Hello straight life,
If you visit this thread often, you may have noticed, going back to the day
of the announcement, a number of positive posts that I've made concerning
ABOV. I still feel that way, from an architectural perspective, and on the
basis of the merit they've earned for the way that they conduct business.
From a strategic point of view, MFNX's move provides plenty of room
for speculation as to:
(1) their initial set of intentions - what was their motive?;
(2) what they will "be able" to do with ABOV (given the personal
convictions of those who make up ABOV) during the near to intermediate
terms. There is no sense talking about long term, yet, because that will be
determined largely by the near to intermediate term developments that will
be filled with experimentation - which is all they can really do in such an
unpredictable environment and time in history: they will need to
experiment, for reasons which may become clear below; and
(3) the eventual effects on ABOV's customers once ABOV suddenly
finds itself answering to a traditionally telco technology-oriented parent,
who may not fully agree with the egalitarianism I alluded to in my last
post.
On the day that ABOV was acquired, I had just finished reading the
previous evening a rather comprehensive description of their operations
and getting a good feel for their underlying philosophical quilt. They are,
well, there's no better way to put it, they are classical 'netheads, of a
highly skilled and qualified genre.
I was very impressed with them, partly because they were able to
construct an enterprise which resembled a model that I had discussed
some time ago with some other parties interested in doing something along
the same lines, and partly because of some of ABOV's other in-house
initiatives, namely the uncommon level of "openness" they've maintained
with their customers, to date. Particularly in the areas of (1) allowing them
a window into their real time utilization stats, and (2) the software which
they utilize in support of proactive network care. Other factors intrigued
me as well, but this is only going to be a short message, right? -g-
One needs to understand that ABOV's internal standards differ -
radically, in some ways - from others who represent the norm, in areas
having to do with who they will, and will not, provide services to.
They have been, up until now, not only selective, but outright exclusionary
in some matters, with regard to an entire class of potential paying
customers. And those are, the End Users of the ISPs they serve. This
might appear to be a naive qualification, one could argue, but a very
important distinction when you examine it more closely. It's at the heart of
their customer relationship strategy.
The passage you attached does not mention that ABOV, for example, will
not compete with its customers who are made up of ISPs, backbone
providers, content providers, portals, etc. The latter classes of
businesses are instead aggregated by ABOV. That's what they do for a
living. They will not, on the other hand, go directly to the monthly
subscriber base (of end users) and become an ISP, themselves. That
would be against their core beliefs, and against the very charter they
operate under.
These qualities have allowed them to cull a tremendous amount of favor
from their following (their ISP and BB customer base) who have learned
to trust them implicitly, far beyond any UUNet or Worldcom or AT&T,
say, or any of the others who are members of "the club." The club, of
course, is made up of the Tier Ones and NAPs who were the preexisting
backbone and network access point (NAP) entities before ABOV (and
several other smaller plays before them) came along.. The preceding is
tremendously oversimplified, I should note, but I think you see what I'm
saying.
This non-compete quality allows them to remain free from conflicts of
interest, in other words, and it has paid off very handsomely for them in
many ways. This is an important point which I'll return to through
inference, in a moment.
Upon hearing of the buyout, I reflected on several possible secondary
effects. MFNX had been, up until that time, solely involved in providing
dark fiber to service providers and large enterprise customers. Since they
were the only ones in town doing this, they could do it for any and all
comers, without risking favored vendor status, or showing a bias in any
way to prospects solely on the basis of what kind of business they were
in.
If you could pay for the fiber, and if you could gain access to riser rights
and the like, then it was yours for the purchasing. Naturally, this included
large Internet purveyors who do peering and other backbone things, as
well, just like ABOV is most noted for doing. And up until now there was
no reason to be concerned about who they did or didn't sell the glass to.
Now, MFNX suddenly has a huge interest in one of the largest pure play
peering entities in the world. How does this affect how some of ABOV's
customers regard them going forward? It probably doesn't, at least not
immediately, if MFNX leaves ABOV alone to do what they do best in an
autonomous mode. Will they do this though? Or, will they take the route
of a Global Center (FRO) and start branching into end user services, and
ISP functions? And what if several other things happen to change the
chemistry at ABOV, as I question, below?
Does MFNX continue to maintain a hands-off approach to ABOV, and
allow them to continue on in their current direction? What would the
potential impact be to their market acceptance from ABOV's existing
customers, if MFNX ever decided to penetrate deeper into cyberspace,
and perhaps open up a portal of its own? Will MFNX permit the
continuance of an "open window on performance" as ABOV has done,
especially when most other large players dare not for whatever reasons?
[[ I think that it would be extremely naive to think that MFNX would not
go in and tap the talent at ABOV for the purpose of expanding, or
modifying the way the parent is currently set up to do business. In so
doing, what would the effect be on the equilibrium that currently exists at
ABOV, as they have successfully maintained a delicate balance of
relationships with their customers up until now, that has caused them to be
as successful as they have been, since the beginning?]]
'Net folks and Telco folks mix like oil and water. Nothing new here, right?
Could you think of any more disparate sets of attributes?
Layer 1 MFNX dealing with their usual day to day US Geological Survey
maps, bureau of franchise applications, street maps and digging permits,
on the one hand, and Upper Layer ABOV talking about the Internet's
autonomous systems (ASs), route overflows, and peering settlements, on
the other?
On the 'net, and in the case of where true Internet-bred folks live, there is
a bond, a mentality and a spirit, that is all their own. ABOV has been
able, up until this point, to harness and utilize these qualities through their
inherent knowledge of these cultural factors to their own advantage, as
well as to the advantage of their service-providing customers. Will the
folks from MFNX understand these subtle yet crucial issues? Will they
allow ABOV to go on doing what they do best on their own terms?
These are a few of the things I thought of when I heard the news on
CNBC that morning. I have not seen ample indications from MFNX, yet,
that would lead me to infer, much less conclude, how this combination
will ultimately work out. If they do the right things, naturally, they will
succeed. Do they know what the right things are that they should be
doing? I don't know. But it wont be something that will come to them
intuitively. That much I feel confident in saying that I do know. One thing
that has occurred to me, however, is that now MFNX is a much more
attractive candidate, itself, than it was before. And if they were to be
taken out, then what additional concerns would that imply to ABOV's
original mission, beyond even that which I've already stated.
The point is this, in a nutshell: If you tamper with the subtle issues that I've
listed, then you neutralize ABOV's basic values, the things that
differentiate them from any of the other members of "the club."
I think that MFNX has a jewel on their hands that must be handled
properly, and I think that the new combined companies could be made to
work out very well. But like I've already stated, from where I sit, the jury
is still out.
Regards, Frank Coluccio
ps - and then there is always the potential of law suits. -smile- I just read that in the following message, while editing... |
