IPtimize unveils new service provider look

IPtimize, a newly created service provider based in Greenwood Village, Colo., is making public its plan to provide IP-based voice and data services to small and medium businesses.

  What makes the company unusual—aside from the fact that its executives are taking the risk of launching a new service provider in a still fragile market—is that it’s also running counter to the conventional wisdom of network ownership.

  “IPtimize is not going to have any network infrastructure,” said John Evans, CEO and chairman of the new organization. “We have networking infrastructure partners. It’s more of a CRM model, where we become the proprietary database.”

  Among those partners already signed up are Qwest, which has been trimming its sales force particularly in the small business market. The company also will be acting as an agent for ICG Communications, where Evans previously worked several years ago as part of the senior management team.

  “The days of hitting the street with recent graduates and paying them $25,000 are over,” said Jeff Veres, president and CTO of IPtimize. “Most of the carriers have backed away from the SME market. It’s leaving the whole middle market sitting out on there on their own.”

  Unlike other resellers, though, the company is positioning itself more as a consulting and managed services organization, offering more operational support, including the ability to do real -time network monitoring and surveillance from a planned virtual network operations center.

  “The last four or five years, the only thing that anyone did was throw bandwidth at the problem,” Veres said.

  The company currently is targeting business users with between 25-50 desktops, but will go up to about 100 stations if necessary. It’s also in the midst of raising a private round of funding as seed money and is expecting to reach a run rate of about $1 million in the next 6-12 months. The company already has about two dozen accounts in the Denver area.