2007

PAETEC Plans to Offer More With Upcoming McLeod Merger
[December 20, 2007] As this T-1 specialist expands its product line, it provides a textbook example of an ISP expanding its portfolio as legacy markets become commoditized.

Cisco and IronPort: Filters Are Not Enough
[December 18, 2007] A recent report from IronPort and its parent company Cisco says that threats are not only growing, they are changing in ways that will force ISPs to adopt new anti-malware technologies.

EarthLink Applauds FCC Denial of Verizon Petition
[December 5, 2007] The FCC found that Verizon faces limited competition in six major metro markets.

ISPCON: Making the SMB Sale
[November 26, 2007] In his ISPCON presentation, this experienced marketer showed not only how to sell, but also what to sell.

Editorial: Big Ideas to Chew On
[November 21, 2007] ISPs are not implementing some interesting technologies. We recommend giving them a second look to see if they might fit in your operation.

ISPCON: The 700 MHz Auction
[November 19, 2007] A multitalented group of presenters described how the auction for this spectrum will work.

From VAR to VoIP Provider
[November 16, 2007] This company has parlayed its skill with Cisco and Microsoft products into a new VoIP-based business.

Windows Server 2008 for Webhosts
[November 14, 2007] Microsoft says the latest iteration of Windows Server 2008 has been designed with feedback from webhosts, and has extensive channel support.

Doing a Lot
[November 13, 2007] Multifunction appliances have aided this WISP in unexpected ways, and also solved the problems they were bought to solve.

One More Anti-Spam Tool
[November 9, 2007] A company with an intriguing pedigree adds a new idea to the anti-spam arms race.

ISPCON Keynote: State of the Webhosting Industry
[November 8, 2007] This was the business-focused keynote at ISPCON, filled with ideas to help you increase webhosting revenue and reduce waste.

Everyone.net Embraces Web Services
[November 7, 2007] There's a slick new Web 2.0 AJAX-based GUI, and also new services that the better back end makes possible.

Carrier Class Channel Tracking
[November 6, 2007] If you're a tier 1 carrier, you offer many services, some of them through partnerships. Software can check that everyone agrees on who's doing what, and when they get paid for it.

ISPCON: Sell to the Channel
[November 5, 2007] A webhost with many VAR resellers explained how to open that sales channel.

The 50 Minute ISPCON MBA
[November 2, 2007] Few ISPCON speakers challenged themselves to offer so many ideas in so short a time.

Book Preview:
SELLECOM: 101 Ideas for Marketing in the Telecom Jungle
[November 1, 2007] We were treated to a sample chapter from a yet to be published book written by a veteran telecom reseller and marketing strategist.

CanIt Anti-Spam Version 4.0
[October 29, 2007] New features focus on scalability and usability as this product with its open source base finds favor with ever larger organizations.

ISPCON: A Broker's Advice to Sellers
[October 23, 2007] A veteran talked about how to get the deal, and also described the broker's greatest fear during a deal.

Mesh Networks Thrive at Historic Resorts
[October 22, 2007] Firetide's mesh equipment has found success in several verticals, but the vertical that's of greatest interest to WISPs is hospitality.

ISPCON Keynote: Dave Schaeffer, Founder and CEO of Cogent Communications<
[October 19, 2007] This was the rabble rousing keynote at ISPCON. Schaeffer wants to shake up the industry, and in the keynote, he discussed the changes he'd like to see.

SOLERA Says CALEA Equipment Can Do More
[October 18, 2007] The company understands that ISPs find the investment painful and is showing that a packet capture system can do more than CALEA compliance.

A Better Path to the SMB for Asterisk
[October 17, 2007] This ISPCON announcement shows how an acquisition and a change to an existing product will help ISPs sell Asterisk-based services to small business customers.

Vyatta Announces Gains in Service Provider Market
[October 16, 2007] Open source routers have enabled service providers to better tailor their services to their customers.

Editorial: State of the ISP Industry
[October 12, 2007] ISPs are examing all options as they try to raise Average Revenue Per User (ARPU), a fundamental metric of ISP success.

Hosted Services for ISPs
[October 9, 2007] Alianza's offering seems complete, but company's CEO wants to offer even more.

Covad's Survival Tactics
[October 5, 2007] Its rivals were shut down, NorthPoint by AT&T and Verizon, but Covad has survived. The company's survival tactics can and should be imitated by independent ISPs.

Editorial: Don't Be Like EarthLink
[October 4, 2007] EarthLink's in a lot of trouble right now, and provides valuable lessons to all independent ISPs.

RackSpace Gets Webmail.us
[October 2, 2007] Webmail.us is eager to do more in the business services space, taking webmail to the next level.

How They Got $480 Billion in Spectrum Giveaways
[October 1, 2007] We need more research like this, focused on the long term effects of Washington D.C.'s short term telecommunications policies, which are greased with graft.

FireEye Announces Bot Prevention System
[September 27, 2007] This unusual system studies bots by allowing them to infect virtual machines, then destroys the machines and the bots within them, and uses the data against the flood.

ImageStream and PowerCode Announce Partnership
[September 24, 2007] The router maker and OSS software developer have begun a beautiful friendship, encouraged by their WISP customer base.

