Global ISP PSINet has injected capital into privately owned Orientation, a fast growing network of regional and country portals.
Orientation, originally a Hong Kong-based startup, currently operates six regional portals in Asia, Africa, Central/Eastern Europe, Latin America/Caribbean, the Middle East, and Oceania.
The portal network also has country portal sites for 14 nations including Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, Kenya, the Philippines, Romania, Russia, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, and the United Arab Emirates.
“Orientation’s content will help drive customer growth and usage in markets served by our operations in the Latin American and the Asia Pacific regions,” said Harold Wills, PSINet president and CEO. “Their focus on both higher growth and emerging markets will also benefit us in other areas as well.”
“PSINet’s investment in Orientation will accelerate our business model of building a global Internet company based on local points of presence suited
to the needs of individual markets,” said Darren Thake, chairman and CEO of Orientation.
“We have a very aggressive growth strategy,
with plans to launch several new portal sites each month,” added Thake.
With its emphasis on content for travelers, Orientation has often been described as the “backpacker’s portal”.
The global portal network’s licensing model allows it to deploy its online guides fairly rapidly and at a low cost.
Earlier this year, Orientation moved its base from Hong Kong to New York to improve the company’s access to a larger range of investors.
PSINet operates an international frame realy and ATM network with over 535 POPs in Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, South Korea, Switzerland, the United States, and the United Kingdom. In Asia, PSINet owns ISP operations in Hong Kong, Korea and Japan.