Solution 6 opens global channel
Oct 23rd 1999: Australian accounting software provider Solution 6 launched its ASP service this week (Oct 20th), signalling the seriousness of its global ambitions by naming channel partners in Singapore and Saudi Arabia as well as Australia. Its packaged ASP service, branded Centrum, targets small and medium-size businesses with a modular suite of integrated business applications based on SAP R/3 and Lotus Notes software. Available immediately, the range is priced from $A20 ($US13) to $A250 ($US163) per user per month for collaboration, customer relations and intranet modules, and from $A350 ($US228) to $A600 ($US390) per user per month for the financials module. Pricing depends on configuration, template, quantities and product mix. IBM Australia operates the ASP data centre, and customers access the applications via dedicated lines provided by telecommunications carrier Telstra�s Big Pond Intranet service. Sydney-based Solution 6, whose first ASP customer, Unicef Australia, went live last month, will market its service through a channel made up of IT service providers and accounting firms. Its first three partners are AlphaWest ERP, based in Western Australia, Druid Consulting of Singapore, and Progress Consulting, which will act as a distributor to Middle-Eastern partners from its base in Saudi Arabia. (Report by David Braue)
� See related ASP News Review stories, Telstra buys into ASP (Aug 4th) and Aussie plan to rent SAP over Web (Apr 1st)
� Solution 6 Holdings

USi, Futurelink raise funds
Oct 20th 1999: Two leading ASPs took steps to increase their funds for expansion and acquisitions this week. Hot on the heels of well-received third-quarter results last Thursday, ASP pioneer USinternetworking (Nasdaq: USIX) yesterday announced it plans a debt issue to raise $100m. Meanwhile on Monday (Oct 18th), Futurelink (Nasdaq OTC: FLNK) capped the closing of its merger with Californian integrator Micro Visions by announcing it had raised a further $50m in investment funding. USi last week reported Q3 revenues of $9.8m, a 46% rise from Q2, and 37 new client contracts, bringing its total client count to 81. Despite a net loss for the quarter of $27.8m, up 33% from Q2, observers believe it has turned a corner. "Clearly, [the third quarter] was an inflection point for the company," investment analyst Bill Dering of New York firm CE Unterberg, Towbin, told ASP News Review today. The long-planned debenture issue will add to Annapolis MD-based USi's existing $70m cash reserves. The $50m funding for Futurelink, now formally headquartered in Irvine CA, was led by respected Wall St firm Pequot Capital Management. "Pequot clearly indicates to the street that 'intelligent money' is behind FutureLink," commented Dering. Futurelink is believed to be planning a secondary share offering later in the year.
� USinternetworking
� Futurelink
� CE Unterberg, Towbin - ASP coverage

Breakaway IPO outruns USi's
Oct 7th 1999: Breakaway Solutions, the latest ASP to join the Nasdaq stock market in an initial public offering (IPO), closed 203 percent above its offer price on its first day of trading yesterday. That percentage gain breached the record for an ASP IPO set by USinternetworking in April, which closed 173 percent up on its offer price, albeit at a market capitalisation five times that achieved by Breakaway yesterday. The Boston-based Nasdaq newcomer's stock opened at a price valuing it above $1bn but fell back rapidly and ended the day at $42.44 and a valuation just shy of $600m. The tripling of its $14 placement price was achieved against the background of a strongly rising market, but Breakaway significantly outshone the day's other IPOs, the most heavily traded of which, DSL.net, closed with a gain of just 14 percent on its offer price. Breakaway (ticker: BWAY) raised $42m in the offering of 3m shares, an 18 percent slice of the company, having upped its offer price from an expected range of $12 to $14 on the eve of the placing. Breakaway, regarded as a leading ASP, is building up its application hosting business from a background in systems integration of customer relationship management solutions and complex ecommerce websites. A significant proportion of its customer base are financial services and investment businesses based in the US north-east.
o Breakaway Solutions

NetObjects buys Sitematic
Oct 6th 1999: Packaged website publishing vendor NetObjects yesterday announced a $17m deal to buy online sitebuilder Sitematic, in preparation for the launch of an online applications portal targetting small businesses in a month's time. San Diego CA-based Sitematic has offered its instant-rental website and store building application service since last November. But it has not secured deals with big-name portals, instead partnering with telco US West and business services chains OfficeMax and Sir Speedy. Its sitebuilding app will now form the core of NetObjects' new e-business portal for small businesses, due for launch Dec 6th. The site will enable businesses to build ecommerce sites and and market themselves online, and will offer an upgrade path to desktop software that enables more complex site functionality. Redwood City CA-based NetObjects, which remains a majority-owned subsidiary of IBM despite its Nasdaq IPO earlier this year, is to pay $1.5m in cash and the remainder in stock.
o NetObjects
o Sitematic

UK ASP vendors to raise $75m
Oct 2nd 1999: Two UK financials vendors separately announced rights issues in London this week to raise a combined £45.2m ($74.6m), each aiming to support expansion of their ASP and other operations. Cobham-based Cedar Group (LSE ticker: CED) said it aimed to raise £27.9m ($46m), with £7.1m ($11.7m) of the proceeds earmarked to fund its new ASP division, e-Cedar. Launched this week, e-Cedar is setting up operations in partnership with Compaq Computer, which will provide managed data centre facilities, and MCI Worldcom, which is providing secure connectivity working with local partner Equinox. Due to go live early next year, e-Cedar will offer Cedar financials, browser-based timesheet and expense management, and other applications to small and medium-size organisations on a subscription basis. "Over the next decade, this will be the dominant way of application delivery to the market," managing director Mike Harrison told journalists at a press briefing this week. Meanwhile, Gateshead-based QSP (LSE ticker: QSP), which earlier this year raised £3.2m ($5.3m) in a new share issue, on Thursday (Sep 30th) announced a rights issue for a further £17.3m ($28.6m). As well as existing ASP activities in the UK and Australia, QSP is developing a new ASP venture in the USA in partnership with a hardware manufacturer and an ISP.
o Cedar Group
o QSP