Doing Service Right

Atreus Systems Corp. helps ISPs plan and launch broadband services, and also helps ISPs provide service and track network performance once the product is launched.

by Jim Wagner
ISP-Lists Managing Editor

As high-speed Internet access becomes more of a commodity throughout the world, service providers are going to need to add services to keep their bandwidth-hungry customers happy.

Atreus Systems Corp. has two products, xLink and SmartStart. xLink helps ISPs track and service customers, and SmartStart helps ISPs plan and launch broadband services. Doing both of these right should, the company feels, help ISPs retain the customers they have worked so hard to obtain.

That's a pretty tall order.

The relationship between ISPs and their brother companies, whether it be a local ISP, competitive local exchange carrier or regional bell operating center, has never been an easy one, with each trying to get customers from the other.

Atreus Systems gets its name from an ancient Greek king Atreus (Britannica entry here) who served up his brother's children at a feast. But that isn't what company officials want you to remember when you think of their product, it was Atreus' performance after the unfortunate feast, where the popular king ruled wisely and for many years.

Tailor-Made Services
Atreus' two products are tailor-made to let service providers deliver and manage broadband content like streaming media, virtual private networks, e-commerce, and voice messaging to their customers.

To do this, a Linux or Unix box with the content software pre-installed is sent to the provider who incorporates it with their network operations center. Traffic is then routed through the rack-mountable server, which delivers the broadband content. It's compatible with the different types of high-speed, from fixed wireless to xDSL.

Andrea Baptiste, vice president of sales and marketing and co-founder, said DSL applications have proven the most effective when paired with its products.

"Our products have a flexible architecture, letting providers set up the boxes as a mini-POP or installed at each building," Baptiste said. "We find that DSL is a popular solution for in-building units like hotels and multi-tenant units. Our customers can use the existing copper wires in the building and with little modification have up and running."

Taking Advantage Of High-Speed
Say a guest is staying at a hotel and hooks up his laptop to the hotel's Internet port, i.e., the telephone jack, Baptiste said. In addition to instant high-speed access, the guest is logged in at the hotel's NOC and will be remembered the next time he logs on at the hotel, whether tomorrow or next year.

Another advantage of Atreus' product, using the hotel again as an example, Baptiste said, is when guests stay as part of a convention. Not only does the system remember the guest, it gives him the itinerary of the convention events. Not able to make one of the lectures? No problem: the lecture can be Web cast for immediate or delayed broadcast to the guest's room.

It's these kind of services that build customer loyalty and bring them back the next time, Baptiste said.

That's where Atreus hopes to fit in. Many of the larger ISPs value its success or failure on its customer acquisition rates, but just as important is retention. "Keeping a customer is a lot easier than finding a customer" is not a new idea.

Partners
Atreus' partners include: AccessLan Communications (intelligent DSLAMs), RCNetworks (which specializes in products for buildings), OnePath Networks (a convergence company), B2B Connect (also specializes in products for buildings), Viagate (multimedia over copper wires), Accelerated Networks (interoperability and VoDSL), and Copper Mountain Networks (the DSL manufacturer that needs no introduction).

For Example
Canadian Internet service provider and competitive local exchange carrier Rodin Communications has more than 2,500 subscribers. But they've found an entirely new market to exploit by teaming up with local hotels and testing the xLINK product for the past three months. Each hotel has between 100 and 300 rooms.

Paul Tustanoff, Rodin director of network sales and marketing, said his company has already committed to purchasing Atreus' product for the national rollout, which he hopes will expand throughout North America.

"There's been nothing but positive feedback since we installed them," Tustanoff said. "Aside from the normal configuration setup time at the hotels, everything has been running very well. So well, we've already committed to expanding the service for all of Canada and North America, whatever the market will allow."

Rodin's business customers have also been using xLINK product, Tustanoff said, which lets them get rid of the whole local area network problem by letting Rodin handle it on an outsourcing basis.

Using The Hybrid Approach
According to a report by Cahners In-Stat (called "IP Services Strategy Analysis" (#TX0005SP)), service providers need to combine market expansion and market enhancement strategies to attract a new profile of customers. The report also said that providers who successfully adopt this hybrid strategy increase their customer loyalty and profitability.

Mike Lowe, In-Stat advanced carrier strategies service senior industry analyst, said in the report that access is no longer enough.

"The winners in the DSL race will be those that provide a combination of varied access products and IP services," Lowe said. "It is no longer enough to just provide access, as my access is no different than yours. The next battleground for DSL has been laid out and if a carrier expects to be a player in the DSL space, they will need to differentiate through value-added services. Otherwise, they'll be nothing more than a broker of lines."

Although the report was slanted for DSL providers, the lesson can be applied to anyone that offers high-speed access. Your customers, and your accounts receivable department, will thank you applying this lesson to your ISP.

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