Intermedia faxes up a storm: NetCentric inks two carrier deals

NetCentric, a provider of Internet protocol-based enhanced messaging services, announced last week that Intermedia Communications would use its core product, FaxStorm, to enter the IP fax market.

The selection adds another strong customer to NetCentric's base, which already includes GTE Internetworking and PSINet. It also should add a bold new service offering for Intermedia, which previously offered primarily Web hosting and outsourcing services, said John Fleming, vice president of marketing and business development for NetCentric.

"Faxing continues to be a huge business today," he said. "IP faxing can make it more convenient and, in a lot of cases, a lot less costly."

IP can cut costs not only in long-distance rate cuts, but also in labor costs because non-IP faxing is so time-consuming, he said.

Intermedia's Business Internet division will roll out the service, marketed as Intermedia Messenger Fax, in the first quarter of 1999. The Tampa-based Internet service provider also will use the service as a springboard into broader IP services, said Jon Crumrine, product manager of applications services for Intermedia.

"We're trying to provide services that add value for our customers," he said. "IP faxing is a nice first step."

Intermedia evaluated the offerings of several vendors in a six-month search, but it eventually chose NetCentric for the quality and robustness of its platform, Crumrine explained. "We are working toward a unified messaging platform, and one of the reasons we picked NetCentric was that its architecture will allow us to do that," he added.

In other IP faxing news, Singapore Telecom said it would use NetCentric's platform to offer the first such services in that country. In addition, vendors FaxSav and Internet Magic announced that they would integrate their products to create a device that can add Internet faxing capabilities to any fax machine in the world.

Allegiance Telecom unveiled the first phase of its Internet and high-speed data communications services. Among the options are domain name service, business e-mail and Web site hosting. The second phase, a rollout of DSL and frame relay services, should begin in the first quarter of 1999.

Qwest Communications will implement Evolving Systems' local number portability system. The system is centered on Evolving Systems' local management system.

The Colorado Department of Transportation issued Able Telecom subsidiary MFS Network Technologies an intent to award, which authorizes the negotiation of an agreement to design, integrate construct and operate a fiber network. The potential value of the agreement is $150 million.