The 1 Gbps Full Duplex Radio
[September 20, 2007] These radios aren't new, but it took us some time to believe they were real.

CloudShield Predicts Bright Future With New Investment
[September 17, 2007] With a carrier class investor, and a flexible product, the company aims for cash flow positive next year.

Reflexion 5.2
[September 6, 2007] Version 5.2 is coming soon, adding important tools to the comprehensive anti-spam arsenal that is the company's product.

Hosted VoIP Partner Program
[August 31, 2007] There are several companies like this one—hosted VoIP providers, aggressive and focused—but this is the only one we know of that works with VARs and ISPs.

As Threats Change, ISPs Need New Software
[August 30, 2007] First it was anti-virus, then anti-spam, and later anti-spyware. Sana Security offers up the latest update as a whole new front opens in the war on spyware.

WSTA Data Center Seminar: Data Center Virtualization
[August 28, 2007] Yes, virtualization saves money. But a major webhost talks about the issues that the virtualization vendors don't like to discuss.

WSTA Data Center Seminar: Data Center Real Estate
[August 27, 2007] An expert talks about everything you need to consider when choosing where to put your data center.

WSTA Data Center Seminar: Sabet Elias, Lehman Brothers CTO
[August 24, 2007] The issues that the CTO of Lehman Brothers faces are similar to those you face in your data center, except for the all the buy and sell orders each day.

WSTA Data Center Seminar: Keynote Presentation
[August 23, 2007] Data center designers shared their vision of the future.

When Your AS Solution's Not Enough
[August 21, 2007] Many ISPs have a solution to spam that's worked in the past. It's a combination of free open source components, and it's not as good as it was.

The Network Has the Services
[August 16, 2007] When we wrote about this service delivery network last year it was reinventing itself. Just one year later, it has a full suite of services and is building the delivery channel.

Spam's Next Escalation
[August 13, 2007] As the fight against bot-based spam continues, so-called "legitimate marketers" are turning nasty to get through the filter—or paying pennies to ISPs and the U.S. government.

MagicMail Anti-Spam from Linux Magic
[August 10, 2007] If these features are so obviously good, why doesn't every anti-spam product have them?

Outsource Your Operations and Support System (OSS)
[August 9, 2007] As the SaaS trend progresses, you can now rent hosted software that will run your billing, authentication, and other core services.

ISPCON: P2P VPN
[August 7, 2007] One of the more unusual companies at ISPCON was delivering a new kind of P2P network from South Africa.

ISP-Planet's Blog: Access
[August 3, 2007] Check it out and let us know what you think of it.

Barracuda's Message Archiver
[August 2, 2007] The company that disrupted pricing in several other e-mail industries gets into the latest fad with a sharp appliance.

SingTel's Bets on Southeast Asia are Paying Off
[July 31, 2007] The company is growing fast, and says it's here in the U.S. not to win business from the ILECs, but to help carriers provide access to the fastest growing nations in the world.

Internet Service Providers' Association of South Africa
[July 26, 2007] Competition is tough in the U.S., but in South Africa, Wi-Fi LANs were, until recently, illegal.

RatePoint's Business Service Launches
[July 24, 2007] The people who built GeoTrust (and sold it to VeriSign) have some ideas about how to change a key online service: rating online businesses.

Network Contention Specialist
[July 23, 2007] This company's getting attention right now for its CALEA solution, but the wireless AP that's in development may be the big story here.

With AirEqualizer, NetEqualizer Returns to its WISP Roots
[July 23, 2007] This AP will solve a common problem in a novel way.

VoIP Ranking by Subscriber: Q1 2007
[July 19, 2007] This quarter's numbers are interesting, but next quarter's numbers will be more interesting, as we explain below.

As SunRocket Dies, VoIP Providers Must Differentiate Themselves
[July 18, 2007] In the VoIP industry, the FUD is winning as message board threads spiral out of control in the wake of SunRocket's sudden demise.

Subscriber Values: Q1 2007
[July 17, 2007] As consolidation continues, and disclosure of subscriber data remains poor, there are fewer and fewer ISPs on our charts.

Top 21 U.S. ISPs by Subscriber: Q1 2007
[July 16, 2007] AOL is dethroned as not one but two ISPs surpass it (the champion duopolists). However, Time Warner is listed twice on our list.

E-Mail Archiving
[July 13, 2007] Speech software meets enterprise security on this new twist on a trendy topic.

ISPCON: Hosted Security for SMB Customers
[July 12, 2007] Security needs constant patching, updating, and upgrading. So do it all in your NOC and sell a hosted service.

ISPCON Keynote: Focus on Voice
[July 10, 2007] Dan Hoffman of M5 said that if you've identified a great business opportunity, you can ignore other opportunities that are merely good.

P2P Enabler Claims Last Mover Advantage
[July 9, 2007] This carrier class box based on Dell and EMC hardware promises to save ISPs money and could also change the economics of the internet.

ISPCON: Twenty-Three Website Wins
[July 6, 2007] When Tucows talks, people listen, especially when the subject is one that the speaker knows very very well.

Sutus
[July 5, 2007] This company's small business in a box allows ISPs to deliver everything including VoIP.

ISPCON Keynote Speaker Offers to Monetize Search for ISPs
[July 3, 2007] Former Army major turned CEO Clarence E. Briggs III told ISPCON that the payment structure of the billion dollar search advertising market encourages theft, and offered his solution.

