BroadJump unveils broadband tools

AUSTIN, TEXAS- BroadJump, a maker of broadband deployment software tools, unveiled a suite of products earlier this month designed to automate the ordering and provisioning of broadband services and applications.

BroadJump Service Fulfillment Solution consists of client-side software and agents, and a software package called the ControlWorks Fulfillment Engine on the service provider side.

Kip McClanahan, BroadJump's CEO, says the software will work over any broadband network and with any vendor's customer premises equipment (CPE) devices.

"CPE, DSL access multiplexers, routers, operational support systems [OSS], content and applications are all necessary parts of a broadband network," McClanahan says. "Our ability to work with them all allows providers to not have to worry about what's in their network."

On the subscriber end, BroadJump enhanced its Virtual Truck product, which qualifies and configures a subscriber's PC for broadband service by adding a Virtual Truck Agent. Providers such as AT&T Broadband, Sprint, Road Runner and Time Warner use BroadJump's Virtual Truck software.

The agent, which resides on the subscriber's PC, will enable service providers to let subscribers select new broadband services and will download, install and configure any software necessary to provision the service. The agent also lets providers route service announcements or advertisements to targeted subscriber segments.

On the service provider end, the ControlWorks engine, housed on Solaris servers, handles the distribution of software and services to the client-side agents. The engine captures subscriber profile information, tracks and stores subscriber activity, and integrates with billing and OSS systems, content servers and other network elements.

The Service Fulfillment product supports virtually anything a provider comes up with, McClanahan claims - from streaming media and gaming for consumers to firewalls, VPNs and automated backup for corporations. BroadJump is assembling partners whose products will be integrated to run with BroadJump's software. The partners will include CPE vendors, infrastructure manufacturers and application makers.

If a service provider wants to push out an application or integrate an OSS from a vendor BroadJump doesn't have a partnership with, BroadJump has a professional services group that will do the integration for the provider, McClanahan says.

Keith Kennebeck, an analyst with Strategis Group, says BroadJump's software is a logical progression from the pure Virtual Truck software.

"Once [Virtual Truck] was installed, it didn't do much," he says. "It didn't communicate with the head end at all. Now service providers will be able to let customers order services as soon as they're available."

Kennebeck says he believes the software will appeal to service providers because it will let them eliminate manual provisioning processes.

BroadJump's Service Fulfillment package will be available in the first quarter of 2001. The company will initially target large national providers.

Cost will vary by market and deployment size, but McClanahan says initial contracts will run into millions of dollars.

Once the company has rolled out to large providers, it will begin targeting smaller players.

BroadJump:www.broadjump.com

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