IEA Software's Emerald Management Suite, now in version 5, comes in six different editions for everyone from hotspot providers to resellers.

by Jeff Goldman [March 5, 2008]

IEA Software was founded in 1997 when Verio bought the ISP assets of the service provider Internet Engineering Associates, Inc., and IEA Software was spun off as an independent company. IEA's suite of products now includes the Emerald Management Suite for billing and customer management, the RadiusNT/X RADIUS server, and the Air Marshal captive portal solution.

Company development manager Dale E. Reed, Jr. says the Emerald Management Suite, now in version 5, has grown far beyond its original focus on ISP billing. "We've been able to make the software less of an internet service provider oriented package, and make it be able to take care of the needs of people who need more of a generic recurring billing solution as well," he says.

Emerald 5, Reed says, is now capable of much more than just billing. It includes a trouble ticketing system, an online customer self-care solution, and a fully integrated sign-up server. It also includes integrated support for a wide range of Web hosting control panels, credit card processors, mail servers, FTP servers and news servers. "We've also added integration with VoIP providers, so that when you add the user to Emerald it can automatically provision their VoIP account," he says.

Emerald by IEA Software (509) 444-BILL sales@iea-software.com

Reed says that's what really sets Emerald apart from the competition. "We have so many components that are included with Emerald that you don't have to go to other vendors to put pieces together," he says. "All those pieces come from a single vendor—and you get support from a single vendor."

A range of options
Six different versions of Emerald 5 are available, targeted at different markets. Emerald Basic, aimed at non-ISPs, doesn't include the company's RadiusNT/X solution, and is not designed to integrate into other systems—it's targeted specifically at customers that need a recurring billing solution but don't need the ISP functionality. Similarly, Emerald Express includes the management aspects of the solution but not the billing. "It's for those service providers who need to manage users but don't need to bill them," Reed says.

Reed describes Basic and Express as "introductory editions," while the remaining four versions are more appropriate for ISPs. Emerald Standard includes billing, RadiusNT/X, user management and authentication, with some integration options. Emerald Hotspot, targeted at WISPs and hotspot providers, includes the company's Air Marshal solution. "Air Marshal is a Linux box that sits between all your wireless users and the internet," Reed says. "It forces them to authenticate, controls their speed, how long they can be on—and it's a full RADIUS client. So it gives you that control over your wireless network, and it integrates directly into Emerald."

Emerald Professional, which Reed says is the most popular version of the software (it "seems to be the best price/performance for what ISPs want and need") is targeted specifically at ISPs that are managing their own equipment in addition to selling leased or resold services. And Emerald Enterprise is designed for wholesalers and resellers that want to host Emerald and offer it on a Software as a Service (SaaS) basis. "The Enterprise edition gives you the ability to bill your wholesalers as well," Reed says. "As the Emerald owner, you can bill your wholesalers for one rate, and they can bill their end users at a different rate."

Supporting additional services
A key upgrade in version 5, Reed says, is the ability to brand and theme all aspects of the interface. "We got a lot of requests from people who wanted to customize the web pieces in version 4, and it just wasn't available," he says. Support for Wi-Fi and VoIP, he notes, are also major additions to the solution—along with the reseller functionality provided in Emerald Enterprise. "And our rating engine was completely rewritten in version 5," he says. "That in itself is huge, because it allows you to rate and bill for anything you want… it has the ability to handle just about any data and scenarios that you want to throw at it."

The point, Reed says, is that the whole concept of an ISP is changing. "The 'I' is going away," he says. "You're not just an internet service provider any more—you're providing so many generic services. We have customers who are doing fiber to the home, and they're providing telephone services, they're providing video, cable, voice, internet—there are so many services out there, and you have to be able to rate all of those services, because they constantly change."

Reed says IEA Software makes it a priority to be as straightforward as possible regarding pricing and functionality, all of which is fully laid out on the company's website. "A lot of our competitors play games with customers," he says. "They want to find out who the customer is, and how much money they can get from the customer, before they'll tell them anything about the product or let them know what the pricing is. We don't play those games."

To that end, the company provides an online demo of the software on its website, and also offers a fully functional 45 day trial download of the solution. "And we give full support—telephone, e-mail, etc.—during the trial," Reed says. "We're so confident in our product that we want customers to take it, use it, and we'll give them full support, before they even pay us anything."

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