SURE, you have the infrastructure, but where's the compelling content and services? And if you're a well-known content provider, how do you get immediate access to a network to bring your content closer to your target market?

For Asian Internet and technology hub ZDNetAsia (www.zdnetasia.com) and Philippine Internet service provider Mosaic Communications Inc. (www.moscom.com), the solution was a co-branding partnership formally launched last Friday. This move continues ZDNetAsia's strategy of building communities around strategic alliances with local content and service providers throughout the region, even as it enhances MosCom's goal of addressing the increasing value-added requirements of its subscribers.

In an interview, ZDNet Asia Pacific managing director Roger Yuen told the Inquirer that this co-branding strategy is consistent with the ZDNet philosophy that has enabled it to build one of the most successful brands in information technology content.

"Selling content is not our focus. We are content providers to users. There might be instances where we wouldn't mind selling our content, but for the most part we would rather have a partnership, an alliance. A partner can do a lot more things built around the content. Through the content, we can create communities, then services around these communities, and then derive revenue from those communities," Yuen said.

He contrasted this with the lack of control over content once it is bought outright by another party. With co-branding, he noted that ZDNet and its partner would be able to collaborate better in developing the content for a specific audience.

With the ongoing merger process between ZDNet and CNET, which bought into parent firm Ziff-Davis Inc., ZDNet will be maintained as a separate brand, though Yuen acknowledged that some reorganization of the existing portal would be needed.

"Obviously, we have the risk of overlapping, but I think that it would not be much. We did a survey of users and think that the overlap is only around 20 percent," he said.

When this writer quipped that personally, he usually goes to ZDNet or ZDNetAsia for news but prefers CNET for downloads, Yuen laughed and said: "Yes, they do have a very good download section. I believe they also have more coverage of the consumer technology area. We're still in the process of identifying respective strengths."

Meanwhile, MosCom chair and chief executive officer Willy Gan stressed that this partnership is only one of the first of many content alliances that the ISP would form this year. MosCom revamped its site into a portal last year, and Gan acknowledged that ISPs have to differentiate themselves through value-added features beside plain old access.

"Whatever content is considered important by our users, we will host it locally. For one, it will save bandwidth. For another, it would bring the content and services closer to the users and allow faster access. We wanted our site to be a portal, but now, a portal is not enough. We want to host content locally, and, eventually, create our own," Gan said.

According to figures from MosCom, the site now caters to more than 500,000 users and dial-up subscribers. Gan said that the immediate advantage that MosCom brings to ZDNetAsia is its nationwide infrastructure and high bandwidth. For one, MosCom will host download mirror sites.

Gan also acknowledged that by enhancing the MosCom site, the ISP could build electronic commerce and other future services around the content.

"It can be the springboard for transaction-based services in the future. We can either do this on our own or through partnerships," he said.

Asked how the online communities that ZDNetAsia is building would tie in with Ziff-Davis' other media channels (such as ZDTV) in light of the convergence of the Internet, TV and cable broadcasting, Yuen replied by saying that ZDNet's broadband initiatives would play a larger role in the near future. Incidentally, this is something that Richard Li's Network of the World (www.now.com) is trying to do by offering content on a variety of delivery channels and attempting to integrate its website and broadcasting programs.