Certainly, he says. In fact, it's Branson's intent to make the new Virgin.com one of the "top three Internet megaportals," he says. By today's measures, that will mean attracting upward of 30 million visitors a month, according to New York-based market researcher Media Metrix, or roughly two-thirds the population of England. Obviously, Branson wants Virgin.com to go around the world,something the Virgin Global Challenger balloon failed to do.

To make its dreams a reality, London-based Virgin has turned to the United States for help. After an exhaustive search, Virgin has given iXL Inc. what may be the single largest e-business contract ever awarded. In the first year alone, the multiyear Virgin.com project is expected to generate $50 million in billable revenue for iXL. By comparison, Atlanta-based iXL managed only $64.8 million in sales for all of fiscal 1998.

"It's a huge deal," says iXL Enterprises founder, chairman and CEO Bert Ellis in the style of British understatement. "As best we can tell, it's the biggest single contract anybody has executed in this space."

An Ambitious Plan
The inside story of how Virgin, one of the world's most recognizable brands, came to select iXL is a study of an improbable plan, a perfect pitch and a formidable implementation.

No company has ever done what Virgin.com is attempting. That is, no company has ever assembled a virtual team of experts spread across two continents and eight time zones to help a business conglomerate with hundreds of disparate business units create a single megaportal that attracts more people than all but nine other sites on the entire Internet. In a nutshell, that's what Virgin.com is trying to do.

In all, Virgin comprises more than 400 registered companies, of which 100 or so are actually doing real business of some kind. Of that, 40 have emerged as real players in their respective markets, though several are struggling. Many of the companies on the Virgin drawing board have a dot com element to them. Last year, the company began to realize that a dot com portal might fare better than a rabble of fledgling efforts. A coordinated effort could also link to the existing Virgin brands that have Internet plays.

The new Internet plan began to take shape nine months ago when Virgin hosted a meeting for its managing directors. Held at one of Branson's hotels, the directors decided to marry Web efforts in cars, financial services, travel and entertainment with a common brand and culture. Soon, a real strategy began to emerge. With it, so did a pressing need for capital, which Branson solved by selling a 49 percent stake in his airline to Singapore Airlines late last year. That cost $968 million and gave life to Virgin's Internet strategy, which remains unfinished to this day.

"It crystallizes anew every few weeks," jokes Alexis Dormandy, Branson's hand-picked managing director of Virgin.com. Dormandy says the deal with Singapore Airlines was not only a bold business decision, but an emotionally gut-wrenching one as well. The airline, after all, put Branson on the global map, both literally and figuratively. "It means we're not messing about," says Dormandy, an American transplant who agreed to an exclusive interview with VARBusiness last month in London in between motorcycle driving classes.

Dormandy expects the company to relaunch a branded portal that will provide consumers with a convenient place to buy a car, secure a loan, book a vacation and even find a professional service person such as a painter. The portal will retain the "Virgin.com" name and serve as the launching pad into many Virgin businesses.

Virgin.com had considered debuting in the United States, a move that would have pitted it directly against Yahoo!, AOL and other megasites. After much deliberation, the top execs decided to launch in the market where it would make the biggest impact: Great Britain. That is expected to occur sometime this quarter. Afterward, Virgin.com will expand throughout Europe before coming to America by next year.

Though ambitious, Virgin.com is hardly the first with lofty aspirations. Disney, another global brand, is spending millions on Go.com, as is Microsoft Corp. on MSN.com. In addition, several analysts have expressed doubts that Virgin can achieve its goals. Their main critique: Virgin is not a first-mover, which many consider to be critical in the Internet space. To wit, Media Metrix's list of the Web's top 10 most heavily trafficked sites has not changed much in a year, despite the introduction of literally thousands of new sites, many of them big and well-funded. The reality is that no decision would determine the success or failure of Virgin.com quite like the selection of a company to help devise, build and brand Virgin's portal.

The Pitch
When Virgin got serious about the Internet last fall, it quickly recognized it needed a world-class partner. It began by making some preliminary calls to various providers. Many others came running. Curiously, one global provider never bothered to call back, a costly mistake given the size of the contract ultimately signed.

Among those in the running were Sapient Corp. and Viant Corp. Soon, Dormandy began to grow weary of promises. "Being a former consultant, I'm relatively cynical about the whole pitch process. It can be a complete waste of time, frankly," he says, still laughing at a faux pas one service company made during its PowerPoint presentation. Its technical slides were wrong and were corrected by Virgin's own people. "So, you want to be my Internet experts?" Dormandy thought to himself.

To make sure it got the most from third-party providers, Virgin decided to put bidders through a barrage of tests. Dormandy, for example, stipulated that each prospective consultant identify each of the team members it planned to deploy on the Virgin.com project. He then asked for resumes. He read them all. And then he did the unthinkable: He flew his team to meet with every one of the prospective allies. At one company, Virgin.com interviewed 30 different employees. It talked to nearly as many everywhere else it went. It cost the company a fortune in airline tickets, but it helped separate the weak from the strong.

Virgin.com then sought assurances that the people it interviewed would indeed work on the Virgin.com project. No bait-and-switch, Dormandy insisted. Virgin.com also reserved the right to reject any third-party employee it felt didn't fit with the Virgin culture.