ISPCON: Growing Your Hosted Business Messaging Service
[July 2, 2007] Want to make money from business customers? In order to profit, you must get this service right.

ISPCON: Making Your ISP More Valuable to a Buyer
[June 29, 2007] This person has been helping ISPs, CLECs, WISPs, webhosts, and cable companies find a buyer since 1994.

Fast Anti-Spam
[June 18, 2007] It's based on heuristics, like SpamAssassin, but claims to be 30 times faster.

Building a Premium Webhost
[June 15, 2007] With an early start, this company has progressed from hosting personal websites to being the anchor tenant in a local data center. It's all about offering more to customers, and getting more from them.

Introducing SysMaster
[June 14, 2007] This networking equipment provider has branched out into the big growth areas for ISPs, including wireless and IPTV equipment.

3Tera Releases AppLogic 2.0
[June 12, 2007] The grid computing specialist and former ISPCON star releases a slew of updates to its core product.

CALEA Veteran Offers Hosted Service
[June 11, 2007] Aqsacom has been helping telcos handle CALEA since 1994. Now, through a joint venture, it can help you too.

ISPCON Policy Update: Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) of 1994
[June 8, 2007] This time, the FBI showed up at ISPCON.

ISPCON Policy Update: The Law and the WISPs
[June 8, 2007] At ISPCON's regular policy and government update, there was lots of news for wireless ISPs, and some of it was good news.

Propel Delivers Wireless Acceleration
[June 5, 2007] It was an elaborate demo but it made its point. The technology allows ISPs to deliver VoIP and web service even over congested networks. And it works on other forms of broadband too.

The Original Hosted Exchange
[June 4, 2007] There have been imitators, competitors, and plenty of alternatives, but this company was the first to offer this service, its CEO told us at ISPCON.

Ten Ways to Improve Data Center Efficiency
[June 1, 2007] At ISPCON session S5, panelists said that most data centers could make significant changes and realize real improvements.

We Asked for More
[May 31, 2007] This is an e-mail archiving system that looks good and simple, but ISPs would want just one more feature.

Tucows Has Work to Do
[May 25, 2007] In its ISPCON vendor session, Tucows described the company's product road map, which focuses on a better and faster product development cycle.

The Box That Stops Floods
[May 24, 2007] This company says it has a different, better method for stopping attacks on your data center.

Reflexion Total Control 5.0
[May 18, 2007] The latest upgrade from the anti-spam provider adds security and ISP-friendly features.

Secure64 DNS
[May 18, 2007] To truly lock down your DNS servers, Secure64 says you need a proprietary OS and the added security features only available on an Intel Itanium-based server.

Nominum Promises Not To Destroy Internet With New Service
[May 17, 2007] These are the people who wrote DNS BIND. They helped build the ISOC, ARIN, and the other institutions that keep the internet running. So what they do with nonexistent URLs will not, they promise, do harm.

Vipul's Update
[May 15, 2007] What began as Vipul's Razor has become a global corporation serving telecoms giants worldwide, but a new product with a SpamAssasssin tie-in brings the company back to its roots.

Editorial: Today is CALEA Day
[May 14, 2007] New rules go into effect, with consequences for the internet industry that are entirely unpredictable.

Trusted Third Party: NeuStar
[May 11, 2007] At first there were only two (NeuStar and VeriSign). We talked to one to find out about the original TTP service.

Tracking Every Action in the Enterprise
[May 10, 2007] Content filtering and management has become far more sophisticated, allowing companies to write their data policies into code and enforce them with software.

Hoffman's M5nifesto
[May 9, 2007] The founder of the largest VoIP provider in the Northeast showed how to take VoIP to the next level.

Carrier Class Application Intelligence
[May 8, 2007] So you already measure network performance. Here's how you'd measure and troubleshoot the applications that run on that fine network if you had a five- or six-figure budget for it.

Think You Can Put Off CALEA? Read the Rules!
[May 7, 2007] Filing for an extension to CALEA is not at all like filing for an extension to your taxes. You will need a lawyer even if you're not in compliance.

Managing MGCP
[May 3, 2007] It's not everyone's protocol of choice, but if you're using MGCP to deliver business VoIP service, there's a box to manage your deployment.

Your Vendor Wants You to Sell Well
[April 30, 2007] This equipment maker understands that selling SMB VoIP services may be new to service providers, and it has a plan to help handle the unfamiliar.

SS8's Carrier Class CALEA Compliance Solution
[April 27, 2007] If you've got a massive network and you need to comply with the May 14, 2007 CALEA deadline, this is one of the companies you might call.

Web Services for Technical Support
[April 26, 2007] One company wants to deliver constantly updatable support direct to users' desktops.

A Description of Lawful Intercept and CALEA
[April 24, 2007] We talked to a guy who's so enmeshed in this stuff that he's got a blog about it: demystifying li.

IP Fabrics' CALEA Compliance Box
[April 20, 2007] A surveillance specialist releases a powerful appliance with proprietary technology priced to be within reach of a rural telco or ISP.

Spamming Our Lists
[April 19, 2007] A company that is spamming our lists is hurting itself, and polluting the internet.

