Event
Summary
On April 20, 2000, USinternetworking, Inc. (USi, Nasdaq: USIX), a leading
Application Service Provider (ASP) and AT&T (NYSE: T) announced the launch
of their joint marketing and technology agreement in the D.C., Maryland,
and Northern Virginia area.
The
companies are jointly marketing and delivering ASP services to mid-market,
high-growth and large companies. As a core component of USi's Global Services
Platform (USi GSP) AT&T's domestic and international frame, ATM and IP
services are used to connect and deliver functionality to USi clients.
AT&T is also the preferred network provider to USi clients for these services.
USi will leverage AT&T's services to expand USiSAN (Storage Area Network),
providing wide area networked storage that maximizes uptime for online
companies.
Market
Impact
"As a Platinum member in AT&T's Ecosystem for ASPs, and a market leader
and innovator, USi gives us strategic access to the ASP market," said
Ken Sichau, President of AT&T Business Services Sales. "As the network
becomes the environment for business, AT&T's Ecosystem and USi's GSP and
SAN solutions combine to provide quick and easy high-performing and reliable
network-based applications."
"On
a day-to-day basis, our agreement with AT&T represents further benefits
to our unique ASP-specific infrastructure as well as business commitments
to enhance our end-to-end solutions and offerings as well as continue
to grow our client base," said Chris McCleary, Chairman and CEO of USinternetworking.
As
reported previously, AT&T and USinternetworking are functioning in a nascent
market. The strategic relationship is a natural extension of both companies'
interests in supporting the application service provider model. We expect
continued geographic expansion of the USi and AT&T solution set, as well
as joint marketing initiatives as each company taps new market segments
(i.e., related vertical markets).
User
Recommendations
Companies located in the Northern Virginia area who are considering an
outsourced application model should take a look at the USi/AT&T solution.
An important factor when evaluating any potential Application Service
Provider is their technical infrastructure and connectivity to the Internet.
AT&T's "Ecosystem" boasts significant technical architecture and bandwidth.
This coupled with USi's broad application offerings make it an attractive
solution.
Companies outside the geography might evaluate the AT&T/USi architecture
and use it to compare similar offerings. For more information please see
our news analysis articles: USinternetworking: One Suite ASP, published
in March and AT&T's EcoSystem published in February.