• Custom subscriber updating
  Allows ISPs to generate custom updates based on their subscribers' existing configurations.
  
  
• Enhanced ability to diagnose and repair faulty connections
  Lets broadband ISPs detect dynamically assigned DNS servers and gives customers using DHCP Ethernet the ability to perform network diagnoses.
  
  
• Enhanced broadband scripting
  
  
• Netscape 6 support
  Gearbox is designed to let ISPs install, configure, provide dashboard launch buttons, and diagnose problems for Netscape 6.2.
  
  
• Client license tracking
  This optional feature promises to give ISPs the ability to simplify online accounting.

"Our goal at Rockstar is to make software that helps our customers, and to continually release solutions that match this ever-expanding industry," said Brian Chen, CEO Rockstar Software. "Paying close attention to our customer's needs played an important role in developing this version of the Gearbox Connection kit."

Rockstar recently formed a strategic alliance with Rodopi Software, a provider of billing, provisioning, and customer care automation software, to offer Rockstar's Gearbox Enhanced Online Signup application to service providers.

According to the companies, this agreement will benefit customers who want to improve ease of use for subscribers and automate their operations to allow for growth. As a result of the agreement, Web-based online registration and signup from Rockstar's Gearbox should seamlessly integrate with Rodopi's automated provisioning and billing back-end management system to help Rodopi/Rockstar customers increase acquisition for ISP services.

The companies claim that ISPs lose lots of potential subscribers during the signup process. This obstruction relates directly to the complexity of designing a good Web-based signup component. The Gearbox Enhanced Signup Application is designed to provide easily navigable pages that can walk users through the signup process and correct common mistakes, which, in turn, may minimize churn where it is likely to occur. The alliance between Rodopi Software and Rockstar Software may also provide an enhanced signup application that lets ISPs increase new-user acquisition and offer a better subscriber experience.

"ISPs face the challenging task of signing up users who are often new to the Internet and computers," said Art Ekroos, Executive Vice President of Rodopi Software. "Anything we can do to assist our customers in making this process easier and more automated fulfills our mission to allow our customers to achieve growth and profitability without the need to invest in expensive development."

Availability and pricing
The Gearbox Connection Kit 3.0.1 is available now. Pricing follows a license model that is based on number of installations. Volume and promotional discounts are available.

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