Hi Dave, thanks for your question! (Dave's message is pasted below, from a reply to a digest; I'm bringing it back into the original thread.)
As I understand it, Service Net is neither competing with conventional I&R software, nor occupying a separate space. Rather, it's aiming to solve a problem with which all existing I&Rs and their software systems currently struggle, in a way that would benefit all.
Service Net's goal is to facilitate interoperability across resource directory information management systems, specifically so that people using different referral technologies can cooperate on resource directory data production. In other words, Service Net would make it easier for many people using different systems to manage (review, edit, get, etc) the same data.
You might call it "precompetitive infrastructure." If it's successful, I&Rs (and other orgs that use resource data) can work with better information at lower cost – even if they're still competing with each other in one way or another.
I'm excited about the project (which is developing open source software, so it can be redeployed and adapted by anyone) and would be glad to discuss further!
~greg