ANS, Netcom market to small firms
Posted by Webhost - 16/07/97 at 02:07 amPerhaps because they seem less glamorous than either home consumers or Fortune
100 markets, small and medium-sized businesses sometimes are overlooked in the
rush by high-tech companies to wire the world.
But the fast growth and economic power of smaller businesses is enormous, and
the Internet industry is starting to see their moneymaking potential.
As an example, two Net giants, ANS Communications and Netcom On-Line
Communications Services (NETC), each announced programs to bring more small
businesses to the Net.
Netcom today launched a service that it said would simplify the connectivity
and Web hosting needs of its customers, many of whom are smaller firms. Dubbed
the Netcom Identity Pack, it offers dial-up Net access and a 15MB Web site
through a single invoice. Through a partnership with InterNIC, customers will
get confirmation in one business day confirmation for a Net domain
registration.
The service costs $70 a month with a set-up fee of $50.
In another announcement, ANS Communications, an America Online company,
launched a national reseller partner program. ANS seeks to capture a larger
slice of the business market, typically Fortune 2000 firms. But those include
the ranks of the midsized business world.
The program provides resellers with training, contact with ANS reseller account
managers, and advertising and marketing support. Services available to resellers
include dedicated Net access over ANSNet, one of the largest TCP/IP backbone
networks. It also includes 56 kbps, fractional T1, and ANS T1 connections.
The deal gives value-added resellers a new partner for expanding in the market
for Net products and services while giving ANS a way to extend its revenue
stream, analysts said.
ANS is hardly ignoring the corporate giants, however. It says that its clients
include 23 of the Fortune 500. “There’s so much opportunity in this space” in
general, said Paul Fiore, director of the reseller channel for ANS.
