Startup Readies Voice, Data Service Mix

FORT LEE, NEW JERSEY (07/19/2000) - Everest Broadband Networks is joining the growing ranks of the most local of local carriers - those that sell combined voice and data services to specific buildings.

The start-up adds a new twist by focusing on linking corporate customers to applications service providers (ASP) that can reduce the load of maintaining enterprise applications. Among ASPs whose services Everest will resell are Critical Path's for IP faxing and e-mail, Interliant's for Web hosting and Evoke's for Web conferencing.

Everest will sell bundles of services. Its initial high-end package, called BusinessPro Plus, is designed for five- to 100-desktop sites and costs US$245 to $345 per month. The offering includes best-effort Internet access that can burst to 10M bit/sec, 10 e-mail mailboxes and domain name registration.

By October, the company will offer Liquid Megabit for $400 to $500 per month, which includes dedicated Internet access in 1M bit/sec increments that users can adjust via a subscriber management platform. It also includes a subscription to Bloomberg's electronic financial feeds, a managed firewall, VPN, content filtering and virus protection.

Initial rollout of services will start in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Toronto, Houston, Dallas, St. Louis, Baltimore and Miami.

At first, Everest will resell long-distance voice services from Global Crossing. In about six months it plans to set up its own packet-based local voice services. The company is waiting for the technology to prove itself, says Joseph Varello, Everest's vice president of marketing.

Tenants in buildings Everest services will plug their local router or switch into a 100M bit/sec Ethernet port in a switch that Everest installs somewhere in the building. The company calls that switch an Intelligent Service Node that aggregates and prioritizes traffic from all the customers in the building and backhauls it to Everest points of presence.

Everest plans to scale its network based on how many takers it gets in each building. So for smaller buildings, tenants might share a T-1 uplink to an Everest POP. That connection could be boosted to a T-3 or even a fiber feed depending on demand, Varello says.

The Intelligent Service Nodes are managed for Everest by Edgix, a firm that manages content delivery for ISPs.

Everest: everestbroadband.com.

Join the newsletter!

Or

Sign up to gain exclusive access to email subscriptions, event invitations, competitions, giveaways, and much more.

Membership is free, and your security and privacy remain protected. View our privacy policy before signing up.

Error: Please check your email address.

More about BloombergCritical PathEdgixEverest Broadband NetworksGlobal CrossingInterliantMegaBitSEC

Show Comments
[]