Not a single carrier can truly offer global, performance guaranteed managed Internet Protocol (IP) services to enterprise customers because, typically, its network doesn't cover all locations (sites) required. Carriers are therefore forced to use the infrastructure of other network providers to build up the coverage they require. As a result, many global companies have decided to integrate networks from a number of carriers in-house or, alternatively, have settled for a partial solution, only linking up the most critical sites. By doing that, however, service providers miss out on millions of additional revenue, which especially these days, would be welcome.

Take voice communications, for example. When you call someone abroad this usually works with a decent or even good quality. Probably you don't even think about the myriads of agreements between the various carriers whose networks enable your call from, say, a London-based mobile to an Amsterdam-registered landline to be transmitted. The experience is seamless. But just think of the goings-on at the backend: the call signal travels from, for instance, the MMO2 network to the KPN switch in Amsterdam via BT's UK network and a big cable buried in the sea. All these companies have revenue-sharing and quality-assurance agreements, into which they were forced by regulatory legislation, which enforced collaboration and partnering in voice communications. But this is not the case with international data traffic, especially performance guaranteed managed IP services.

However, if Nexagent is to have its way, this will change soon. The company has developed a technology that enables it to act as an independent third party between service providers. Nexagent does not sell to businesses directly, but rather offers its procurement, fulfilment and assurance services to the network providers themselves. The company therefore is a hybrid of both a technology and service company. With its proprietary peering architecture Nexagent can obtain a real-time overview of a performance guaranteed managed IP service and can measure its performance by sending test packages to the network. This way, it can verify whether the service provider is delivering on the service level agreement (SLA). Above all, the technology can cope with various other protocols apart from IP, -- such as Frame Relay, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), and Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS).

The technology is patented, which gives the company a competitive advantage. In addition, the start-up has secured over $15 million of funding. The team behind the venture has an impressive track-record in the telecom industry. However, the company doesn't yet have paying customers and therefore no revenues to speak of. Furthermore, at the moment Nexagent only offers its services in Europe.

In theory, the idea behind the technology makes sense. The question is though whether theory can be put into practice. When business-to-business (B2B) marketplaces arrived three or four years ago, the investor community in particular went wild about companies in this space. For the technology was there and the start-ups involved were set to dominate the specific industries as independent third party agents. In practice, however, not everything went according to theory. True, the technology worked, but the main problem was the business model because it was dependent on getting the major players involved -- which is something that is more about relationships than about technology. The real challenge for Nexagent therefore is to be taken seriously as a business model and getting the major network carriers -both in Europe and elsewhere -- on board. It is clear that the more service providers are signed up the more value the service has.

So far the comparison has been with the marketplaces of three or four years ago. But being a marketplace for network services is just a small part of what Nexagent is and does. The company is also a service provider for complex business processes and collaborative technology. As for the latter, however, Nexagent still has to prove that it can deliver on its promises.

As the (data) network becomes increasingly business-critical to companies (just think about applications such as grids, collaborative software or web services), the importance of a guaranteed service level also becomes self-evident. It can be argued with reasonable confidence, however, that with the launch of Nexagent the first step towards a better network service for customers, and revenue growth opportunities for carriers has been made.