Trickle your fancy

Corporate interest in the Internet will grow as the businesspotential of intranets becomes clearer, writes Steve Gold

Although there has been a flood of consumer interest in the Internet, at the corporate end of the market there has been barely a trickle. This lack of corporate interest is all down to the lack of real-world applications that use the Internet for business.

But one area where the Internet can serve the corporate world is intranets - the use of the global TCP/IP network as a virtual Wan for inter-Lan traffic. Analysts expect the intranet market to outstrip the Internet market over the next few years, possibly by a factor of four.

The reason is plain to see - even the simplest leased line connections within the UK are expensive. When leased lines are rented from the telecoms majors on an international basis, costs begin to skyrocket. Corporate intranets are a growing area of the networking market, but few resellers seem geared up to capitalise on the their potential revenue.

According to a report from Forrester Research, special services on the Internet will replace frame relay and private line networks as the platform of choice for corporate wide-area connectivity applications. Several classes of services from Internet service providers will encourage the transition.

The report predicts that classes will include real-time access, a zero-latency videoconferencing-ready class that will comprise five per cent of the total market; first class, to comprise 20 per cent of the market and have guaranteed end-to-end bandwidth; and bulk rate, representing 75 per cent of the market and resembling the class of service currently available on the Internet.

Last month at the Networld and Interop show in Atlanta, with a parallel launch by its European operation in Paris, IBM took the wraps off a portfolio of services under the umbrella title of managed data network services (MDNS).

MDNS - which will be available globally - is something of a rival to the BT/MCI Concert service. According to Big Blue, MDNS will 'provide customers with global solutions for network management, design, installation, security as well as value-added services'.

The idea behind MDNS is that IBM and its reseller network act as a one-stop shop for networking services whether an organisation has basic comms requirements or complex intranet and Wan requirements.

IBM intends to offer what it describes as a transparent virtual network for all of its customer companies by means of its global network, coupled with leased line and other local comms links. Although the underlying global network will operate using frame relay technology, protocol conversion will allow almost any Lan, Wan or similar datacoms protocol to be used. IBM expects TCP/IP and SNA, already an IBM mainstay, to be popular protocols.

In effect, says IBM, MDNS adds three high-speed networking options to its global network services. MDNS includes consulting guidance, network design, management, installation and maintenance, and other services in support of end-to-end networking solutions.

'This family of wide area network services is designed for customers who need more than just raw bandwidth and data connectivity,' says Roger Dudley, general manager of IBM's global network. He says the company's experience in datacoms will allow it to offer the latest networking technology in conjunction with a range of complementary services.

IBM's MDNS customers will be allowed to choose from private data networks designed and managed for a variety of protocols as well as the value-added services they require. These include email, EDI, file transfer, firewall services, remote dial access, industry specific solutions like continuous replenishment for the retail industry, and access to third-party information sources and providers.

IBM is not the only company climbing on the intranet bandwagon. Cambridge-based Uunet Pipex has signed a memorandum of understanding with Novell to deliver Pipeware Internet services, a co-branded range of Internet services for Novell customers and resellers.

Eugene Forrester, Internet/ intranet market development manager at Novell, says the agreement sees the coming together of the biggest vendor of Lan operating systems and the largest corporate Internet service provider in the UK.

'Both Novell and Pipex hold market-leading positions with UK corporates.

Their existing and future customers can now easily take advantage of the Internet through this partnership,' he explains.

Martin Temple, manager of products and services at Pipex, says the marketing deal between the two companies is necessary, simply because marketing is long past the stage when any single aspect of networking can be considered in isolation. 'Companies are looking for solutions to all their needs, from Lan to Wan and out into the Internet,' he says.

In Peterborough, Imminus, the packet data network spin-off from Midland Bank, has unveiled the industry's first managed dial-up intranet service.

According to officials at the company, the service, which was announced at the Networks 96 show this summer, allows users to establish their own virtual Wans through which they can access their Lan accessible services and resources.

Linda Wilkinson, MD of Imminus, describes the service as allowing users to access document sharing and groupware facilities, as well as supporting connection to Web sites and the resources attached to them.

'Being a dial-up services brings cost advantages,' she says. Users will also benefit from the company's telecoms licence that allows it to provide 'fast, end-to-end connections through PPP, a single-access number for each user, regardless of where in the UK the Imminus node is located', she explains.

According to Wilkinson, Imminus has implemented its dial-up Intranet service using US Robotics' enterprise hub technology. The hubs are linked to Imminus' nodes in London, Birmingham and Manchester. Dial-up service is provided at analogue modem speeds up to 33,600bps, as well as 64,000bps using ISDN links.