Solera Networks' CALEA Compliance Device
[April 19, 2007] A box based on OpenCALEA offers a relatively low starting price point.

How to Sell VoIP to Small Business Customers
[April 17, 2007] A VoIP provider is announcing that it has developed a marketing program for its channel partners to help them sell VoIP to small business, getting past the "don't waste my damn time" objection.

CALEA: The Equipment Makers
[April 6, 2007] As warranted wiretap of VoIP becomes the law, every network in the U.S. must comply. Some equipment makers see an opportunity.

ImageStream's CALEA Solution
[April 6, 2007] ISP-Planet Exclusive: ImageStream is putting together a free update for its routers that will enable ISPs and other providers to become CALEA compliant.

Summary of the Freedom to Connect Conference by Bruce Sterling and Jasmina Tesanovic
[March 30, 2007] Science Fiction novelist Bruce Sterling and his wife, feminist Belgrade-based journalist Jasmina Tesanovic, concluded the conference with vigor. America is a nice place, but the telecommunications system sucks.

PacketExchange's Private Internet
[March 29, 2007] Need uncontested bandwidth? This company has it all connected.

You Cannot Trust Your Infected Customers
[March 26, 2007] Simplicita has a software solution to help you make your bot-infected customers get help from you.

Our National Broadband Strategy is Hope Without Action
[March 23, 2007] The Freedom to Connect Conference saw calls for a "national broadband strategy" and although it's true that the current non-strategy is failing, it's not clear what would succeed. FCC Commissioner Adelstein shared his hopes for the future.

DragonWave's Smaller, Better Radio
[March 20, 2007] As components get smaller, performance increases and operating expenses decline. A pattern familiar to the computer industry has now arrived in the wireless equipment space.

Government Wants ISPs to be Better Parents
[March 19, 2007] A conservative think tank author warned of yet another government power grab.

The Internet Uncertainty Principle
[March 19, 2007] Put aside all of those internet research reports for a moment and think about the data we'd like to have but cannot obtain. The absence of data creates uninformed policy, but common sense dictates an obvious solution to broadband problems as the United States falls farther and farther behind.

Meinrath Says Everything Else is Stupid
[March 12, 2007] He's got a pretty good idea based on a simple question: why is bandwidth priced differently across the U.S.? Isn't it fungible?

The Benkler of Networks
[March 9, 2007] The author of The Wealth of Networks says that the biggest changes caused by the internet are changes we already take for granted.

The Vermont Way Forward
[March 8, 2007] The plan of Vermont's Republican governor for universal statewide broadband is extremely ambitious and not very detailed.

Barracuda Networks Updates Image Scanning in Anti-Spam Engine
[March 6, 2007] The low cost provider that ISPs love for its clear pricing policy has upgraded image scanning to fight the latest in spammer tactics.

Editorial: You Are Your Business
[March 5, 2007] A business that you own and run is work that never ends. But this work that is always with you should free you to do what you want, not be a chore you hate.

Editorial: Doubts About Net Neutrality
[March 2, 2007] For a phrase whose meaning is still disputed, this idea has generated a lot of buzz and could generate some very flawed legislation.

Show Your Customers What You Do
[March 1, 2007] It's a well-known problem for ISPs: if you're security's so good that your customers are never threatened, they'll think they can leave for a cheaper, less safe provider. One company offers a solution to the problem.

Editorial: We Need Usage-Based Pricing
[February 27, 2007] If the phone and cable companies stopped predatory pricing and advertised what they really offer, there would be no need for new laws—only the enforcement of the laws that already exist.

Preview: The Freedom To Connect Conference
[February 26, 2007] A gathering of thinkers and legislators (and even some who are both) will discuss the future that nobody's ready for, the next round of disruptive changes, even as those changes are already beginning.

FCC White Space Proceeding: What's at Stake
[February 23, 2007] The FCC has spectrum to allocate, and that means big money will talk, but there's a chance that the WISP industry can get some of the additional unlicensed spectrum it wants and needs.

Action Item for WISPs: File With the FCC for More Unlicensed Spectrum
[February 23, 2007] WISPs need more unlicensed spectrum, but so far barely a dozen have filed comments with the FCC arguing in favor of it. If WISPs fail to act, the usual monopolies will set the rules, again.

Analyze Everything With One Piece of Software
[February 22, 2007] What started as a simple wireless network analysis engine is incorporating ever more features as networks grow and customers demand more from applications.

Working With Digium
[February 20, 2007] Digium is serving larger customers than ever, and now has a partner program that could provide ISPs large and small with valuable sales leads.

P2P Can Be Your Friend
[February 15, 2007] Too many ISPs are fighting a losing war with their own customers' P2P usage. Here's one solution.

An OS For Switches
[February 12, 2007] Switches don't need complex algorithms, updated daily, to catch most threats. Instead, the nimble application of human intelligence through elegant code can achieve real results.

Software is a Business System
[February 8, 2007] Software developed for ISPs can help you streamline your business, aligning your systems with your work processes in a challenging but rewarding endeavor that Jupitermedia and the internet industry are calling business IT alignment. Here's an example.

BelAir Embraces Multiple Radios
[February 6, 2007] Just as some mesh builders move from one radio to two, BelAir says one and two are good, but check out four.

