New site is company-neutral

With Web founder Tim Berners-Lee on its advisory board and thousands of corporate subscribers already signed up, Mainspring will launch its Web site Monday to offer vendor-neutral intranet and Internet information.

The company had planned to launch the site in April but found it needed more time to bolster its content offering, spokesman Niall Swan said. The company, however, has had a public beta running since April.

Mainspring also shifted its focus from its earlier game plan of focusing on an advisory service, Swan said. It will instead concentrate on forums that deal with specific topics from electronic commerce to building an intranet. Mainspring will still offer its advisory service.

Features range from online conferences on various technology deployment topics to case studies on companies, the issues they face, and their solutions.

"We're trying to provide actionable information. We want people to read [our site] and say, 'I now know what I need to do,'" chief executive John Connolly said in an earlier interview.

Mainspring has signed up 4,000 corporate subscribers like Price Waterhouse and Open Market. The company charges users an annual subscription of $495 and offers volume discounts.

Price Waterhouse, for example, is using the service to train its consultants on how to advise companies on their technological needs. Information broker Lexis-Nexis is reselling the service to its customers.

Mainspring is looking to sign up 20,000 to 25,000 subscribers by next year to bring its operations into the black, said Swan.

The company raised $11.1 million through venture funding. It expects to generate up to $5 million in revenues its first year and turn profitable at $15 million next year.