Netopia Inc, known as Farallon Communications Corp in its Apple- only days, has been chosen by France Telecom SA as the router supplier for its Wandaloo Internet services to small business in France. France Telecom Interactive will use Netopia’s ISDN Router for the service, which it offers at the equivalent of $15 a month per local area network. France Telecom has developed a simplified configuration set-up for the Netopia product aimed at non- technical users, and is offering a month’s free internet service to LAN users who buy the router. Users enter their name and password, and the Netopia automatically configures itself through a single IP address, using Netopia’s SmartIP software one of the reasons, says the phone company, that it can offer the service so cheaply. France is a good market for Alameda, California-based Netopia due to the high level of interest in ISDN there. It also has Frame Relay/T1 routers, and earlier this month launched its Virtual Office 2.0 Internet collaboration software in partnership with Geocities Inc. But the company is still suffering from the weakness of the MacOS local area network market, and posted a $1.1m net loss in its first quarter, on revenues down 22% for the same period last year to $10.5m.
