Classmates.com 2003 Annual Report Download - page 7

our billing systems and various third-party processors. In addition, our ability to offer new pay services or alternative payment plans is
dependent on our ability to customize our billing system.
Customer Support and Retention
Our customer support infrastructure consists of internal personnel, including employees at our facility in Hyderabad, India, although we
rely primarily on a third party to whom we outsource selected support services, including telephone support. We offer a variety of online and
offline "self-help" tools, including our offline "Quick Help" software that is loaded onto a user's computer when the access service is initially
installed. This tool can be accessed without connecting to our access services and provides valuable troubleshooting for connection-related
inquiries. Our Web site, automated email response system and self-help tools are all designed to provide comprehensive tutorials, advice, tips,
step-by-step solutions and answers to many frequently asked questions. These self-help tools are also designed to assist users in updating and
verifying billing information, downloading and operating our software and setting up their email accounts. In addition, we provide traditional
email support where our personnel generally respond to users within a day of receiving an inquiry.
We offer live telephone technical support billed on a per-minute basis and telephone billing support for free. We monitor the effectiveness
of our user support functions and measure performance metrics such as average hold time and first call resolution and abandonment rates.
Communications with users are logged and categorized to enable us to recognize and act on trends. An internal quality assurance team monitors
the work of our vendors and provides feedback to improve their skills and establish consistency throughout our user support functions.
Technology
Our services are provided through a combination of internally developed and third-party software, industry standard hardware and
outsourced network services. We have developed software to enhance the functionality of certain components of our services, including user
connectivity, billing, email, customer support and targeted advertising. We maintain data centers in multiple locations around the country with
redundant systems to provide high levels of service availability and connectivity. We host the majority of our data center services in third-
party
co-location facilities and outsource all of our bandwidth and managed modem services. We have integrated many aspects of the NetZero, Juno
and BlueLight Internet access services, which has enabled us to provide higher levels of service to our users while reducing per-user
telecommunications and network operating costs.
In order to utilize our access services, users are required to install our access client software onto their computers. This software allows us
to manage and enhance connection quality, deliver important user messages and upgrade users with new features and functionality. We also use
our client software to collect important data regarding the quality of dial-up connections so that we can quickly resolve network problems that
may occur. The client software also contains our internally developed "autodialer" technology that presents users with a list of phone numbers
for their area and helps to ensure users are connected to a cost-effective and reliable network. Our client software also enables us to deliver
targeted advertising and collect other user data.
One key feature of our access client software is the initial download size. We have developed an initial client application that typically
downloads to the user's computer in less than two minutes over a
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standard dial-up connection. Once installed, a user can create an account with us and connect to the Internet. The remaining portion of our
client software is, in certain cases, downloaded to the user's computer over time during future Internet sessions. Our access client software
currently operates on the Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows ME, Windows XP, Windows NT 4.x, Mac OS IX and X and
Lindows operating systems. Our accelerator client software currently operates on each of these platforms with the exception of Mac OS IX and
X and Lindows operating systems.
Another major component of our technology is our server software, written primarily in Java and C++ software code, which consists of a
group of software applications running on multiple servers that manage each user's account and online sessions. Our server software interacts
with the access client software to send and receive information such as authentication data, phone lists, advertisements and usage data.
Database servers store session information, user information and advertisement display and click data. Advertisement targeting servers manage
the advertising inventory and determine which advertisements users will view and which will be downloaded to users' computers during their
online sessions. Other major server software systems include our email server software, our accelerated dial-up services server software and
our billing server software.
We license a number of our software applications and components. Our billing system is based on a software application that is licensed
from Portal Software, Inc. and our customer support system utilizes a software application that is licensed from Remedy, a BMC Software
company. The majority of our database systems run on Oracle database applications and we use Oracle financial and human resources
management software for internal administrative purposes. We license Sun Microsystem's Java technology for our client and server software
applications. Our accelerated dial-up services use software technology components licensed from SlipStream Data Inc.
We protect our technologies and trademarks through a combination of patent, copyright, trade secret and trademark law. We have filed