Primed for More Growth ClearAccess hits milestone

Vancouver startup just signed its 50th customer for ClearVision software

Fifty could be the magic number for ClearAccess, a Vancouver telecommunications startup, in its quest for credibility and market share among broadband Internet providers.

ClearAccess has reached a milestone in the number of customers using its ClearVision Management System — software that helps telephone, cable and Internet providers remotely manage their customers’ home and small- business networks.

The company has grown steadily since it was founded in 2005, with a recent boost from a $6 million round of series-B venture capital funding in August. But reaching the 50-customer mark will set the stage for much faster growth from here on out, said Bill Allen, the company’s newly hired vice president of sales.

The company declined a request to provide current financial information.

In the competitive telecom space, few service providers are willing to take a gamble on emerging companies with unproven technologies that may pose a risk to their customers, Allen said. A longer list of clients will help ClearAccess demonstrate to potential new customers that its software is worth the investment, he said.

As Web-connected devices, such as laptops, gaming consoles, nanny cameras and digital photo frames proliferate, Internet service providers are searching for ways to help their customers connect the devices to a home network and troubleshoot without sending technicians into the field.

ClearAccess sells software and hardware solutions catered to Tier 2 and Tier 3 service providers — a step below the giant Tier 1 telecoms such as Qwest, AT&T and Verizon. The idea is to cut costs on technical support at the same time that the quality and quantity of available services increases.

Pine Island Telephone, a telephone, broadband and television company in rural Pine Island, Minn., on Wednesday became the company’s 50th customer. Installing ClearVision will cut support costs and help the company transition all of its services to broadband, said general manager Richard Keane.

“Rolling a truck out to a customer’s house probably costs us more than in an urban area,” Keane said, “and it allows us to be quicker, which is better for the customer.”

ClearAccess also counts FairPoint Communications, Burlington Telecom, Canby Telecom, ETEX, Farmers Telephone, Reliance Connects, and SRT Communications among its growing list of customers willing to take a chance on the company’s innovative technology.

“With any of our vendors we’re looking for financial stability and market breadth, and we did take a chance on them initially because they didn’t necessarily have all that,” said Keith Galitz, president and general manager of Canby Telcom in Oregon, which signed on for service in 2007. “We liked their product and their technology and we liked their local relationship to Oregon and Washington.”

Outlook

A solid customer base in hand, ClearAccess has plans for future growth that include moving its 34 employees from space near Washington State University Vancouver to a larger office at 501 Columbia Shores. The company will also slowly shift its business model, said Joel Pennington, a co-founder and director of marketing and business development.

In addition to selling its own gateway modems, devices that convert broadband service into to a wireless connection, the company hopes to sell its gateway software to larger manufacturers. Shipping the hardware from overseas and distributing it from the company’s warehouse isn’t as scalable as pure software sales, Pennington said.

And now that the company has crossed the 50-customer mark — the magic number — it will have a much easier time gaining credibility with gateway companies, he said.