ISPBill offers a highly customizable billing solution targeted specifically to ISPs with between 10,000 and 50,000 users. The software's support for wireless access is another strong selling point.

by Jeff Goldman [April 21, 2004]

ISPBill was first released in 2003 as a product of the New Zealand-based software provider, SolSoft. According to Mark Jenks, SolSoft's Technical Director, the software had been a production system for Voyager (now OzEmail), and was subsequently adopted by Woosh Wireless.

The software is integrated directly with Radiator RADIUS, and makes extensive use of Microsoft SQL Server. "That gives you two hooks," Jenks says. "Radiator's almost infinitely scriptable and changeable—and then using Radiator integrated through SQL stored procedures gives you another hook to be able to do what you want. So you can configure it to do just about anything you like."

ISPBill enquiries@solsoft.co.nz

Email invoices are built in HTML templates, making it easy to customize the output to the user. "You can do things like present different company fronts to different user groups," Jenks says. "The accounting export is also template-driven, so you get an export facility to legacy accounting systems. And it runs its own AR register, processes all the payments, and keeps track of all the services."

Similarly, all reporting is done in Crystal Reports, making customization simple. "It's very easy for an administrator to change a report," Jenks says. "The report sources come with it, so you can change any report for your specific needs. There are obviously standard reports, but you can integrate any other reports you like."

Full source code
For ISPs that require more extensive customization, SolSoft can also make the full source code available under a confidentiality agreement. "What you're really getting is a defined database structure that'll handle just about any ISP services out of the box, but you can also extend it at will," Jenks says. "And you can also incorporate your own reports into it—it'll make those available and code sniff them."

Whether SolSoft makes customizations on behalf of a customer or sells them the source code for them to do it themselves, Jenks says he's happy with either arrangement. "Let's face it, the reality is that with an application like this, you are going to have the need for some people to tailor it to their business," he says. "A small tweak can mean a big match."

Pricing for the software is based on the total number of users. For fewer than 5,000 accounts, it costs $2,500. For 5,001 to 25,000 users, the price jumps to $7,500. For 25,001 to 50,000 customers, it's $10,000. The software, Jenks says, scales well up to about 50,000 active accounts. A support option is available, though the ISP can also choose to provide their own support.

Jenks says the aim of ISPBill is to fill the gap between software that's targeted at smaller ISPs, and enterprise-level billing systems like Portal. "ISPBill works out of the box, but it's basically open to any customizations people want to make," he says. "So it fits really well in that range between 10 thousand and 50 thousand users. It's a middle tier sort of product."

Jenks adds, however, that the software is currently being redeveloped into a distribution application that will be infinitely scalable, allowing larger providers to continue to use the product as they grow.

Island billing
Greg Bardos is Chief Technology Officer for Maui Sky Fiber, a WISP on the Hawaiian island of Maui. The company offers wireless access using IPWireless equipment, and also provides Wi-Fi access for guests in local hotels and resorts. When he was seeking a billing solution, Bardos says, finding a product that worked well with wireless access was a key priority.

Woosh Wireless, one of the first users of ISPBill, also uses IPWireless equipment—which made the software a perfect fit. "The software was designed to work with the IPWireless technology," Bardos says. "We had heard about their products, that they integrated with IPWireless, and that's why we first looked at them."

Maui Sky Fiber began using ISPBill over a year ago, and Bardos says it's been trouble-free since then. "They've had a couple of software upgrades that have gone in, and they've supported us well," he says. "They've taken care of doing the upgrades; they have great support."

For the company's Wi-Fi offering in hotels and resorts, Bardos says, ISPBill has been a particularly good solution. "We're using it now to do the billing and registering," he says. "Its ability to do online registration is great. When you go to a hotel that has our service, it redirects you to a web site, you enter your credit card information, and it charges your credit card, sets you up in the billing system, and gets you online."

For both residential users and hotel guests, that degree of automation helps to reduce the pressure on Maui Sky Fiber to provide customer service. "It's helped us keep our staffing down," Bardos says. "We don't need to hire support staff to handle registration and setting up accounts. It's all fully automatic; that's one of the things we really like about it."

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