Front Porch and Foundry Partner

Foundry's ServerIron switches add redundancy and fault tolerance to Front Porch's PorchLight technology. PorchLight enables ISPs to build portals and serve ads to their customers.

by Wayne Kawamoto [August 16, 2000]

Front Porch Communications announced that it is partnering with Foundry Networks, a leader in high-performance, end-to-end switching and routing solutions, to further expand the benefits and scalability of its PorchLight technology.

Under the terms of the partnership, Foundry has specifically enabled its suite of ServerIron Internet traffic and content management switches to optimize traffic flows and provide high-performance, fault-tolerant capabilities in large networks utilizing a combined Front Porch/Foundry solution.

The PorchLight is a specialized TCP/IP-based server that incorporates the company's proprietary software. The PorchLight comes in the form of a small box that the company says will install easily in any ISP network or control center. Proprietary PorchLight features include InfoSplash, InfoBurst, Server Select, ISP Announcement, and PageMelding.

InfoSplash and InfoBurst are windowing technologies that, coupled with subscriber-profiling technologies, may change the way customers receive local and national advertisements. The company says that new revenue streams generated by these advertisements can help to offset lower dial-up fees and generate additional revenue for an ISP's business.

According to the company, its ServerSelect enables ISPs to profitably redirect subscriber traffic to the site of one of Front Porch's portal partners. The company's PageMelding promises to allow ISPs to co-brand the portal site with their logo as well as other information they want to communicate to subscribers. With ServerSelect and PageMelding, the company says that ISPs can make money while customers gain access to new content co-branded by the ISP.

ISP Announcement is supposed to give ISPs the power to immediately notify subscribers of any urgent and critical information. Customers may be notified immediately of impending systems upgrades, outages, or other service activities. Finally, TrueTrak is the company's online administration tool that it says gives ISPs control over how customers take advantage of PorchLight services. According to Front Porch, TrueTrak reports may be used to track usage of an ISP's customer base, and estimate revenue generation.

"The PorchLight* allows ISPs of any size to send content tailored to specific Web users, while keeping anonymity and privacy completely intact," says Zachary Britton, CEO of Front Porch. "The benefits for our ISP partners are lucrative new revenue streams, reduced customer service costs, and enhanced subscriber satisfaction."

"Front Porch's innovative PorchLight technology allows ISPs to improve customer satisfaction by delivering customized service messages to subscribers," added Britton. "The company's technology also enables ISPs to generate revenue as it creates greater subscriber exposure to targeted, meaningful Internet advertising, and provides value-add to subscribers by channeling them to content-rich Web sites."

"Foundry's ServerIronXL Web switch helps ease the escalating volume of Internet traffic overload and reduces the burden of server farm management, allowing Web services to scale to their fullest potential," said Bobby Johnson, president and CEO of Foundry. "Our relationship with Front Porch is a natural extension of our switching capabilities as we continually seek new ways to provide value to both our existing and prospective customers. We worked closely with Front Porch to achieve compatibility with the PorchLight technology, and provide a complete solution enabling high-performance traffic management with extensive reliability and flexibility for large ISP customers."

Pricing and Availability
PorchLight is available now. Pricing depends on configuration.

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