Internet Communications Service Provider (Services)
Industry Background & Opportunity
The Appian Way Communications Network Strategy
Services
We create tailored solutions for our customers based on their business and technical requirements, modifying these solutions as our customers' needs evolve. Unlike many other ISPs that outsource their technical support to independent call centers, our highly reliable services are supported by our knowledgeable and responsive network experts, some of whom are the same professionals that implemented our network.
Our primary services include dedicated Internet access, co-location services, and managed application hosting. We also offer web hosting, e-mail services, and domain name services.
Our customer contracts require us to provide our services for a one-year, two-year, or three-year term and contain, among other things, a limited service level warranty related to the continuous availability of service on a 24-hours-per-day, seven-days-per-week basis, except for scheduled maintenance periods. This warranty provides a credit for free service for disruptions in our Internet access services. At the end of the term of a contract, a customer may elect to extend the contract's term on a month-to-month basis. Any change or upgrade in service, however, typically requires a new contract for a new term.
Internet Access
Our Internet access services are designed to deliver the ease of expansion, high availability, and performance required by moderate to high volume Internet operations that are central to a customer's business.
Co-Location
Through our co-location services, we provide secure space to house customer-owned Internet equipment. Based upon their business and technical requirements, customers may select from shared cabinet facilities, exclusive cabinets, or custom-built rooms with additional security features. All co-location facilities include dedicated electrical power circuits to ensure that we meet each customer's power requirements. Because the Internet operations of our co-location customers frequently require hardware and software upgrades, we give customers unlimited but secure access to their leased co-location space. Additional space, electrical power, and Internet services can be tailored to meet our customers' needs.
Our Trenton, New Jersey, data center houses the computers that operate the core functions of our business, including communications equipment, data storage and retrieval systems, security software and hardware, and related customer support. Our data center provides customers with a secure, climate-controlled facility that they cannot readily or inexpensively create at their own place of business. The data center contains:
- a power supply with a back-up generator
- fire suppression and containment capabilities
- raised floors
- fully redundant HVAC
- high levels of physical security
We offer the following co-location services:
- Switch Hotel—A dedicated, enclosed custom-built room with separate dedicated power circuits, providing additional security via key-card entry, access barriers, motion camera and tiles bolted to the floor.
- Cabinet Co-Location—Mid-level service providing an exclusive cabinet for the customer. This is an economical solution for customers co-locating multiple servers.
- Server Co-Location—Entry-level service providing an economical solution for customers co-locating a single server. The customer's server shares space in a cabinet with the servers of other customers.
We intend to open new data centers in Washington, D.C., Houston, San Francisco, Cincinnati, New York, Seattle and Miami before the end of 2000. We believe our data centers will be an important factor in attracting customers and marketing our data center services.
Managed Application Hosting
Our managed application hosting service, which we first introduced in September 1999, provides a server for the customer's exclusive use to install any software application the customer chooses. In addition, we will provide all required maintenance on the server hardware. This service, which is similar to the services being offered by computer service providers (CSPs) is targeted to businesses with high volumes of Internet traffic and with Internet-based applications and web services that are extremely important to their daily operations.
Unlike typical web hosting operations that host multiple customers' websites on a single server, we provide our managed application hosting services with only one customer per server. As a result, a customer need not be concerned about how its actions or applications might impact other customers' applications housed on the same server, or how its server might be affected by other customers' actions or applications.
Our managed application hosting services offer a suite of applications from leading software vendors that is designed to meet the Internet operations needs of middle market companies. We also offer proprietary e-commerce and web development software as additional options for our managed application customers. We presently offer these software products only in conjunction with our managed application hosting services. We implement the applications selected by the customer in our data center, configure them to meet the needs of the customer, and package them with a server, security, Internet access, back-up, and operational support. A customer may also use software applications it obtains from others on the server we provide to the customer in our data center.
Our managed application hosting services are compatible with the products of many leading hardware and software system vendors, including Cobalt Networks, VA Linux Systems, Hewlett-Packard Company, Sun Microsystems, Silicon Graphics, Microsoft Corporation, and Macromedia Corporation. This multi-vendor flexibility enables our customers to select their own technical solutions and to integrate their Internet operations with their existing information technology. We offer our customers four different levels of managed application hosting service that range from simple to comprehensive solutions, each of which can be tailored to meet the specific needs of a given customer. In addition, our customers can augment their services with hardware or software that we provide or software that they purchase directly from others.