BelAir Builds Partnerships
[February 6, 2007] The wireless equipment maker is talking to VARs, OEMs, and, of course, ISPs. Yes, there's a platinum/gold/silver partnership program, but there's more, too.

The Meta Value-Added Service
[February 5, 2007] A company has developed a service that helps you deliver value-added services.

Keeping an Eye on Marketers
[February 2, 2007] This vital tool in any anti-spam arsenal has been around for years, and is signing partnerships with many companies you know and even with some you like.

Cloudmark Claims Latest Release Virtually Eliminates Spam
[February 1, 2007] Cloudmark Authority 2.0 boasts serious technology upgrades as abusive messages, the company says, now exceed 90 percent of all mail messages.

Verio Adds Data Backup
[January 31, 2007] The massive wholly owned subsidiary of NTT adds a service to its already large portfolio.

Firetide Goes Long
[January 30, 2007] Firetide's latest mesh nodes are able to provide either higher short range bandwidth or dependable (but smaller) long range bandwidth.

EarthLink Protection Control Center 2.0
[January 29, 2007] Faced with new threats, the largest independent ISP in the U.S. upgrades threat prevention with technology from Sana Security.

Manage Your Smart Network
[January 26, 2007] Want to know the application, source, and destination of every packet sent and received by 500,000 customers? Just install this box on your network.

Ellacoya's Data
[January 26, 2007] The company's announcing a new traffic management box, and that's the big news, but the company also shared some insights from its cache of real usage data from millions of internet users.

The Planet's New Reseller Program
[January 25, 2007] Having absorbed a big acquisition, the company prepares to grow its shared server products by growing the channel, which means working with you.

Editorial: Know Your Politicians
[January 23, 2007] You can benefit from knowing your local, state, and federal representatives.

Editorial: Know Your Local VARs
[January 22, 2007] Business services are being touted as the biggest opportunity for ISPs in 2007. You should do this, but you don't have to go it alone, although you may choose to do so.

AASP Adds Filtering and Archiving
[January 19, 2007] The ISP cooperative focuses its buying power on helping ISPs solve some basic security issues.

SingleHop Extends the Dedicated Servers Trend
[January 18, 2007] Another webhost upgrades its service to offer more to high end customers, part of a trend that is changing the industry.

The Technology to Run a Massive Mail Operation
[January 16, 2007] In a chat with the CTO, we learned about the technology used to manage 30 million mailboxes.

Disintermediating the Web Design Firm
[January 11, 2007] When web design is integrated into software that is delivered as a service, no tech knowledge is needed (but design talent is not supplied).

Editorial: Anticipating 2007
[January 10, 2007] We cannot tell you what will happen in the future, but we can show you where we're looking for the year's big stories.

2006

Motorola's Wireless Broadband Strategy
[December 19, 2006] A pair of former CEOs and an executive PR team dropped by to explain a wireless broadband plan that incorporates the latest technology and some savvy acquisitions.

Aggressively Priced Load Balancer
[December 18, 2006] An aggressive equipment maker's new device disrupts pricing at the low end of the load balancing market.

Hosted Microsoft Everything
[December 13, 2006] A new company in Seattle is working with another company you know all too well in order to enable you to deliver the services that are otherwise painful to manage.

FarStone Update
[December 12, 2006] As backup becomes a top service, this company unveils product updates and a new product.

Automated CPE
[December 11, 2006] One company is offering one box to service providers to connect all the services a residential user needs.

SlipStream Tells the World
[December 8, 2006] With worldwide growth, and the validation of being acquired, SlipStream is here to stay.

ISPCON Interview: A Conversation with David Murray
[December 7, 2006] The Propel co-founder says that the company's technology has improved to the point where the Propel can help broadband connections, wired and wireless, but he sees other opportunities too.

Alert Logic: Security is a Service
[December 6, 2006] If adding security appliances is becoming a hassle, this company says it can add security to your network with a single box while hosting the app itself.

Is Your Front Door Closed?
[December 4, 2006] This value-added service, the company says, allows users to check on the safety and comfort of their "life assets" while they're not at home, a service that will always be worth more than its price.

ISPCON Keynote: Who Do You Want To Be?
[December 1, 2006] In this keynote panel, ISPCON delved into the challenges of four leading ISP business models, moderated by a banker who judges the resulting balance sheets every day.

ISPCON Keynote: The Noss and Searls Show
[November 30, 2006] Get two people who have been involved with the web since its creation, put them on stage, and stir. Serves: one keynote.

ISPCON Services Session, Fall 2006
[November 29, 2006] Making the right decisions may seem simple, but not every ISP does what's sensible. Mike Cassidy provided common sense advice, which is always good at ISPCON.

Putting Services on the Softswitch
[November 28, 2006] There's plenty of innovation in today's announcement from Metaswitch: in-building BPL, triple play for college students, symmetric bandwidth, and fiber backhaul. But we think that the business case is in the services, not the hardware.

ISPCON: The Banker's Optimism
[November 27, 2006] An ISPCON veteran gave his regular speech on ISP valuations, focusing on the hottest parts of the industry and studiously ignoring the laggards.

Jamcracker Evolves According to Service Provider Suggestions
[November 22, 2006] It was all about SaaS at ISPCON, and one of the few survivors of the ASP boom talked to us about how the company has reinvented itself for a new trend in which service providers play a major role.

