New business model for ASPs.

Broadband solution provider now focuses solely on customer needs.

WorldLink Technologies is abroadband solution provider in the New York tri-state area. Serving the small and midsized business market, we are a full-service solution provider offering high-speed, dedicated data solutions, including DSL (digital subscriber line), point-to-point, and wireless. But what's different about WorldLink is that we have organized ourselves as a virtual entity. This is an entirely new business model for ASPs (application service providers) like WorldLink, one that allows us to focus exclusively on our customers' needs.

We are a growing organization that has combined the resources of multiple companies, enabling us to do things we could not have done otherwise. Although WorldLink could provide an entire solution to the customer using in-house resources, we have chosen to partner with companies like NorthPoint Communications and Quadrix Solutions to provide the best possible solution. In other words, the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. NorthPoint is a competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) that provides high-speed Internet access via DSL technology, and Quadrix Solutions is a systems integrator that specializes in hosting complex Internet services.

WorldLink made an informed decision not to handle everything in house. Instead of being a jack-of-all trades, we chose to be the master of providing customer-oriented solutions. We deliver customized, value-added, turnkey communication solutions to solve our customers' specific business needs, while our partners address the technology issues.

Quadrix Solutions took the lead in formulating WorldLink's e-Strategy, advising us on the technologies upon which we could build the future of our business. The company's input was invaluable throughout the start-up period, during which Quadrix designed our network architecture, developed applications used to support our present broadband strategies, and engineered our back-office support system which manages the networks, systems, and applications that enable WorldLink to conduct business on the Internet.

We have partnered with NorthPoint to expand our services and footprint without changing our infrastructure. A single high-speed connection to the NorthPoint regional hub allows WorldLink to offer a range of dedicated data services to businesses throughout the New York metropolitan area. Using NorthPoint, we can enter new geographical markets and establish critical mass with minimal or no physical presence. This substantially reduces our time-to-market for deploying new services. With NorthPoint, WorldLink gets a pay-as-we-grow approach to expansion that eliminates the need for heavy capital investment and lets us center our attention on value-added services, not infrastructure development.

WorldLink has a director of technology in house who works with our partners to ensure that we are providing top-notch DSL access and have the best servers, configured for optimum performance. Together, our director of technology and our partners are continually evaluating the best technology, to maximize the efficiencies in our network.

Using a time-tested methodology, the Quadrix team drove the orderly evolution of the WorldLink network architecture. By outsourcing the design and ongoing support of our systems and network infrastructure, we have been able to develop a premier sales and marketing organization. We spend a good deal of time training our sales force so that it is technically proficient and clearly understands how the technology solutions we deliver can best benefit the customer.

We have found that, instead of internally focusing on evaluating, securing, and deploying the technology to implement the solutions that we offer our customers, it was more cost effective and advisable to hire a company which does this for a living, whose employees live and breathe in the advances of new technology. Unlike other consulting firms we've worked with, we don't have to explain our technology needs. And, since it is always ahead of the technology curve, we don't need to perform extensive research. Instead, we've concentrated our research on market trends and customer needs.

As a result, we were provided the support and technical expertise necessary for WorldLink to be competitive in emerging markets, such as virtual private networks (VPNs), Voice over IP (VoIP), and application hosting, which are expanding rapidly and which represent a vast source of new revenue for WorldLink.

Our customers are very receptive to VoIP because it is quite cost effective; and the union of voice traffic and Internet transport enables new applications, including streaming audio and video. For many of our customers, VPNs enable remote secure access via the Internet at reduced costs, which vastly improves our customers' ability to access their most important asset: information.

By outsourcing the technology element of our business, we have set WorldLink apart from the competition. Unlike other participants in the data-services market, WorldLink guarantees line speeds and network reliability, which enables businesses to connect remote offices and telecommuters securely and efficiently. We now have the technology infrastructure to offer services like VPN solutions, Web/server hosting, and e-commerce development, so that we can focus on the needs of our customers and make them more productive via integrated voice/data services on our broadband network.

Most of our customers do not have the time to focus on their technology needs. As a result, WorldLink diligently attempts to develop complete solutions and educate our customers about the advantages that technology can deliver. We offer "plain vanilla" DSL access, but the value to the customer, in terms of cost and functionality, is a bundled solution set. Customers need more than just a DSL connection to be more productive and efficient.

Most of our customers do not have an in-house IT staff, so our arrangement enables us to deliver 24x7 quality Internet services that address the unique business needs of our customers. Traditional ISPs often underestimate the importance of addressing specific customer needs, beyond providing an Internet connection.

Quadrix Solutions developed the tool set that we use to manage our core network equipment and the systems that our customers use to maintain their autonomy. Now, our customers have the flexibility and convenience of directly configuring a virtual circuit for a DSL connection or implementing Web site and e-mail changes. In essence, the company delivered a turnkey e-business solution to WorldLink, speeding our time-to-market for deploying value-added services.

Speed is the most critical component to an e-business. The Quadrix customer-centric management enables WorldLink to develop interactive solutions for our customers in real time. Many times, its management recommends solutions that save us money, which we have then invested in our next growth phase. This has accelerated the introduction of several products and services, enabling us to reinforce and build strong customer relationships and increase customer satisfaction and retention.

Outsourcing means getting the best people for the job. By leveraging the technical and business acumen of our partners, our customers get a tailored blend of customer service and technical proficiency that is difficult to find in the data-services market. Technology has transformed the essence and boundaries of our corporation, changing how our company does business. Combining technology, including high-speed Internet access, with the human capital, has led to an extremely successful business model. By being a virtual company, we facilitate the customer service process and reduce the sales cycle dramatically, which has been a key differentiating factor in our evolution.

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The Rubertis are executive directors of WorldLink Technologies, LLC, Parsippany, N.J.