(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — In late August, the organization behind the open-source DotNetNuke platform, DotNetNuke Corp. (www.dotnetnuke.com) announced that it had acquired Snowcovered (www.snowcovered.com), an online market for DotNetNuke modules, skins, services and related products. The result: an enriched online library of third-party extensions for the most widely adopted framework for building Microsoft .NET (www.microsoft.com/NET) websites and applications.
According to DotNetNuke, the acquisition will strengthen ties between the DotNetNuke platform and the Snowcovered online library of third-party extensions, enriching the DotNetNuke ecosystem and providing substantial business opportunities for independent software vendors and the users they serve. At the time of the acquisition, the Snowcovered marketplace provided more than 6,000 DotNetNuke framework extensions, and attracted a significant flow of visitors looking for DotNetNuke modules and skins from independent DotNetNuke software vendors.
Under the ownership of DotNetNuke, the Snowcovered business model will remain the same, allowing independent software vendors to post, sell, and support their software extensions online. Snowcovered founder and chief executive officer Brice Snow will take on the role of business advisor at DotNetNuke and will remain a steward of the Snowcovered marketplace initiatives, in addition to advising DotNetNuke Corp. on additional business opportunities.
DotNetNuke will gradually phase out its own DotNetNuke Marketplace over the next few months as current DotNetNuke Marketplace vendors move their offerings to Snowcovered.
In an email interview with the WHIR, DotNetNuke Corp. president and CEO Navin Nagiah explains how bringing Snowcovered into the DotNetNuke fold will provide new opportunities to increase the market reach of module and skin vendors, and provide a wider variety of platform extensions to the DotNetNuke user base.
The WHIR: DotNetNuke Corp. already had an extension marketplace – what was it about the Snowcovered marketplace that made it an attractive entity to buy?
Navin Nagiah: With Snowcovered, the DotNetNuke community now has increased access to a robust marketplace where users can access over 6,000 DotNetNuke framework extensions. Snowcovered has successfully established substantial monthly web traffic to its site, driving demand for DotNetNuke modules and skins and providing DotNetNuke software ISVs with visibility and business opportunities.
This is a strategic acquisition for DotNetNuke for several reasons. (1) There are 6,000 to 8,000 product listings on Snowcovered. This full selection of products will now be available to the entire DotNetNuke Corp. installed base of 700,000+ registered members. (2) The Snowcovered marketplace has completed more than 300,000 transactions to date. The web site averages many thousands of transactions each month. (3) Hundreds of developers make some or all of their livelihood selling their software extensions for the DotNetNuke platform on Snowcovered.com.
How will third-party software developers benefit from Snowcovered’s acquisition?
NN: The alignment between DotNetNuke and Snowcovered will help increase the market reach of module and skin vendors. It will also make a wider variety of modules and skins more accessible to our user base
Will the fee structure for software vendors change?
NN: No, the fees charged to vendors on Snowcovered will not change.
How important was it to keep Snowcovered founder and CEO Brice Snow on board to provide direction to Snowcovered marketplace initiatives?
NN: We are very pleased to have Brice as part of the team. Now that Snowcovered is part of DotNetNuke Corp., Brice is working with us on the transition and integration. Importantly, he is also joining DotNetNuke Corp.’s business advisory board where he will work with us to build DotNetNuke Corp. over the next two years and likely much longer.
How do you think this marketplace helps add value to DNN as an open-source platform?
NN: DotNetNuke is an open framework which allows users to build dynamic, interactive web sites. Users add functionality to their web site by adding third-party modules and change the look of their web site by incorporating third-party skins. Increasing access to third-party modules and skins helps DotNetNuke users more easily create great looking, highly functional web sites which increases DotNetNuke’s value as an open source platform.
What future plans does DotNetNuke have for the Snowcovered marketplace?
NN: For a number of years, DotNetNuke.com has been the software portal where people go to get the DotNetNuke platform. Likewise, Snowcovered.com has been the developer portal or the extensions portal, the place people go when they need to buy or sell a module or skin (i.e., extensions). By combining the two, there is an opportunity to more closely integrate the marketplace with the platform and, by doing so, we can increase the market reach of module and skin vendors, and enable end users to buy the modules and skins they need even more easily and quickly than they can today.