IPSCON Wireless Hotshots
[November 21, 2006] ISPCON's gathering of veterans talked about key issues in the wireless broadband industry from a wide variety of perspectves.

NextWeb Grows Inside Covad
[November 21, 2006] A year ago, we said the acquisition of the massive regional WISP by the national CLEC made sense. Now, we can provide the details, from high level strategy down to what equipment the company prefers.

WSTA Seminar: Future Hot Technologies
[November 20, 2006] Wall Street's IT trade association held a half day seminar on technology trends. We present the highlights.

To CLEC or Not to CLEC?
[November 14, 2006] A lawyer, a consultant, and a salesman walked into a room at ISPCON and gave valuable advice on whether or not an ISP should get CLEC status.

ISP Associations Talk Dollars
[November 10, 2006] ISP associations came to ISPCON to show prospective members what they have to offer, touting tangible financial rewards, even as America voted for change.

Grid Provisioning for Service Providers
[November 9, 2006] 3Tera is demonstrating what amounts to a new OS or provisioning system that will allow service providers greater flexibility than ever in configuring and delivering applications.

The SWDN
[November 7, 2006] A major player in the hosting industry reaches out to service providers and software vendors to make it easier to provide applications.

File Protection Solution Seeks ISP Resellers
[November 7, 2006] This is a software backup solution inspired by the everyday experience of living in Florida.

ISPCON: The People
[November 3, 2006] We can learn from a website, but we go to conferences to meet people. Here are some great people you can meet at ISPCON, and some notes on a few companies as well.

Coyote Point Supports Its Partners
[November 2, 2006] As ISPCON approaches, Coyote Point Systems is emphasizing partner support (and price, features, scalability). The company has no direct sales channel, which its partners like.

Netopia's Broadband Suite
[October 27, 2006] As the DSL Forum starts to make the rules that will ensure the delivery any service over any network, equipment makers are responding with new hardware and software.

The Original Remote Backup
[October 20, 2006] This company has been offering remote backup for so long, it claims it coined the term.

Selling Safety
[October 19, 2006] As threats proliferate, and malware attacks everything, Aladdin's product protects users not just from the usual suspects, but also from holes in their own Microsoft computers.

Webhost Adds to Anti-Spam Battery
[October 16, 2006] It takes more than one piece of software to blow away the spam onslaught, especially if you're a webhost managing thousands of domains.

Open Source Network Monitoring
[October 13, 2006] Connect several well known open source projects with a nifty, proprietary GUI, and you have a product that's got a price advantage as well as a good business case.

Open Source Routers
[October 12, 2006] The software has been available for some time, but a recent announcement made the project's products available to everyone.

Many Many Radios in One Box
[October 10, 2006] Touring the dismal floor of the Interop show in New York, we saw one thing that really intrigued us: a box with 16 radios in it. Here's the story.

VoIP Ranking by Subscriber: Q2 2006
[October 9, 2006] VoIP is increasingly dominated by the cable companies, challenged only by eBay and a few independents.

A Merger for Converged Communications
[October 6, 2006] As Eicon acquires Dialogic, the new company sees massive opportunities in rapidly changing telephony and media technologies.

WildPackets and Splunk
[October 2, 2006] Merge a network monitoring system with an open source application that searches your log data and you get security in addition to synergy.

One Source for Home PC Protection
[September 29, 2006] This PC security company, which sells through channels, is adding more ISPs to the vendor list.

Better Partnerships
[September 28, 2006] Now that no service provider works alone, a telecom solution company has developed a tool to help ISPs manage partner relationships.

InterCloud Security Service
[September 25, 2006] Today, Trend Micro announces a program to tackle next generation spam.

It's Easier to Build WISP if You're Already an ISP
[September 22, 2006] This ISP in the foothills of the Sierra Mountains found it had an advantage when it made the decision to add wireless broadband to DSL and dialup.

CommuniGate's Open Architecture
[September 21, 2006] The company that was once known (ugh) as Stalker Software is embracing an open architecture that will enable cool applications and genuine scalability.

Content Control Suite (CCS)
[September 15, 2006] Control and supervision technology developed for the intelligence community now available to service providers.

DSL Forum's New Direction
[September 14, 2006] The DSL Forum is ready to evolve from setting the standards for the pure DSL network to developing solutions for multi-media service delivery, making decisions that will determine the shape of the next generation of the internet.

Digium's VON Announcements Part 2: The Asterisk Appliance Developers' Kit
[September 12, 2006] Digium has designed an appliance that will be modified by service providers and OEMs in an attempt to better serve vertical markets.

Digium's VON Announcements Part 1: Asterisk v. 1.4
[September 12, 2006] The new version of Asterisk is packed with so many features that we can only highlight the most important of them.

SIPBox Launches
[September 12, 2006] A new company specializing in open source VoIP implementations announces itself at VON.

Ranch Networks Announces Asterisk Clustering
[September 12, 2006] The open source VoIP project is now able to handle the largest projects.

Remote Support App
[September 11, 2006] This desktop sharing application asks users' permission before taking over the computer for support purposes, and a small download means that nothing needs to be pre-installed.

