Deep Marble partners target e-business

BOULDER – Powerworx Online Inc., which told The Business Report last year that it wanted to expand its presence in the e-business market, has taken a big step in that direction with a new company called Deep Marble Inc.
Deep Marble, which is pulling together several Internet-savvy Boulder County companies as strategic partners, bills itself as a “full-service offering that produces real results for your e-business.”
Founded in September and kept a closely guarded secret, Deep Marble originated from Powerworx’s founders John Goodhue and Pat Engstrom, said Terry Tierney, chief marketing officer for Deep Marble, who was traveling in January to raise funds for the company. “I’ve been just about everywhere I could be in the last week,´ said Tierney, who would not elaborate further on the new company’s start-up financing.
Deep Marble’s strategic partners include Boulder-based Powerworx, which was named one of the “Esprit Hot 25” companies to watch last year; Leopard Communications, one of Boulder County’s most high-powered advertising and marketing firms; Synertech, a Boulder provider of e-commerce software and solutions; The Root Group, a Boulder network and systems consultant; and a Raleigh, N.C.-based online training company called Tech Resource Group Inc. (TRG).
Lauri Taylor, president of Boulder-based Leopard, said e-business is clearly the next hot thing.
Tierney says e-commerce and e-business are different in that e-commerce focuses on goods and services available over the Internet, while e-business is “about leveraging Internet technologies across all aspects of the business.”
Leopard offers e-business strategies and helps companies understand how the Internet will affect their businesses, especially since more and more companies are turning to the Internet to expand their customer bases, Taylor said. One company is Whole Foods Inc., which raised millions in venture capital for WholePeople.com, a Web site and an online operation that will be up and running from their Thornton facility this March. Another is McGuckin Hardware, traditionally a Boulder brick-and-mortar retailer, which also has plans to expand its e-commerce operation (www.mcguckin.com).
“If you’ve got a company that is trying to get involved in the Internet – and most everybody today is – there’s a lot of uncertainty about how you go about doing that and even if you should,” Taylor explained. “What we’re looking at is creating alliance kinds of connections to other companies that offer lots of e-business types of services and linking into each other.”
Deep Marble (www.deepmarble.com) will be the link between Leopard and its other partners, said Tierney, who formerly was president and chief executive officer at Allegro Coffee.
For companies interested in developing Web content through Deep Marble, Synertech would build the company’s Web site and develop a transaction system, such as a “shopping cart” system like those available at Amazon.com or columbiahouse.com; The Root Group would provide system integration and provide security systems to protect shoppers’ credit card information; TRG would provide customer-care support and help-desk assistance.
Edward Flaherty, former chief executive of Powerworx, is now Deep Marble’s president and chief executive officer, company staffers said. Vince Bradshaw, formerly Powerworx’s chief operating officer, took over as president and chief executive officer of Powerworx.
Bradshaw told The Business Report last year that the privately owned Powerworx, founded in 1996, started a marketing campaign last May that attracted religious organizations and RE/MAX International. Bradshaw also said Powerworx, an ISP that filters out objectionable Internet content, was targeting other organizations that would provide at least 500 subscribers.

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