EarthLink Makes a Sticky Business of Remote Access

EarthLink's adding telecommuting and remote access to increasingly plain broadband access to make the service sweeter, as the ISP hopes to be a sticky one-stop shop for broadband business services.

by Patricia Fusco ISP-Planet Managing Editor [June 10, 2002]

EarthLink, Inc. has found an interesting way to provide remote access to telecommuters and business people on the go without having to set up costly remote access systems to private business networks. The Atlanta-based Internet service provider teamed up with Expertcity, Inc. in a co-branding deal to offer its flagship Web-based service, GoToMyPC.

Based in Santa Barbara, Calif., Expertcity developed a Web-based remote access solution that offers telecommuters secure access to the contents of their computers from any Internet-connected PC—without having to pre-configure files to set up a tunneled connection.

It works like this
EarthLink subscribers enter through a SSL-encrypted website hosted by Expert City. The Web pages are dynamically generated by Expertcity servers, which run a Java servlet engine. But the secure Web server is only used to establish the connection. User sessions are routed through the company's scalable communication servers. This also makes the service firewall friendly. Network administrators don't have to change or open ports in a firewall to provide remote access.

The direct benefits of widespread broadband uptake are many. For a national ISP like EarthLink, the more broadband users it connects, the greater the subscription revenues it collects. And the more telecommuting types EarthLink can connect, the better. Because small businesses are in the drivers seat when it comes to telecommuting.

According to a recent report from the International Telework Association and Council (ITAC), the number of employees who telecommute in the U.S. increased to 28.8 million in 2001, up 17 percent from 2000 estimates. Additional research from IDC estimates that the remote and mobile worker population in the U.S. will grow to 55.4 million by 2004. Research from Parks Associates estimates that 80 percent of U.S. broadband connections serve at least one telecommuter working from home.

Telecommuters are particularly appealing target market because they are connected to a business—usually a small business that might not have the technical know-how on staff to set up and secure a virtual private network. Research from In-Stat/MDR indicates that small business users account for nearly 34 percent of business broadband subscribers at then end of 2001.

By offering a compelling value-added business service like Web-based remote access for telecommuters, EarthLink is tapping into two hotspots of market activity—small business services and high-speed access to the Internet.

EarthLink is particularly well suited to connect small businesses with employees working outside of a conventional office environment. Through various partnerships and associations, the fourth largest ISP in the U.S. is capable of providing no only DSL and cable modem connectivity, but also fixed wireless high-speed services.

In April, the company reported that of its 4.9 million subscribers, more than 500,000 are broadband users. Based on analysts' estimates, as many as 400,000 of these subscribers could be telecommuters and 170,000 could be small business connections.

The bottom line

Web-based remote access is a particularly sticky value-added business service for EarthLink. Pricing for the Web-based remote access service depends on the numbers of computers that need to be connected. An individual PC can be set up for just under $20 a month with no activation fees. Of course users can save about $5 a month by subscribing to a one-year term of service for just under $180. Price breaks are based on the number of computers connected and the term of service.

Telecommuting is a direct benefit of Internet connectivity. But let's face it—you don't want to review the contents of your hard drive through a narrowband connection. Expertcity's GoToMyPC service requires picking up a broadband connection from EarthLink, and studies say that it's the broadband customers who stick. That's sweet for EarthLink.

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