Telework Part 4: Jobs for Disabled Veterans
[September 7, 2006] This is a cause that every ISP is in favor of, and one woman is setting up an organization to do the right thing.

Telework Part 3: iPass Sells a Telework Package
[September 5, 2006] When we asked how an ISP would offer a telework package, those who know referred us to iPass, whose customers include most of the major U.S. pharmaceutical companies.

Telework Part 2: What You Need
[September 1, 2006] ISPs choosing to offer telework need to understand the needs of their new, valuable customers.

Telework Part 1: What it is and Why it Sells
[August 31, 2006] Advocates see telework as the solution to a variety of problems, from congestion and environmental issues to employment for disabled veterans.

Macedonia Connects
[August 29, 2006] It took barely half a year to bring the internet to this nation's schools. We called up the project leader to learn how it happened.

EarthLink Offers Disposable E-Mail Accounts
[August 28, 2006] We've been advocating disposable e-mail for years, and EarthLink's now offering it. But ISPs should take particular note of EarthLink's interaction with its own customers, which sets standards that nobody else in the industry can match.

Sidebar: A Second E-Mail Address for Your G-Mail Account
[August 28, 2006] In failing to offer disposable e-mail addresses, we feel Google is denying users a vital anti-spam strategy.

Editorial: Verizon's Fee Error is an ISP Opportunity
[August 23, 2006] As Verizon thumbs its nose at its customers, ISPs should seize the opportunity.

1.5 Mbps is "Dialup 2.0"
[August 22, 2006] Customers would love more bandwidth, business need it, and websites demand it, says a wireless broadband booster.

ISPs and RLECs Have Much in Common
[August 21, 2006] A recent survey released by the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association included comments from the RLECs themselves that are fascinating but have been virtually ignored.

ISP Profile: Lore Internet Systems
[August 18, 2006] In order to deliver 24x7 services, in order to cut costs while upgrading quality, in order to do better, this ISP has gone where many more will follow: ditching the office.

Two Partner to Provide Security to Small Business
[August 16, 2006] A security provider and a CLEC will announce a partnership tomorrow that will show how two companies can work together to benefit each other and their customers.

EasyStreet Grows, Part 2: Marketing Your Success
[August 15, 2006] There's plenty of advice on how to sell bad products, but many ISPs don't realize that you also need to work hard to sell a good product.

EasyStreet Grows, Part 1: Today's ISP Growth is in the Data Center
[August 11, 2006] As another Portland ISP grows its data center, we learn why the business services side of the market is booming.

VelociX
[August 10, 2006] There's a new content delivery network courting ISPs, specializing in lowering the bandwidth consumed by P2P traffic as well as delivering legal movies and music.

Wireless in the Keys
[August 4, 2006] When this ISP faced hurricane Wilma, it deployed the experience and teamwork that had allowed it to survive other ISP industry disasters like deregulation.

Coming Next: ISP Services That Don't Require Internet
[August 1, 2006] Delivering (some of) the benefits of broadband to those who don't have it.

Jamcracker Service Delivery Network 2.0
[July 31, 2006] The company updates its service infrastructure to better serve service providers and customers.

US LEC Signs SunRocket
[July 26, 2006] In addition to a big customer win, the VoIP wholesaler plans to deliver that VoIP feature that the FCC tried to destroy.

EarthLink Adds 23 GHz Radios to Muni Plans
[July 25, 2006] The urban backbones for EarthLink's municipal wireless products will get 200 Mbps radios.

Wave Broadband Buys
[July 25, 2006] A cable company based in Washington state might be the biggest ISP you haven't heard of. As it grows, it's buying equipment you'll be looking at soon, if you're on the same path of success.

New Gear for Remote POP Monitoring
[July 24, 2006] The open source hardware company expands its product line.

Whitesmoke Fixes Your English
[July 24, 2006] Software originally developed for non-native speakers is proving popular worldwide, the company says.

Data Center Grows
[July 20, 2006] It's a good time to be offering business services. We talk to a company that just expanded its data center.

Anti-Spam Software for the Webhosting Industry
[July 17, 2006] Roaring Penguin Software adds multilevel rights management to its software, aiming to satisfy the needs of webhosts who have resellers.

From BBS to Security Service
[July 17, 2006] ISP-Planet has been advising ISPs to offer more services to business customers as the regulatory climate continues to favor monopolies in residential service. We talk to one ISP that has done it.

IronPort Reports Surge in Image Spam
[July 10, 2006] IronPort released spam data that ISPs should pay attention to even though the data supports IronPort's products.

Every WISP Can Help the Sheriff
[July 7, 2006] Every WISP wants to help the police, and several are already doing so. We talk to the officer driving the longest running wireless broadband police car installation in the U.S. that we know of.

Marketing Yourself, Your Business, Your Town
[July 6, 2006] Every holiday is an opportunity to improve your community, your business, and your life.

As Retailers Move from Dialup to Broadband, ISPs Move With Them
[June 30, 2006] It's not just the big companies. Even local retail and fast food businesses are moving up from dialup to broadband, driven by the most basic retail need of all: credit card payment processing.

Privacy Networks Delivers Latest Element of E-Mail Management Suite
[June 29, 2006] Company says ISPs and MSPs want it all from one vendor who doesn't compete with them.