The Portable, Instant Internet
Ever think about using the Internet "on the fly" to look up information or send a quick e-mail? How many times have you not gone online because of the inconvenience of sitting down at your PC, turning it on, waiting for it to boot, clicking on an ISP icon, and waiting again for your modem to dial in and connect?
But imagine simply picking up a device the size of a clipboard, switching it on, and being instantly online from the comfort of your couch, kitchen table, or backyard lounge chair. What if you could access the Internet when you wanted, where you wanted, without using a PC or an appliance that competes with your TV program?
A Powerful Concept for Portable Access
Using the National Semiconductor GEODE™, Appian Way Communications Network has developed AXCESS-NOW™, a working prototype for a powerful, convenient Internet access device that can make web browsing as easy as using the telephone. AXCESS-NOW™ will allow you to tap into the vast universe of information available on the Internet, wherever you are in and around the house.
For example, if you're in the kitchen, use AXCESS-NOW™ to find a great dinner recipe online in minutes. If you're working on your car and need to know the answer to a diagnostic problem, get online with AXCESS-NOW™ right in your garage. If you're watching baseball and want to compare stats or find out more about the team, AXCESS-NOW™ can connect you to the Internet quickly and conveniently.
AXCESS-NOW™ isn't designed to replace conventional PCs as a productivity tool. Rather, it complements the PC as a single-application device, making it more convenient for Internet users to send or receive e-mail, chat, or browse websites instantly. Its portability and ease of use delivers the ultimate Internet experience.
Design Features for Single Application Use
Appian Way Communications Network is providing AXCESS-NOW™ to its customers by designing specific applications and developing their own Internet access devices with a variety of features and connection options.
AXCESS-NOW™ employs sophisticated wireless (radio frequency) data transmission technology to make it a truly mobile device, providing convenience similar to that of a cordless telephone. As an example an AXCESS-NOW™ could be 1.3 pounds, 6" x 9" featuring an LCD touchscreen supporting high-resolution graphics. Additionally, it comes with a stylus, enabling users to navigate the web using AXCESS-NOW's touchscreen technology.
AXCESS-NOW™ is completely integrated and sealed: There are no internal parts that can be upgraded, added, or removed, and there is no software to load. It's designed with dual Universal System Bus (USB) ports to add peripheral options such as a keyboard, mouse, printer, or gaming input device. While there are no disk or floppy drives, and no PC Card slots, the design would support these items if a customer application needed to feature them.
The AXCESS-NOW™ design includes three components: The AXCESS-NOW™ mobile display tablet, the charging unit, and a base station transceiver that can be plugged into any power outlet near an RJ-11 telephone jack. Depending upon how clients choose a solution, it could use a coaxial cable Internet connection as well. The design can support DSL and ISDN as well as cable and legacy 56K interconnect protocols, and it is Ethernet network ready. Eventually, pending availability of such services, "persistent" or instant-on service similar to cable television will be available, enabling users to pick up AXCESS-NOW™ and turn it on with instant, no dial-up access.
The transceiver base station, which delivers the Internet data via RF signals to the hand-held AXCESS-NOW™ unit, can be tucked out of sight or placed among other home entertainment system components. The charging unit is an inconspicuous desktop cradle similar to those that come with cordless telephones.
AXCESS-NOW™ is designed to carry a charge for up to six hours, with 20 hours of standby (out of cradle) power. It has a range of up to 500 feet from the base station, allowing freedom of mobility throughout a house, office, or even the immediate neighborhood. It will provide the Internet access of a PC in a product as portable and easy to use as a cordless phone.
Making Information Access Available
There are still variables that will determine when such a device will find favor in a vast numbers of homes and offices around the U.S. For example, one factor in mass-market acceptance of AXCESS-NOW™ devices is the maturation of the telecom and datacom industry infrastructures to support persistent Internet connections.
But with the acceptance of devices such as the VCR, the cellular telephone, and compact disc/DVD players, the industry won't be far behind in providing the technology infrastructure necessary to make AXCESS-NOW™ a reality. And in time, these and other technological improvements will likely bring the cost of AXCESS-NOW™ devices into a comfortable price range for consumers. Similarly, Internet services are very likely to evolve into either cable- or telephone-based access standards that will make persistent Internet connections possible.
