Ikano Communications Opens Google and Microsoft Channels

The infrastructure provider to ISPs is adding an impressive array of services, something we've been advising ISPs to do for years.

by Alex Goldman ISP-Planet Managing Editor [May 8, 2008]

Salt Lake City, Utah-based IKANO Communications has been working with Mountain View, Calif.-based Google for about a year now, says Douglas Pollei, IKANO vice president for internet strategy and corporate development.

Google has plenty of services that ISPs might wish to offer. But the company doesn't want to deal directly with the vast majority of ISPs that have 100,000 subscribers or less, Pollei says.

"We can provision directly into Google apps," says Pollei. "We can offer branded GMail, Google Docs, websites, a calendar, Google Talk [an instant messaging application]."

IKANO can help ISPs build a portal with webmail access as well as the usual stocks, news, weather, and sports information. Pollei says that IKANO used to offer a homegrown portal, but now offers Google's instead.

IKANO and Postini
Of particular interest to ISPs is that anti-spam outfit that Google acquired a year ago, Postini.

"We're one of Postini's largest customers," says Pollei.

That means that IKANO can offer a significant discount to the average ISP, a discount that IKANO gets by virtue of its larger volume of orders. Pollei adds that ISPs get great discounts on all Google apps through IKANO. For the apps, he says, an ISP going alone could pay $50 per subscriber per year (over $4 per month), whereas an IKANO ISP customer would pay $1 or less per subscriber per month.

Postini, he adds, is priced separately, but IKANO offers similarly good discounts to an ISP versus the price of going to Postini direct.

When did you last update your portal?
ISPs, Pollei says, need to offer applications that the large providers are using to gain high value customers, especially mobile customers. Few ISPs are building their own smartphone applications, but Google has plenty.

"More people now buy laptops than desktop computers," says Pollei. "Kids are now getting mobility too."

Google also helps serve business customers, allowing IKANO to connect an ISP's e-mail to a subcriber's Blackberry (if they already have a data plan).

In addition to the application hooks in various Google apps, Google has Android, an open standard for mobile phone applications that is evolving but is intended to be good for competition.

All of these options and services raise questions. Will outsourcing your e-mail and services allow customers to rely on you less? Will it be easier for them to leave you?

We can only ask these questions in the most general terms. You will have specific questions related to your ISP's business structure and network design.

The big picture, Pollei says, is that IKANO is thinking of the ISP. "We're trying to reach what we call the 'server-hugger ISP', someone who doesn't want to give up control. Our servie allows for stickiness. Customers can migrate into Google apps easily. It also allows flexibility. We help distribute an automatic tool that can change POP and IMAP settings on the fly, so that customers can check their e-mail in an Outlook or Outlook Express environment."

IKANO's call center is now, Pollei says, "Google app centric." This means that ISPs can rely on the call center to help their customers with Google apps, and can get help themselves from the call center if they're developing a custom app.

In the future, IKANO is looking forward to adding Google file storage to its portfolio, and is watching Google's VoIP plans with interest. Google acquired Grand Central a year ago, giving it find me follow me one phone number service.

And much more
We also ask after DSL Extreme, the ultra popular DSL ISP serving California that IKANO acquired. Pollei says that the founders moved on and built an interesting VoIP startup, PhonePower.

More significantly, the company now offers Microsoft Exchange hosting under the DNAMail brand, and that service will soon be available to ISPs through a channel program. DNAMail recently upgraded from Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2007, Pollei says, giving it additional apps like Microsoft Sharepoint.

Pollei says that the big picture is that businesses are ever more comfortable with using services offered through the internet cloud, presenting value added opportunities to ISPs.

So you're neutral in the Microsoft-Google rivalry? Pollei says that each company's applications have their place. Microsoft's are more customizable but require a more skilled and trained user. "We're exhibiting at HOSTINGCON in July in Chicago, and I'm speaking about where services in the cloud are going. We'll be one of the few wholesalers at the show that can do both Google and Microsoft."

As to the future, Pollei says that we should keep an eye on the relationship with AT&T. An announcement of a strategic partnership last year, he says, was just the beginning. So what's next? We weren't told, but we're guessing it's about mobile services.

— End