After much study, Virgin concluded that iXL best matched its needs. The company had already successfully launched a site for Virgin Atlantic Airways and was ideally positioned to step up to the much bigger Virgin.com assignment. "They were patently better, so we went with them," says Dormandy. "iXL is making an awful lot of money out of us, partly because we didn't try to screw them out of every penny. But we wound up with a team that is just great at what it is doing."

The Implementation
So far, Virgin.com is genuinely pleased with the service iXL provides. Though most major milestones remain ahead, some progress has been made. iXL is upgrading its offices in London, for example, making room for Virgin.com employees expected to take up residence off the Piazza and Central Market in Covent Garden. Today, the offices on Southampton Street are a jumble of construction and technology, complete with plaster dust, painters and spinning disco balls mounted above iXL's creative team.

To make sure the office runs smoothly, iXL has brought in seasoned veterans, including Doug Reynolds, formerly of Deloitte-Touche. In his pressed gray flannel slacks and Oxford cloth, button-down collared shirts, iXL's senior vice president stands out in an office where young men and women in blue jeans and turtlenecks dominate. But he brings a sense of stability and Global 2000 experience to the environment. "When you have clients like Virgin, each of your offices must possess world-class management teams and execution capabilities," he says. "That's what we are trying to build here."

Worldwide, the Virgin.com team at iXL involves dozens of people spread across multiple geographies. A team in Denver works on e-commerce solutions. A team in San Francisco works on branding and marketing issues, and another in Wakefield, Mass., works on world-class customer resource management (CRM) solutions.

iXL's San Francisco office serves as the focal point. That's where project head and business development vice president Jennifer Bossin works, at least when she's not in London. Bossin was the iXL employee who landed the account and persuaded iXL Inc. CEO and president Bill Nussey to drop everything and go to London to meet with the people from Virgin. (See "Going the Extra Mile, below.")

Virgin, Bossin notes, resigned itself early on that it couldn't get anyone in Britain to supply enough bodies to create the solutions it sought. Though challenging, she believes the geographic differences between the two companies actually work in the client's favor. When people in England head home, for example, they can make requests of people in the States while there is still time left in the day to get things done.

Given the complexity of the technology required to make the site a success, it's a good thing, too. Dormandy says he's not too concerned about the technology iXL chooses, so long as it works as promised and doesn't lock Virgin into a position it might later regret.

At this point, several technical decisions remain. For example, the partners are still studying their CRM options, though a final decision is near.

Some of the technology may borrow from work done for Virgin Airlines. To build that site, iXL used Microsoft IIS 4.0 servers running SQL 7, COM objects, and Macromedia Flash and Shockwave animations with dynamic JavaScript. It also relies on a custom personalization engine.

"The great thing about Virgin is it's a clean sheet with many options," says Bossin. "It's up to us to make major recommendations in the technical space, but the client trusts us to do right by them."

The Players Behind the Largest E-Deal Ever To Build a World-Class Web Portal
Richard Branson, chairman, Virgin: He missed an opportunity to become the first balloonist to circumnavigate the globe, but continues to dream big. Wants Virgin.com to become a Top 10 Web destination and one of top three portals worldwide. A business and pop culture icon in England, Sir Richard sold nearly half his stake in the airline, believed by many to be Virgin's crown jewel,to pay for the multimillion-dollar investment to transform megabrand into megasite.

Alexis Dormandy, managing director, Virgin.com: The former head of Virgin Cola, Dormandy isn't the first technology executive to push sugar water to consumers. With Branson's full backing, Dormandy has been tasked to create a world-class portal, first in England, then in the E.U., and finally in the United States. Recognizing the task before him, he chose iXL to provide world-class advice and service. He'll likely turn to the United States again when it comes time to strike alliances to secure a Web foothold stateside.

Bert Ellis, chairman and CEO, iXL Enterprises: With Virgin win, he demonstrates that iXL can land the big deals. He's also pulled down Delta and GE. His e-business philosophy,do something, even if it's wrong, fail fast and then do something more,resonates with clients eager to make a mark in e-business. Says deal with Virgin will gross his company $50 million this year alone.

Bill Nussey, CEO, iXL Inc.: Dropped everything on his agenda to be at Virgin's side when it came time to pitch the account. Promised first-class service and made sure his team delivered with Virgin Atlantic. Paid dividends when pursuing Virgin.com. Impressed Virgin with suggestion that it break down engagement into discrete assignments.

Jennifer Bossin, vice president of business development, iXL Inc.: Bossin's the main contact with Virgin.com. A deal-closer that convinced Virgin that a virtual team spread across eight time zones was a beneficial detrimental. Nonetheless, the San Francisco-based executive, who did stints at Apple Computer Inc. and Gartner Group Inc., spends three weeks of each month on-site in London. Drinks lots of lattes at coffeehouse off St. James Square. Career poised to go into the stratosphere if portal is a hit.

At a Glance

Virgin.com
Based: London
Founded: 1970
1999 sales: $5 billion
Employees: 25,000
Key executives: Richard Branson, chairman; Alexis Dormandy, managing director, Virgin.com
Areas of interest: Include airline (Virgin Atlantic); mobile communications (Virgin Mobile); trains, (Virgin Trains); retail (Virgin Megastores); clothing (Virgin Clothing); radio (Virgin radio); beverages (Virgin Cola); music (V2 Music); publishing (Virgin Publishing); professional sports (London Broncos); financial services (Virgin Direct, Virgin One); Internet service (Virgin Net); cosmetics (Virgin Cosmetics); bridal arrangements (Virgin Bride)