Email debacle highlights Net importance

By Stuart Finlayson

Telstra's recent email disaster showed clearly how the Internet has changed from novelty to utility in a couple of years.

So says Marty Gauvin, Managing Director of managed Internet services provider Hostworks. Gauvin reckons the month-long email debacle at Telstra had delivered at least one message clearly: "The big message from the Telstra email disaster is that, like it or not, the Internet and its services, are now critical to the way we do business.

"As a result, when people buy their services, the price of an ADSL service or an email service is irrelevant. The first question needs to be 'how much downtime does the service permit?' and 'what availability guarantees does the service provider offer?'

"A few years back, Australians baulked at buying an imported Russian car that cost $8000 because it seemed too cheap to be true. Internet services that offer low prices without guaranteed availability will be treated with the same disdain."

Hostworks operates out three data centres in Sydney and Adelaide, with clients including ninemsn, Ticketek, Baggy Green, Zuji and Greater Union.

Gauvin says the Internet game had changed in 2003. "Gone are the days when someone would go to the telephone directory if a website did not come up.

"All services are now expected to be online, with guaranteed access and security. The Telstra exercise has very clearly brought out the fact that it doesn't matter how many bells, whistles and discounts you offer, if you can't deliver your core service reliably."

Gauvin predicts that Internet services that cannot deliver guaranteed availability will experience the same discontent-driven churn that afflicted other service industries, such as the mobile phone sector. "When customers regarded the Internet as a novelty, they would wait for a slow website to load. Today, the Internet is regarded as a utility - just like your power or your water - which is expected to be available when customers want to use it.

"We noticed this change occurring in customers about 18 months ago as they began to move from using dialup Internet access to always-on broadband. The attitude of customers changed from tolerance of a slow website to resentment that it did not work as quickly as they expected it to.

"That shift in attitude has changed the whole Internet game. Service providers that do not adjust their performance to respond to that change are in for a very hard time."

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