Telarus Debuts ShopforEthernet.com

Telarus said Wednesday it has launched a new marketing Web site that focuses on businesses looking for Ethernet availability. The Web site, www.ShopforEthernet.com, powered by GeoQuote software and Google maps, enables the general public to search for lit buildings where carriers have a physical presence. The results are displayed on a map for easy viewing. Agents can use this visual mapping of lit buildings to qualify gigabit Ethernet opportunities.

“We are very excited about the launch of ShopforEthernet.com,” said Adam Edwards, president of Telarus. “Giving the public visibility into the location of telecommunications equipment is a major advance in this industry, which has traditionally kept this information very close to the vest.”

Finding lit buildings where Ethernet is available is important to larger companies with high bandwidth requirements, Telarus said. By plugging directly into a telecommunications carrier via Ethernet, customers avoid the expensive loop charges assessed by the local phone company, said Telarus.

“Ethernet is the future of commercial broadband,” added Lance Akins, vice president of sales for Telarus. “Helping our agents find the buildings where coveted Ethernet services are available is our primary goal. It benefits the users and carriers together, since the cost per meg is lower to the end user, and the margin is much higher for the service provider – all without the local Bell in the middle of the relationship.”

The company believes that the Ethernet lookup tool provides will be of great help for people looking to:

Move into a building with existing carrier facilities.

Substantially upgrade their current broadband connections.

Establish a direct relationship with a provider without the local Bell in the equation.

Find a carrier who provides QoS guarantees.

Gather information that will be helpful in the planning stages of broadband deployment for a new real estate development.

The first service providers that have supplied the information necessary for inclusion in the GeoQuote Ethernet tool include Cavalier Telephone, Telnes, Level 3 Communications, Time Warner Telecom and XO Communications.

To protect the proprietary and trade secret information provided by these carriers, the GeoQuote Ethernet lookup tool runs in “carrier-agnostic mode” on the public ShopforEthernet.com site. This means that no carrier lit building information is accessible to the general public at any time.

However, the authorized Telarus sales agent who ends up working with prospects (who enter their information into the Web site) have total access to carrier data. This enables agents to shorten the time it takes to research carrier offerings, not to mention reducing the amount of wasted time carriers spend researching opportunities that don’t exist, Telarus said.

“We believe Ethernet is the future of commercial broadband and are excited to be in a position where we can help our carriers determine where to best spend their buildout dollars, since we’ll know where the demand is,” said Edwards.

Telarus www.telarus.com