Trellix announced yesterday that domain registration provider Domain Direct will use its private-label Web site building platform. A division of Tucows , Domain Direct will offer Trellix Web Express (under the Domain Direct brand) to its small business and consumer customers.
The announcement caps a busy week for Concord, Mass.-based Trellix. On Monday, it announced a deal with Interliant (see Interliant, Trellix Team to Reach Small Businesses) and on Tuesday, it released version 4.0 of its Web site building platform.
The two deals represent the different needs of service provider programs, Trellix President and CEO Don Bulens told ASPnews. “We serve provider partners two ways — either as a hosted solution as with Domain Direct or as a software environment for the customer to host on its infrastructure as Interliant does.”
Quoting market research firm IDC, Bulens said the small business Web site publishing market will be worth $9 billion by 2003. “Two-thirds of all businesses will have a Web presence by 2003,” he said. “Those small businesses will turn to trusted business partners such as telcos, ISPs and technology providers.”
Being that trusted partner is exactly what Domain Direct has in mind. “Trellix enables us to meet the Web site building needs of our customers,” said Craig Hamilton, director of Domain Direct. “The customization and integration tools allow us to provide a Web hosting solution that gives our clients a quick and easy way to create a quality business or personal Web site. By providing Trellix Web Express, we deepen our product offering and increase customer loyalty.”
Sandwiched between its Interliant announcement on Monday and its Domain Direct announced on Thursday, Trellix released version 4.0 of its Web site publishing platform on Tuesday.
According to Trellix the new version offers finely controlled access to many areas of the platform, including limiting the number of Web pages and sites, disk space, file types, file sizes, FTP access and Web services available on a per-user or group basis. This level of control is designed to let partners offer a range of service packages at different price points.
The feature set of version 4.0 is the result the two types of input, Trellix president and CEO Don Bulens told ASPnews. “We’ve done testing in useability labs to help understand what users want and we combine that with our customers’ end-user experiences.”
Key among the features, according to Bulens, is support for e-commerce. Version 4.0 incorporates Miva Merchant, a popular storefront development system. Trellix said this provides a solid revenue opportunity for partners who offer the Miva solution as part of a premium e-commerce package.
Version 4.0 also includes advancements to Trellix’ Integrated Configuration Environment (ICE), a customization and version management system. ICE is designed to allow partners to integrate external applications and services with the Trellix platform using software developer kits (SDKs) and application programming interfaces (APIs), as well as customize the look and content of the site building application.
“We provide control over features through ICE. Providers can opt in or opt out of certain features. They can also add in their own features. For example, Domain Direct is offering its email. Since everything is XML and HTML, it should all work together. But we provide tools for version control, upgrades and so on — basically a portal,” Bulens told ASPnews.
“With this new version, we continue to build on the flexible customization and integration features that have made our partners successful,” said Dan Bricklin, founder and chief technology officer of Trellix. “We continue to give our partners extensive control over their offerings in ways no one else can.” (If you know even a bit about PC history, Bricklin’s name should sound familiar. In 1979, Bricklin and Bob Frankston invented VisiCalc, the first electronic spreadsheet.)
In addition to support for e-commerce, version 4.0 offers the following end user features:
- Integration with the eBay Merchant Kit
- Easy-to-create tables, including a gallery of pre-formatted tables
- Dynamic, editable navigation bars, including rollover effects
- Dozens of new customizable small business and consumer designs
- New Web site marketing services, including Google AdWords and Overture listings integration
Other users of Trellix Web site publishing solutions include CNET, InQuent Technologies, Network Commerce, Terra Lycos and ZDNet.
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