Excite@Home launches software service

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by Tom Mainelli

(IDG) -- Kids can be fickle--especially about computer games. Excite@Home wants to make it easy for harassed parents to appease their kids, so Monday it launches a software-on-demand service for its U.S. cable Internet users.

Excite@Home subscribers can pay either a monthly or a per-use fee to access hundreds of educational and entertainment software titles, says Larry Berkin (CQ), director of business development for premium services. For parents faced with keeping their kids stocked with interesting and educational games, it's a boon, he says.

Aside from a small download to facilitate the service, users never transfer the software to their computer, he says. Instead, the software is stored on the company's high-speed servers, which are accessed through Excite@Home's broadband pipe.

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The applications will run just fine, and they don't take up precious space on a user's hard drive, Berkin says. Best of all, if you normally buy two or three new software titles a year, the service will pay for itself in no time, he says.

Software, Pricing Options

Interested subscribers can access the service through a link on the Excite@Home default start page and try it for 30 days free before signing up, Berkin says. Two companies will provide software subscription packages through the service.

Media Station offers its SelectPlay subscription, which includes a wide range of titles for $9.95 a month or $3.95 for a 48-hour rental. Into Networks is the second provider; for $5.99 a month, Excite@Home users can access a single channel of its PlayNow service, such as games or entertainment. For $9.99, a user can access all of the service's channels. This service also offers a 48-hour application rental for $2.99. Excite@Home is offering a free 30-day trial to either service

And it's not just for kids. Traditional software--beyond games and educational titles--also will be available, Berkin says. So, for example, a user might choose to access some tax software in the coming months, or even some small-business titles. As for games, the services focus largely on family-friendly titles, not the "shoot-em ups," he says. And the services offer parental controls, to make sure kids don't get to software parents don't want them to use.

There's been lots of talk about application service providers over the last year, but little action so far. Berkins expects the Excite@Home announcement and service to help spur ASP adoption.

"This is the largest deployment of this technology so far," he says. Excite@Home has 2.3 million worldwide subscribers, but the service is available only to U.S. subscribers (who make up a significant portion of that number), he says.

Performance Issues?

What happens to software performance if your cable Internet connection slows due to increasing numbers of users?

That's not really a problem, Berkin says, despite what the broadband competition would have you believe.

"There's lots of misinformation out there about that," he says. If you have a thousand people sign up in a small region that could create an issue, he says. "But that's a good problem to have."

If new users cause a decrease in access speeds, Excite@Home works with its local cable operators to upgrade the service in that area, he says. In most areas, the service is actually overbuilt to protect against large speed drops, he says.

If for some reason a subscriber loses access to the service, and the software, some type of compensation would likely occur, he says. There is no official policy on that, and the company works hard to prevent any service outages in the first place, he says.

After all, the key to software on demand is a low price and easy access, he says. "It's like a large CD jukebox in the sky," he says.

Critics: Kids suffering from computer overkill
October 20, 2000
What's on Excite tonight?
July 3, 2000
Excite launches mobile Web portal
May 3, 2000
Excite offers free Net access
January 10, 2000
Excite may not be all that
August 4, 1999

ASPire Awards honor ASP success stories
(PC World)
The ABCs of ASPs
(CIO)
Are ASPs the next dot-coms?
(NW Fusion)
Ditch that desktop for a Webtop
(PC World)
ExciteAtHome subscribers surpass 2 million mark
(The Industry Standard)
MS adds Web-based applications to bCentral
(IDG.net)
CA switching to subscription-based software licensing
(Computerworld)

Excite@Home
Media Station Inc.
Into Networks

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