As Fadi Chehad & #233; will tell you, doing business is all about connections,and the Viacore Inc. chief executive has plenty.
His Orange-based software company has backing from some of the biggest names in Viacore’s targeted industries, including rivals Ingram Micro Inc. and Tech Data in computer distribution, and Avnet Inc. and Arrow Electronics Inc. in electronics components distribution.
Chehad & #233; (pronounced Shay-day) hopes to forge even more links as Viacore aims to build a command center for businesses that want to share internal information with their suppliers and customers.
With $34.5 million in investments from Santa Ana-based Ingram Micro and others, Viacore has grown from about five people a year ago to more than 120 now. To make room for at least 100 more, the company is moving next month into 64,000 square feet of space at University Research Park next to the University of California, Irvine.
Viacore’s challenge is to persuade businesses,many of which already are trying to get a grip on internal computer systems,to adopt yet another layer of technology.
“We have a big task in front of us,” says Dan Driscoll, Viacore’s chief operating officer.
Viacore is promoting a way of exchanging information known as RosettaNet, an international data format designed to standardize the way companies communicate things such as inventory and product descriptions to their partners.
For decades, the electronic data interchange standard has allowed businesses to communicate electronically. More recently, the Internet has served the same role.
But many companies use their own systems for managing internal data. That has worked well in the past, but with businesses relying on a growing number of outside partners and faster product cycles, the situation has created a Tower of Babel for many.
If RosettaNet can become the lingua franca among distributors, then Viacore wants to be the phone company that connects those companies that speak it.
It’s not surprising that Viacore is betting on RosettaNet. Chehad & #233; and Viacore co-founder Linda York once headed the RosettaNet standards body.
And Ingram Micro,where Chehad & #233; was vice president of customer information services and Viacore co-founder Tony Curwen was vice president of core technology,has been one of the most vocal advocates of RosettaNet.
RosettaNet gets its name from the Rosetta Stone found in 1799,a tablet that contained inscriptions in several languages and unlocked the translations for ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.
Viacore stands to have a significant head start if RossettaNet catches on, but officials admit that building a business around a still-unproven standard is risky.
Still, some of the biggest names in technology and shipping are falling in line: Microsoft Corp., IBM Corp., FedEx Corp. Cisco Systems Inc., United Parcel Service of America Inc. and Electronic Data Systems Corp.
And Viacore’s service only is as valuable as the number of participants hooked into it. Viacore acts as a go between, allowing participants to easily connect with other companies using the service. The company hopes to gain revenue through service fees.
Without Viacore’s service, companies would have to establish individual connections using the RosettaNet standard. But once they’re hooked into Viacore’s service, they’ll be able to connect with anyone else on the system automatically, making it easier to switch suppliers or sign on new customers.
Customers would use Viacore, Driscoll said, for the same reason people buy phone service rather than stringing their own cable to everyone they ever plan to call.
Viacore officials said it’s hard to estimate when they’ll reach critical mass, but it’s one reason they’re focusing on the distribution market.
“With manufacturers, we’d have to reach dozens to get there,” Driscoll said. “With resellers we’d have to get hundreds. And with end users we’d have to reach tens of thousands. How many distributors do you think we need? A handful, and we’ve already got them.”
With major distributors in tow, Viacore officials are hoping to persuade key manufacturers to sign on, which in turn will bring in most if not all of their suppliers. That stands to expand Viacore’s network further.
So far, no competitors have stepped into challenge Viacore, though several companies that handle electronic data interchange are mulling it, including Mountain View e-commerce services firm ECnet Inc. and Sunnyvale business services company Viquity Corp.
Viacore’s biggest immediate challenge, Driscoll said, is implementing the still-unfinished RosettaNet standard and getting it adopted by businesses.
“It’s happening,” Driscoll said. “It’s just a matter of when.” n
