by Jeff Goldman
February 2, 2001

isp-planet.com

California-based registrar Aplus.Net was accredited by ICANN in May 1999. Domain name registration is just one of the many services that parent company Abacus America/Aplus.Net provides.

Abacus offers system integration, colocation and hosting services, as well as billing software, dialup and DSL access. Aplus.Net is the Internet division of Abacus America whose customers include Kodak, Amilyn, and Space Electronics.

Registrars chronicle
Mark Drake, Aplus.Net sales manager, said its domain name registration service is a logical extension the company's full-service strategy.

"Abacus America started out as a hardware and systems integration company, back in 1989, but we added Internet services and associated functions quickly." Drake said. "When the actual testbed for domain name registration was over, Abacus America was listed as one of the first five for becoming a registrar. So we've been in the business as a registrar since the beginning."

The majority of the ISPs who partner with Aplus.Net for domain name services are initially drawn into the deal by its association with the popular Rodopi billing software. For ISP partners, domain name registration is just an additional bonus to using the back office application.

Drake said Aplus.Net has more than 600 ISPs currently partnered with Rodopi.

"Our ISP partners are, for the most part, reselling Aplus.Net services, including domain registration and hosting," Drake said. "We also have a new DSL wholesale program that incorporates into our service mix as well. ISP partners have the opportunity to resell a variety of the Aplus.Net services if they become a Rodopi member."

Drake guarantees that Aplus.Net will not compete with its ISP partners for hosting or registrar services. "We do not market to or contact any member's end users," Drake said. "That would make no sense."

To PIRIN or not to PIRIN
ISPs who want to use Aplus.Net's registrar services can join as an affiliate or a partner; either arrangement takes about a week to process.

According to Drake, it makes far more sense for most ISPs to join Aplus.Net as a partner, than as an affiliate.

"Most ISPs want to do the partnership," Drake said. "It makes sense economically because we offer ISP partners the ability to private label their service, which allows them to take advantage of better pricing on our bulk purchase program."

ISP affiliates receive customizable HTML code to connect their users with Aplus.Net's servers. They can use the code to build a co-branded web site, and they never have to think about the registration process again.

For its part, Aplus.Net deals with all the domain name registration, billing, and other services. It pays the affiliate a referral commission for each registered domain—checks are mailed monthly. To keep up on usage, affiliates can access online reporting of their referrals at any time.

Affiliates who register less than 100 domains per month receive $8.40 for the first two years' registration of each domain name and $4.20 for each additional year. Registering 100-500 domains brings an ISPs commission up to $17.50 for the first two years' registration and $8.75 for each additional year.

Finally, those who register over 500 domain names a month receive $25.20 per domain and $12.60 for each additional year. In every case, the referred user pays the Aplus.Net retail price of $70 for two years.

ISP partners, on the other hand, purchase domain names at wholesale rates from Aplus.Net and take on the responsibility of managing and billing those domains themselves.

The registration software can be fully co-branded so that users see only the ISP's name, and the ISP has complete freedom to set pricing at any level. There is no setup fee, and no minimum number of domains to register each month. Domains purchased through the partnership program cost just $7.99 per domain per year.

Simple? Kind of—but there are two different types of partnerships to choose from. The simplest and fastest turnkey registration solution requires that the ISP purchase Aplus.Net's Rodopi billing software. There are a number of different ways to do this.

The software can be installed on the ISP's servers, or it can be outsourced directly from Rodopi. Rodopi's basic pricing comes to $1.45 per account after a $699 setup fee. The software administers all billing, provisioning, reporting and customer management by connecting the ISP directly with Aplus.Net's servers.

Alternatively, ISPs who aren't too excited about having to purchase third-party software can use PIRIN, Aplus.Net's open source software, in order to to access its naming system.

PIRIN interfaces directly with the Aplus.Net domain name registration system via XML and can be extensively customized to meet nearly any ISPs needs. But unlike Rodopi, implementing PIRIN is far from a turnkey solution. It requires significant programming ability, and is neither simple nor speedy to implement.

A Better Option

The Florida based ISP eNaples.com was founded in 1995 as a basic Internet service offering dialup access, but in recent years the company has shifted its focus to incorporate Webhosting and design services into its product mix. It's a small company, currently consisting of five employees.

Daniel Landrum, eNaples.com's Vice President, recalls that the company's initial domain name registrar made life difficult for the small ISP. He said his experience with Network Solutions was arduous, at best.

"We had a lot of problems," Landrum said. "We were on a commission arrangement and Network Solutions wasn't keeping track of they owed us. At one point, they owed us five hundred bucks.

How PIRIN works: XML interface automates most of the process for both the registrar and ISP partners. "So I started looking for a new registrar. I went to the list of registrars with ICANN and I found a really good deal with Aplus.Net."

In order to integrate domain naming services into its current setup, eNaples.com chose the PIRIN option. While setting up the software, programmers created their own interface for eNaples.com, which automated all aspects of the sign-up process for their customers.

Landrum claims that clients who register domains at eNaples.com can have their site ready to go in about ten minutes.

"The server automatically sets up the web space for them," Landrum said. "It sets up the domain name, DNS and web server, with each function made manageable from a Web interface."

Landrum said the initial setup process with PIRIN wasn't easy, but it was well worth the ISPs efforts.

"It took us a month to develop the software to automate," Landrum said. "The PIRIN interface works with XML. Back when we signed up, XML was new, so it took us a month just to get the interface working."

Now that everything's up and running, Landrum said he has Network Solutions to thank for getting his Web business up and running. If NSI had treated his ISP business better, Landrum said he never would have switched registrars and found Aplus.Net.

"I'm more excited about domain name renewals at this point than new registrations," Landrum said. "There's a huge existing base of registered domain names and there's a lot of unhappy Network Solutions customers. We come in, we show potential customers we can make the changes for them and in most cases, we end up bringing all of a clients domains over to our servers."

Broad-based partnerships
One offering that may help Aplus.Net stand out in the crowd is its ability to perform bulk registrations. Drake said many of registrars currently limit high-volume registrants, but not Aplus.Net.

"We already have the tools developed to do over 20,000 names at one time." Drake said. "That is unique—nobody else in the industry has that"

The majority of ISP partners who opt to work with Aplus.Net are attracted to the firms combination of registration services and billing software, among other Aplus.Net services.

But Drake contends that Aplus.Nets' service provider appeal runs deeper than that—he too credits Network Solutions poor customer service record with sending a lot of business his way.

"If you've ever tried to change something with Network Solutions, then you know just how difficult it is to find support," Drake said. "Aplus.Net is a friend of ISPs and you'll actually find that there are human beings here, ready to assist you."

"Aplus.Net offers around the clock technical support for any customer that might experience difficult modifying, transferring, or changing their domain," Drake added. "We're able to assist."