Perth-based virtual workspace provider Claratti expands into consumer space through residential NBN

Perth-based virtual workspace provider Claratti has expanded its offerings with residential NBN plans, setting its sights on consumer wallets.

Claratti offers cloud-based virtual workspaces that allow a company’s staff to work individually or together from any internet-connected device through its Claratti Workspace offering.

Through sister company Claratti Broadband, the current NBN plans are based on a dynamic public IP address, but will later bring over some features from Claratti Workspace.

“We’re going to roll out our voice platform, which is a full unified communications experience,” Claratti chief executive Doug Childress told CRN.

“Customers will get a softphone that can run on multiple devices, a voice telephone number anywhere in the world, voicemail and other features that aren’t available from any typical NBN provider.”

Childress added that the scaled-down version of Claratti Workspace would suit customers that are sole traders and tradies that would benefit from the solution.

“If you look across Australia’s 2 million businesses, some 80 percent are small businesses with less than five employees,” Childress said.

“So I want to roll out a solution that a small company can use as if they were a larger corporation.”

Customers will also get an option for elastic storage that can be used on a monthly bases for consumption of software licensing, compute and storage. Claratti currently works with AWS and Azure, through Childress said the company is in discussions with other providers.

The plans start at $55 a month — one on ADSL2+ for areas without NBN and the other on the basic 12-megabit NBN plan — and is up to $85 a month for the 100-megabit plan.

Childress said the broadband business isn’t currently a major thrust for Claratti, and that the main business will cushion the competitive pricing.

“We sell a solution that can be used by any person or business around the country, so we wanted to roll out a retail arm by launching an NBN business,” Childress said.

“And while it’s not going to be a major thrust for us, we’re hoping that companies that buy our corporate solution will be able to roll out Claratti Broadband to their staff at a highly subsidised rate.”

“That’s why our prices are a bit more competitive compared to other NBN providers. I know our margins are lean, but this is about an overall business strategy.”

Claratti traces its roots back to 2005 with Intelligent IP Solutions, a company Childress founded. It was later sold to then-ASX listed fixed wireless operator BigAir in 2013. BigAir has since been acquired by Superloop in 2016.