Last month's closure of Walt Disney Co.'s mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), Disney Mobile, was yet another reminder of the precipitous perch on which network-less mobile carriers sit.

Despite such high-profile failures, some local tech firms are targeting MVNOs as customers, and executives from those companies say the next-generation services they provide could be the difference between success and failure for virtual network operators.

Williamstown's VoIPLogic Inc., for example, recently completed a deployment with New York-based Red Pocket Mobile, an MVNO focused on sales to the Asian community in the United States. VoIPLogic provides hosted and outsourced infrastructure for carriers looking to deploy voice over Internet protocol services, which includes carriers as well as MVNOs.

For Red Pocket Mobile, VoIPLogic was able to create a number-provisioning and billing platform that allowed customers in the United States to call Asia as if it were a local call, and even make those calls from any phone, using the customer's Red Pocket account.

The application differentiates Red Pocket from other carriers serving Asia, and keeps customers using the service. Those two dynamics -- differentiation and revenue generation -- are the keys to keeping an MVNO alive, said Peter Dunn, executive vice president of business development at Wellesley MVNO Lucky Wireless.

"There is an opportunity for technology companies that can provide (MVNOs) new services," he said.

VoodooVox Inc. in North Adams is also targeting MVNOs. The company makes in-call advertising platforms, and has worked with several MVNOs, including one of the most successful, United Kingdom-based Virgin Mobile.

"There is a whole periphery around serving MVNOs, because it is very hard to get deals done with the Sprints and Verizons and T-Mobiles of the world," said Scott Hamilton, VoodooVox CEO.

Coincidentally, VoodooVox recently opened an office in New York previously occupied by Amp'd Mobile, a poster child for the failed MVNO.

Content providers are also penetrating the MVNO market. Nellymoser Inc. is rolling out a new music service with an unnamed MVNO, according to John Puterbaugh, founder and chief strategist of the Arlington mobile media services provider.

"(They) have some constraints because they have to pay for the network on which they sit, but at the same time they can be more innovative and are able to take more chances," he said.

Indeed some, like Amp'd and Disney Mobile, may have failed to recognize the opportunities in differentiated services, but others, like Lucky Wireless, which recently reached profitability according to Dunn, could go on to succeed. Those are the types of clients that application providers and content providers should be seeking, he said.

"These value-added companies need to do their due diligence in making sure they are partnering with carriers that already have something working," he said.