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UNIVERSAL ACCESS (UAXS)
S-1 Filing (SEC form S1)
We are a web-enabled, business-to-business intermediary that facilitates the provisioning, installation and servicing of dedicated, point-to-point communications links, commonly known as circuits, for service providers who buy network capacity, and transport suppliers who sell network capacity. We aggregate network information, operate facilities where communications networks can be physically interconnected, provide ongoing dedicated circuit access and offer client support services. Through these services, we provide our clients with an outsourced, integrated solution to the challenges they face within a fragmented network services market.
As an independent intermediary, we have been able to collect and aggregate network information from multiple transport suppliers. Our web-enabled Universal Information Exchange, or UIX, consists of several proprietary, interconnected databases containing capacity, availability, physical location and pricing information from over 35 transport suppliers and more than 75,000 physical sites. Through our UIX we provide our clients with point-to-point network connections efficiently and cost-effectively. In addition, we operate network interconnection facilities called Universal Transport Exchanges, or UTXs, where various transport suppliers can easily access the network connections of any other transport supplier in that facility. We also provide a single point of contact for network management services, including network monitoring, maintenance and restoration.
As of September 30, 1999, we provided services to over 75 clients, including AboveNet Communications (MFN), BCE Nexxia, Fiber Network Solutions, GTE Internetworking, IDT, and Teleglobe Communications, each of which represented at least 1% of our monthly recurring revenues as of September 30, 1999.
THE OPPORTUNITY
The communications network services market is competitive, complex and fragmented. Domestic and international deregulation, combined with growth in Internet usage, has spawned a rapid increase in the number of transport suppliers and service providers as well as the strategies they employ to build networks and reach customers. This diversity of industry participants and business strategies has resulted in the development of multiple networks serving various geographic regions. In this multiple vendor landscape, network connectivity continues to be hindered by the fact that transport suppliers and service providers do not have access to pricing, capacity, availability and location information for the networks of other suppliers. Because transport suppliers compete with each other, they have little incentive to share this information or to locate their equipment within competitors' facilities. To date, we believe that major transport suppliers have not been able to effectively support end-to-end circuit connections on their own networks, or through efficient interconnection with other suppliers, to fully meet their customers' requirements.
This multiple vendor market environment causes a number of challenges, as outlined below.
CHALLENGES FOR SERVICE PROVIDERS CHALLENGES FOR TRANSPORT SUPPLIERS
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- significant time and expense related to - inability to efficiently fulfill customer
quoting, provisioning and installing demand for point-to-point dedicated circuits
circuits; due to the limited reach of their
networks;
- difficulty determining the availability of
capacity in a timely manner, which may - costs associated with selling excess
result in significant backlog of customer network capacity; and
orders and possibly lost revenues; and
- inability to provide a consistent level of
- inability to maintain, monitor and restore service over multiple network segments.
connections.
OUR SOLUTION
Our integrated solution addresses these challenges and provides the following key benefits to our clients:
- Outsourced Solution. We provide a single point of contact for
provisioning, installation and network management services. Our
outsourced solution provides significant time, effort and cost savings to
our clients who would otherwise be forced to independently analyze the
capacity, availability and pricing of circuits from multiple vendors to
construct and maintain circuits.
- Efficient, Cost Effective Circuit Provisioning and Installation Across
Multiple Vendor Networks. We leverage the information contained in our
UIX databases to provide efficient and cost-effective circuit
provisioning and installation across geographically dispersed, multiple
vendor networks.
- Easily Extended Network Reach. Our clients are able to easily extend the
reach of their networks by purchasing dedicated, point-to-point circuits
from us by accessing the networks of over 35 network transport suppliers.
- Significant Source of Demand for Transport Capacity Suppliers. We
represent a significant source of demand for transport suppliers because
we purchase a large volume of circuits. We believe our transport
suppliers consider us to be a valuable partner because we provide them
efficient access to the capacity requirements of our clients.
- Ongoing Client Support. We provide ongoing technical and administrative
support during the planning, ordering, provisioning and installation
processes.
- Single Point of Contact for Network Management Services. Through our
network management service organization, we provide a single point of
contact for 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week network monitoring,
maintenance and restoration across multiple vendor networks.
OUR STRATEGY
Our objective is to facilitate the creation of a ubiquitous, global communications network by improving the overall efficiency of the market for transport capacity and infrastructure services. To achieve this objective, we intend to:
- continue to enhance the Internet functionality of our UIX;
- continue to expand and populate our UIX databases with network
information;
- continue to develop UTX facilities;
- aggregate network demand;
- expand UIX, UTX and client support services internationally; and
- enhance capabilities through acquisitions and partnerships. |
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