NEW ORLEANS, LA March 8, 2000 – ProTier, a privately held Application Service Provider (ASP), today announced the launch of services to small and medium sized enterprises in the Gulf South region. ProTier provides world-class software applications to businesses primarily through dedicated broadband connections on a monthly subscription basis. Product offerings will initially include office suites, e-mail, accounting solutions, billing packages, and mid-range ERP systems. The tangible benefits to ProTier’s ASP customers include:
Reduced overall costs for both management and hardware
Faster application deployment and trouble-free upgrades
Improved IT department focus on value-added projects
Seamless remote access
Enhanced security and redundancy
Bundled voice, applications, video and Internet from one source
Enabled B2B transactions and e-commerce
To effectively deliver these services to customers, ProTier has partnered with UniversalCom, the largest broadband integrated communications provider in the Gulf South region of the United States. In exchange for a minority ownership interest in ProTier, UniversalCom has agreed to provide its broadband services at a preferred rate and supply facilities for ProTier to co-locate its data centers. The partnership illustrates the emerging convergence of the outsourcing of Information Technology and the bundling of business-to-business broadband services (voice, data, video and Internet).
In addition, ProTier has joined the Citrix Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:CTXS) iBusiness Application Service Provider Program and will standardize on Citrix MetaFrame© application server software as the enabling platform for its application hosting services.
“Our ASP has the advantage of being the first major player focusing on the Gulf South region,” stated James Roussel, Chief Executive Officer of ProTier. “Furthermore, our relationship with high-caliber companies such as UniversalCom and Citrix will provide the platform for superior customer service and the framework for successful growth. We are forming additional strategic alliances with value added resellers (VARs) to provide services to their customers. Such partnerships allow VARs to focus on high-value consulting instead of hardware failures and administrative tasks.”
ProTier is near completion of its first state-of-the-art data center, located in the New Orleans area, employing equipment from Compaq, Cisco and Network Appliance. Future expansion plans include additional data centers throughout the Gulf South region.
ProTier is a New Orleans-based Application Service Provider (ASP) serving small and medium sized companies in the Gulf South region. ProTier was founded in late 1999 and completed its first round of private financing in February 2000 with the assistance of Legacy Capital, a New Orleans-based investment banking firm. ProTier capitalizes on new technology and economies of scale to offer software, e-mail, Internet, security, backups, remote access, hardware, and administration in one simple package. For a monthly fee, a customer simply rents the software suite, which is hosted and administered on ProTier’s servers, effectively avoiding the high total cost of ownership of traditional IT services. Consequently, small and medium sized businesses can access technology that otherwise may have been out of reach.