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Comms-online will launch a new Irish bandwidth exchange for the buying and selling of IP services by July 2001. The company will be entering a marketplace dominated by only one competitor in Ireland, Band-x, which already operates a bandwidth exchange here. Although Band-x launched its first exchange in July 1997, its Irish exchange has only been only been operating since June 2000. Essentially, the exchange allows potential buyers to purchase excess telecommunications capacity and other services from anonymous sellers. Like any other exchange the cost of the product fluctuates based on supply and demand. But in theory the system lets potential buyers purchase the service they need from a group of anonymous providers who have put it up for sale on the exchange. The seller provides details about the nature and quality of the service up for sale and the exchanges verify these facts to the buyers. However, Comms-online believes its model will be quite different from the service Band-x is currently offering. "We have a sustainable off-line business model," said Cormac Reid, managing director of Comms-online. Comms-online has been developing its new exchange for the past six months and in that time it has been offering consultancy and brokerage services for companies in need of IP services. Its new exchange will be designed around the current structure of the company. "It will be a business tool to help them (Comms-online's current clients) make qualified business purchases, "Reid said. "Our service is value-added." Reid also said he did not believe there is enough business in Ireland to sustain an exchange without off-line services. However, Jan Bosch, Band-x Ireland's managing director does not agree with Comms-online's conclusions. Band-x feels that there is enough profit to be made if an exchange "can address the multi-national company market," said Bosch. "I think they are disappointed that Band-x launched ahead of them in Ireland," he said. Band-x currently works with five suppliers in Ireland although the terms of their agreements does not allow the companies' names to be revealed.
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