At Your Service: Verizon WebMail

Sep 24, 2007 12:00 AM, By Rich Karpinski

• SERVICE SCENARIO: Verizon needed a next-generation Web e-mail client to keep its broadband customers using its portal applications and content. E-mail drives the majority of customer page-views on the portal and serves as a foundation upon which Verizon can up-sell and cross-sell other content and services.

• SERVICE SOLUTION: Verizon's messaging team searched for a best-of-breed Web e-mail application/service that it could integrate into its existing application infrastructure. That infrastructure is largely open-source-based, relying on Tomcat application servers and messaging infrastructure from Sun Microsystems, including authentication and single sign-on capabilities. After evaluating several Web e-mail front-ends, Verizon chose Laszlo Systems' WebMail, an AJAX-driven Web client.

  Telephony reviewed an alpha version of the application. The new Verizon-branded WebMail client works in a browser but feels like a desktop app, including a preview window for message view, drag-and-drop capability, built-in searching and automatic e-mail alerting. An integrated contact list can pop up or be docked in the top navigation toolbar.

• COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE: Verizon users have the option of using Verizon WebMail or using third-party e-mail and portal services from AOL, Microsoft or Yahoo! “Owning” the customer experience and user interface on the desktop outright — vs. working with a content partner — is an important consideration for service providers like Verizon as they work to provide more telecom/Web services directly to customers.