High-flying ASP Pandesic to shut down

Pandesic LLC, an ASP that specialized in business-to-consumer e-commerce solutions, announced plans late Friday to shut down in the face of increasing financial difficulties.

Launched in 1997 as a joint venture of Intel Corp. and SAP AG, Pandesic billed itself as the "largest e-commerce ASP" and counted more than 100 clients on its roster. But most of those clients were struggling dot-coms and clicks and mortar ventures.

A press release issued by the company said Pandesic did not see a "timely road to profitability due to slower-than-anticipated market acceptance of business-to-consumer e-commerce solutions."

"The company as a whole did not seem to be on a path to profitability," said a company spokeswoman.

Wagon hitched to falling stars?

With a mission to develop "full-featured, low-cost Internet solutions," Pandesic linked its fortunes to its customers' success, claiming 2 percent of customers' revenues in addition to the monthly fees it charged. Pandesic sought to lower the entry cost for establishing an Internet commerce presence in exchange for a share of anticipated revenues down the road. And that appears to have been its undoing.

The company spokeswoman declined to comment on whether customers had fallen behind on paying their bills, describing that as an "internal financial matter."

Pandesic will continue to support its current customers as it transitions them to other e-commerce solutions on a "case-by-case basis," the spokeswoman said.