Subject: computerworld article
fyi : several errors like ' brokering ' in the report but given the fact that
the guy had no clue what enron does or companies like it do , this came out
okay . in all of the pr group ' s marketing effort , enron as a market - maker is
the message .
ravi .
- - - - - forwarded by ravi thuraisingham / enron communications on 02 / 05 / 01 10 : 54
am - - - - -
shelly mansfield
02 / 05 / 01 10 : 49 am
to : ravi thuraisingham / enron communications @ enron communications
cc :
subject : computerworld article
shelly mansfield
enron broadband services
713 - 853 - 4589 office
713 - 646 - 8887 fax
877 - 929 - 7889 pager
713 - 303 - 4720 cellular
- - - - - forwarded by shelly mansfield / enron communications on 02 / 05 / 01 10 : 51 am
- - - - -
norman levine
02 / 05 / 01 10 : 08 am
to : shelly mansfield / enron communications @ enron communications
cc :
subject : computerworld article
following is the computerworld article :
link :
enron seeks to broker storage deals between users , ssps
by lucas mearian
while technology service providers have long been talking about data storage
as a utility that should be sold in the open marketplace like electricity or
natural gas , little has been done to pool market resources in order to hawk
surplus disk - array capacity .
but that ' s exactly what a subsidiary of houston - based energy and
communications conglomerate enron corp . is doing by launching a
business - to - business exchange that it said will seek to match spare capacity
owned by storage service providers ( ssp ) with corporate users who want to be
able to quickly scale up and down the amounts of storage they have available .
enron broadband services this week announced that it has already signed a
deal with waltham , mass . - based storagenetworks inc . and is negotiating
similar agreements with at least six other ssps . if successful , analysts
said , enron ' s business proposition could go far toward generating a set of
operating standards for the emerging ssp business .
" it ' s a market with mix of small and large players and companies that define
their roles differently , " said ken weilerstein , an analyst at gartner group
inc . in stamford , conn . enron ' s plan also could help enterprise - level users
get additional benefits along with the storage capacity they ' re renting , such
as security and disaster recovery support , he added .
ravi thuraisingham , director of global bandwidth risk management at enron
broadband services , said the new offering won ' t include additional security
features . but enron does plan to standardize on a set of ssp services and
bundle them with disaster recovery and communications bandwidth capabilities ,
he said .
initially , enron - - which had total revenue of $ 101 billion last year - -
expects to charge users monthly fees of $ 25 to $ 55 per gigabyte of managed
storage , depending on market conditions and the length of time a company
expects to need the capacity . " we ' re there to try to discover a market
clearing price , " said thuraisingham , adding that the service is tentatively
due to go online in the third quarter .
enron said it has already signed best buy co . , one of the leading retailers
of consumer electronics , computers and software in the u . s . , to buy the
storage capacity it needs to support a customer relationship management
application through storagenetworks . connecting users such as best buy to
available storage could take anywhere from three days to three months ,
according to thuraisingham .
under enron ' s plan , storage capacity owned by participating ssps will be
connected to an existing network of switching hubs through which the company
currently trades telecommunications bandwidth . enron said it has 18 switching
centers , or " pooling points , " in the u . s . , and another seven overseas .
at first , the company plans to focus its attention on ssps in boston and
other metropitan areas where the necessary networking plumbing can be easily
installed . but even there , thuraisingham said , enron is " pretty much in the
initial stages of getting ssps up to speed on what the market is about . "
enron has been managing online trades of telecommunications bandwidth since
the spring of 1999 . later that year , it also launched a web site called
enrononline that oversees the trading of natural gas , electricity and other
commodities . that quickly became the world ' s largest e - commerce site and is
now said to be processing more than $ 1 billion worth of transactions daily .
norman levine
enron broadband services
713 - 853 - 5010
norman _ levine @ enron . net