Avanquest offers international software publishing

Retailers and resellers also can benefit from the Avanquest network since it may make it faster and easier to find new products, according to Anne Norland-Anderson, senior vice president of marketing for software company Elibrium LLC, an Avanquest network partner based in San Mateo, California. Elibrium also distributes software products to various retailers through the U.S. from a central warehouse

"Retailers like Staples come to us and ask us to fill holes in their product line, or maybe when they want a second product to supplement something they already have, when they only have one product in a certain product category," Norland-Anderson said.

"The benefit for members of the network is lead-sharing, the network partners can offer software developers the ability to get into any of the markets where Avanquest network partners are located, which also makes each network partner potentially more attractive to the developer," Norland-Anderson said.

Since several companies in the network are wholly or partly owned by BVRP, the Avanquest network is a natural, worldwide extension of services the company is already offering, Lang pointed out. BVRP has on its own already been offering software re-publishing services, he said.

The big question is whether Avanquest can succeed where other companies have failed.

"Other companies have crashed and burned in the republishing business," said Jeffrey Tarter, editor and publisher of Softletter, an industry newsletter based in Watertown, Massachusetts. "They have not been able to offer enough value-add to make it worthwhile."

What Avanquest has going for it, however, is that it is international, and it already has lined up customers whose businesses, at least regionally, are thriving, Tarter said. Channels in many industrialized countries, especially the U.S., are well-developed but even successful companies can use help getting into foreign markets, Tarter said. "The biggest value is taking products overseas ... you need a local presence to market them," he said.

Though the Web has dampened the retail market, brick-and-mortar stores still play a major role in product sales and marketing in countries where dial-up costs are high, Tarter said. In addition, even in the U.S., a presence in the retail channel still confers a stamp of legitimacy on a product, he said.

The initial roster of software companies using Avanquest services includes ACD Systems, Boomerang Software and WinZip Computing. There are nine companies participating in Avanquest in North America, Western Europe, South Africa and Australia, and negotiations are under way for deals with companies in Asia, Lang said. Avanquest hopes to finalize a deal with a Taiwanese company over the next month, he said.