In addition, this team is supported by a very robust U.S.-based operations staff at Sereniti that has direct situational awareness of the support environment and can intervene at any point to provide additional guidance and assistance. This allows us to keep our prices low while ensuring that we have not sacrificed our most valuable asset: our relationship with our customers.

David: We're all very familiar with Netgear, Linksys, and D-Link. Why would we want to go with an unknown box provider when there are excellent solutions at excellent prices from excellent providers?

Wade: As you point out, there are some good router manufacturers on the market that make products for the do-it-yourself PC user. But, the Sereniti service is a complete, all-in-one service for the user who can't or doesn't want to work through all the technology and security issues involved in deploying and maintaining a reliable, secure home network. We happen to deliver a unique, all-in-one hardware device as part of the service but we certainly don't view ourselves as competing with the router manufacturers of the world.

But don't get me wrong -- we are very proud of our device. What we have done at Sereniti is to build an all-in-one product that includes a router, 802.11G wireless, firewall, parental controls, backup, network attached storage and a printer server. Then we provide the consumer with service, not just for the router, but for all of their home networking needs.

And if you compare the cost of Sereniti's all-in-one service versus buying all the individual parts -- including security software, network attached storage, print server and the routing functions -- it's actually far more cost effective to purchase the Sereniti service.

David: Let's ask the same question, but this time with software. You're trying to provide antivirus, antispyware, and firewall software solutions, yet each of these are huge product undertakings with massive databases and analysis required. How can you possibly keep up with the Symantecs of the world -- and provide the boxes as well.

Wade: You are exactly right. We have partnered with an award-winning security software company, Authentium, that specializes in providing security solutions for distribution by service providers. They are able to focus on maintaining the virus and spyware definitions and maintaining the engines. Through our partnership, our customers get an award-winning security suite for all the PCs in their home at a fraction of the price of purchasing individual copies.

David: It seems a little scary that your support offer involves opening PCs on the network to your support people -- especially when they're outside the country. Isn't this wildly risky?

Wade: As part of the Sereniti support platform, we have the ability to initiate a one-time, fully encrypted remote control session of a user's PCs. This session is only established when a customer requests that we fix the issue for them as opposed to walking them through the fix. The session must be approved by users and the user is able to watch all activities being performed on their behalf.