Broadview Networks to expand Upstate

SYRACUSE - Broadview Networks, Inc., a national provider of voice and Internet connections for businesses, has decided to offer its bundled product of voice, Internet, data, and hardware systems to companies in the upstate New York region.

Brian Crotty, president and COO of Broadview - a privately owned company with annual revenue in excess of $250 million - says the bundled product allows businesses to meet all their communication needs from a single carrier.

"Hardware solutions and network solutions are provided through one source, eliminating the need to deal with multiple communication providers," Crotty says. "If there is a problem with the phone system or Internet connection, Broadview is able to quickly and easily rectify the issue through one of our network centers."

Broadview employees enjoy total network access through a software program called Open Cafe, which eliminates the need for various customer service departments. Vern Kennedy, a former Bell Atlantic executive, developed Open Cafe, and subsequently founded the Manhattan-based Broadview

Networks in 1996. Kennedy left the company in 2004.

Crotty says the bundledproduct offering meets the needs of the entire customer market, but specializes in providing services to small and medium-sized niche businesses with six to 150 phone lines. The product encompasses local and long distance voice services, highspeed data, integrated access, and hosted and premises-based phone systems. Broadview Networks has experienced almost 100 percent year over year growth in revenue associated with this product.

Robert (Brett) Brady, Syracuse sales manager for Broadview Networks, compares purchasing the bundled product to buying a car, and says it is difficult to place a specific price on the product.

"The unit itself has a certain price, but when you add peripherals, the price goes up and down," Brady explains. "Think of it as buying a Cadillac at X price, but if you purchase 100 Cadillacs at one time, the X price per unit is not going to be the same."

Brady says the bundled product is affordable when compared to products with similar capabilities. The company's consultative sales approach begins with a needs assessment and cost analysis.

"It's a high-end product," Brady says. "Wherever you are in the world, as long as you can get online, the bundled product enables you to work as if you were at your desk."

The corporate viewpoint of the bundled product echoes Brady's assessment.

"It's an entire suite of traditional telecommunication services," Crotty explains. "Customers receive a primary point of contact and consolidated billing for all services, and are backed by a full-service provider that has the ability to support then as they grow."

The expansion was prompted by customer demand and the success of the bundled product in other northeastern markets. "This service has enjoyed great success for the last seven years in the downstate market," Crotty says. "The simplicity of the service is appealing to many businesses."

While Broadview Networks services numerous one- and two phoneline customers, the company targets businesses with four or more lines for the bundled product service.

"The more products a company buys from us, the more savings they will receive," Crotty says. "We have over 50,000 business customers using 400,000 access lines."

Broadview Networks serves 13 markets in seven northeastern states, with headquarters based in Rye Brook, N.Y.

The company's Syracuse office is located at 224 Harrison St., Suite 214, and employs 22 full-time employees. There are more than 850 Broadview employees companywide.

Some of the Syracuse businesses that currently use Broadview's bundled product include the U.S. district courts, Syracuse Housing Authority, the Catholic Diocese of Syracuse, and Adirondack Colonial Furniture.

Crotty doesn't want to stop there. "We plan on expanding as long as there is a demand for our products and services," he says.

The Syracuse Housing Authority obtained Broadview as a vendor a year ago, after numerous recommendations from other housing authorities statewide.

"Broadview listened to our needs and provides absolutely reliable service at a fraction of the price we were paying before," says David Paccone, Syracuse Housing Authority management analyst. "We manage 2,500 apartments and most of our tenants are elderly or disabled. We are their one lifeline to the outside and in the case of an emergency, we can't have the phone system go down."

The Housing Authority mans the 140 central office phones from 8 a.m. to midnight every day. An answering service responds to calls during the hours not covered by the agency.

According to Brady, Broadview has tripled in size the last several years, due to some lucrative acquisitions. The most recent was ATX Communications, a MidAtlantic company that provides integrated voice, data, and wireless solutions to businesses in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

The deal is in the process of being closed, projecting annual revenues of $400 million. Broadview currently generates annual revenues of $10 million in the Syracuse market.

In the Syracuse office alone, Brady obtains 40 to 50 new customers each month. Each customer's size and number of phone lines differs, but sales are growing steadily.

Broadview's main competitors in the area are Choice One Communications, PAETEC, TelCove, Northland Communications, and Time Warner.

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