eCal Corp hopes to use the Inktomi model to sell its internet calendar engine – that is, to be an OEM and resell its services to other web content providers. Rival When.com had hoped for exactly the same thing, but since When was acquired by America Online on April 6 the field is now a little clearer for eCal.
The company maintains an event warehouse, and was thrilled by the interest this generated at Internet World. Online booksellers, online music providers and ticket agencies all want to be included in our event warehouse, says eCal’s Paul Mancini. When a user clicks on a warehouse event, that event is included in his or her own personal calendar. At that point that real estate becomes hugely valuable from an e-commerce viewpoint, Mancini says, there’s an opportunity to make a purchase.
Those alarmed by the privacy implications should rest easy, he says, as the company is working with TrustE. No matter how many other sites license its calendar service – twelve have signed up so far – eCal will continue to maintain the network as a single entity on its 26 Solaris servers, Mancini says. That means users can move from site to site according to their preference. Wherever they access their calendar from, their data remains the same.
The service is free to consumers. eCal’s revenues come from the sites, whose license fees are calculated based on numbers of unique users per month. These fees scale from $500 to tens of thousands per month says Mancini. So what happens when an AOL rival eyes that tempting revenue stream? When we come to that T- junction in the road, we’ll IPO or look at being acquired, he says, we’re not building to be bought.
