As an example of this adoption, Abridean today announced that AT&T Canada will use abrideanProvisor, an XML-based application provisioning and management platform, for its Hosted Microsoft Exchange 2000 service. AT&T Canada claims to be that country's largest competitive broadband BSP (business services provider) and CLEC (competitive local exchange carrier).

"AbrideanProvisor will help us better support our customers and meet their requirements for hosted applications," said Mark Zimmerman, director of Product Management at AT&T Canada.

Abridean points to two pieces of evidence that indicate growth for infrastructure software:

• Microsoft's January announcement that Microsoft Exchange Server hit the 100-million-seat mark.
• IDC research that reports that 16 percent of Microsoft Exchange Server shops will consider outsourcing messaging services.

Simplification through automation is the key, Sears said. "There's always a manual way of doing it. The value proposition of provisioning is providing more control, decentralization, SLA management ...." The value for service providers, Sears said, isn't "replacing manual complexity with technology complexity."

Sears told ASPnews that as provisioning moves beyond "early adopter" customers, Abridean may seek new rounds of financing between now and the end of the year. "It's strategically important for us to be a bigger company."

Abridean is listed by ASPnews as a Top 30 Enabler.