High Wycombe-based firm Insignia Solutions has unveiled Ntrigue 2, which it claims is the most comprehensive intranet Web application software available. David Angwin, European marketing manager at Insignia, says the package gives companies the ability to establish an internal Web presence.

The package is billed as allowing companies to embed Windows applications into their intranet sites so that applications such as databases or spreadsheets become instantly available whenever the pages are activated.

According to Insignia, the software allows users to run Windows applications such as Microsoft Office and Exchange across the Internet, so providing a Windows application server for delivering the so-called network computer (NC) today.

The plan is to allow Ntrigue users to run virtual applications on their NC, rather than just access networked information.

'Ntrigue lets companies exploit the power of intranets by combining content-rich Web pages with mission-critical Windows applications,' Angwin explains. 'The result is that the user has an easily accessible information source right on their desktop.'

Angwin claims that Ntrigue is the fastest and easiest Windows application server system on the market, so allowing corporates 'to take advantage of the latest Windows and intranet technologies while reducing costs and increasing control'. Prices for Ntrigue start at $1,950 for five concurrent users.

Servicing the datacoms and voice networking needs of the business customer with multiple branches that need interconnection, especially internationally, is only one part of the comms equation for the savvy reseller. Fax is now beginning to enter the frame, since all faxes can be reduced to data and moved across the Internet cost-effectively.

At Networks 96, Elonex unveiled its latest foray into the software arena - HT Fax. According to the Elonex, HT Fax allows company staff to dial into the company's Web site and access the company's fax server facilities across the Internet securely. In effect, HT Fax offers companies an intranet fax facility.

The software, which follows on from HT Mail, the PC vendor's remote Web email package released earlier this year, is designed to interface with enterprise fax servers based on the Castelle Fax Press system, which Elonex officials claim is the leading fax server system.

According to Elonex, HT Fax users need only launch a Web browser and tap in the relevant Web address. Once linked to the Web site, they can then access the system's range of secure fax services, regardless of where they are calling from.

The software allows users to view personal and unaddressed faxes, use company fax directories, compose new faxes, or download existing ones, either to the PC they are working on or, using a simple redirect facility, to a standard fax machine.

Elonex claims that HT Fax provides fast access to faxes for the price of a local call from most places in the world. Like HT Mail, HT Fax uses a secure set of protocols in order to ensure privacy.

'The packages transparently resolve all the inherent protocol conflicts between the Internet and the user's Lan. Using a notebook PC or any Internet-connected computer, the user simply launches a Web browser, then enters the appropriate URL to access the familiar territory of his or her own Lan and the office's installed email or fax system,' explains company representative David Bridson. He adds that HT Fax requires no changes to existing fax setups.

HT Fax requires Windows NT or Windows 95 with any MAPI-compliant mail system, such as MS Exchange, installed. The package can also co-reside on a host with a network file server, fax server, email server or other service.

The host package requires a 486DX2 or better processor, 16Mb of memory as well as Castelle Fax Press fax server software. A TCP/IP connection is also necessary.

The cost of the software ranges from u19.50 a user for a 10-user licence, down to u9 a user for a 1,000-user licence.

HT Fax is useful for remote and intranet-based access to a central file server, but what about serving the fax needs of the corporate with branches around the world or the need to receive faxes from customers across the world?

One firm that has come up with a fascinating money-saving solution to international inbound fax facilities is New York-based Jfax Personal Telecom. The company has established special intranet servers across the US, Canada, South Africa and in London, all of which accept an in-bound fax call.

Customers are allocated a unique phone number on the relevant servers which accepts either fax or voice calls. From there, for voice messages, the server attached an audio file to an email message, which is transmitted across the Internet to a Net-accessible mailbox anywhere in the world.

For fax messages, the fax pages are sent as a compressed high-resolution image in Mime format across the Internet. The free Jfax communicator software allows viewing and printing of the fax images, as well as playback of audio messages.

Jfax representative Richard Bennett says that the UK server is linked with Easynet, the London-based Internet service provider. The Canadian agreement is with ACC Tel Enterprises of Canada; the South African deal is with Seardec. Jfax maintains its own servers across the US.

There are Jfax servers in London, Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Johannesburg and Cape Town. According to Bennett, along with a new server in Chicago, Jfax has 13 servers around the world.

'In return for $15 sign-up and $12.50 a month for up to 100 messages, this is one of the cheapest methods by which companies and individuals can have a presence in a country, even though they are based in another,' he says.