Web-based docs make the rounds for ISP

PSINet Europe, overseas base of the U.S. Internet service provider, is taking to the Web to give hundreds of users better access to important business documents.

PSINet has been using a home-grown document management system, which offered Web access but no indexing, version control or search capabilities.

"Documents and content were scattered on different PCs in many locations," said Jonathan Rodin, PSINet's manager of quality assurance and business development. "The result was that nobody knew where to find a particular document that they needed."

PSINet looked at and rejected client-server replacements; the per-client pricing models were prohibitive, and the systems would have been difficult to manage in PSINet's dispersed environment.

"We are growing at such a fast rate, it became critical for us to quickly control the accessing and sharing of information throughout our European organization," said Rodin.

With the help of Aufirex, a European integrator, PSINet is rolling out IntraNet Solutions' Intra.doc to 250 users, providing Web-based access to thousands of business documents from various operational departments and among offices in several countries.

Now, PSINet users will be able to more efficiently access, manage and share ISO 9000 quality compliance documents on internal policies, training documentation, and customer-related marketing documents, greatly reducing the time and resources needed to manage them all. Users can also share and print content easily from the Web site, bypassing typical problems encountered when exchanging content via email, like altered formats and lengthy downloads