What You Can Do With IP
[June 26, 2006] The most interesting things being done with networks are all too often trade secrets, but we got a few hints from one business ISP.

SonicWALL Moves Beyond the CPE Box
[June 23, 2006] The company's new goal is to deliver more value-added services so that its resellers can make more money.

Top Layer Updates Intrusion Prevention Device
[June 22, 2006] Its latest product, the company says, is ready to handle your gigabit security needs.

Cogent Offer in New Markets
[June 19, 2006] Cogent Communications, the low priced backbone its competitors love to loathe, makes a move immediately after raising capital.

VoIP Ranking by Subscriber: Q1 2006
[June 19, 2006] Although Vonage is making all the headlines, the cable companies are filling the list with their not-entirely-VoIP products.

Subscriber Values: Q1 2006
[June 16, 2006] Competitive ISPs and CLECs are in transition, altering their business models to catch up to changes in regulation.

Top 22 U.S. ISPs by Subscriber: Q1 2006
[June 15, 2006] As the U.S. moves closer to a duopoly, cable and phone companies rise through the rankings. We estimate that the market share of the top ten ISPs is about 68 percent (and we list Time Warner twice in the top five).

A New Router, a New Direction for a Router Maker
[June 9, 2006] Using open source software, a rational license policy, and modular hardware, this router company is challenging the marketplace with lower prices and all the features, carving out a cost conscious niche for itself.

Blazing the AJAX Path
[June 8, 2006] What may be the world's largest provider of own-branded e-mail services announced a major upgrade at ISPCON.

Easier Upgrades from Dialup to DSL
[June 7, 2006] It's a simple little device, easy to describe, and it could eliminate dialup in urban areas just by making it easier to upgrade to DSL.

Book Review: The Change Function: Why Some Technologies Take Off and Others Crash and Burn
[June 6, 2006] A Wall Street analyst says that the culture of technology companies needs to change in order to fix the problems that drive away potential buyers.

Batteries
[June 5, 2006] While members of the ISP-Wireless list discussed rechargeable batteries, we talked about the history and maintenance of rechargeable batteries with the only battery services corporation we know of..

Solving the Home Network Problem—Really!
[June 2, 2006] It's the dream of every ISP in the world: the computer setup that fixes itself after the customer has broken it. Now one company says it's ready to deliver.

ISPCON: The Bankers Speak
[June 1, 2006] Bankers at ISPCON told attendees that the ISP universe is changing, again, rewarding certain types of business while punishing others.

Isenberg Discusses the Future of the Internet
[May 31, 2006] At ISPCON, the ex-Bell Labs engineer (now prosultant) challenged ISPs to articulate their vision for the future of the internet.

What is the Price of Bandwidth?
[May 31, 2006] ISPCON attendees suggested that David Isenberg's arguments about net neutrality ignore the reality of how regular sized ISPs buy and sell connectivity.

EarthLink Courts Controversy With Muni Franchise Offer to ISPs
[May 26, 2006] The company told ISPCON attendees that there are so many business opportunities out there, it wants to offer franchises to WISPs in markets it's not pursuing itself.

Reflexion Anti-Spam
[May 25, 2006] This common sense approach to anti-spam includes just about every idea that's ever been tried and actually delivers that most elusive of buzzwords: synergy.

Preparing for Disaster: The Katrina Story
[May 23, 2006] Sigmund Solares and Donny Simonton told ISPCON attendees the story of how they survived Katrina while operating a data center.

Preparing for Disaster: The Katrina Lessons
[May 22, 2006] Sigmond Solares and Donny Simonton shared with ISPCON attendees the lessons they learned from running a data center in New Orleans during Katrina.

Verio's Channel Program
[May 16, 2006] It's no longer enough to have state of the art data centers. Even the largest webhosts are talking to their customers and resellers to learn more about who they are and what they want.

Check Point's Appliance Adds DSL Modem
[May 16, 2006] Check Point Software is announcing at ISPCON a new version of its Safe@Office small business appliance that contains an advanced ADSL2/ADSL2+ modem in addition to numerous other features.

BPM for Small Business, Version 1.0
[May 15, 2006] Although it's true that every business should make daily work more of a system and less of an art, this tool for building systems is a work in process.

Planet ISPCON
[May 12, 2006] Let ISP-Planet be your other ISPCON guide.

Redundancy for Open Source VoIP
[May 8, 2006] One company announces today that it is offering the seamless failover that enterprises require, bringing Asterisk into the carrier class service category.

Announcing EarthLink Business Solutions
[May 1, 2006] For years, EarthLink has been losing webhosting customers, but the recent acquisition of New Edge Networks allows the company to build on an area that has been a corporate weakness for many years.

Who Lost the Internet?
[April 28, 2006] FCC policy needs to take into account the value of public property, the value of free speech, and the effect of our policies on China, argued former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt. He concluded his speech to the Freedom to Connect conference with three recommendations.

The Economics of Internet Rebellions
[April 27, 2006] One speaker at the Freedom to Connect conference said that fundamental Western values are being discarded in the pursuit of monopoly profits. Luckily, the economics of the internet promote group ownership and punish monopolies.

Dialup Shutdown in Massachusetts
[April 26, 2006] In the long run, it may mean the return of per-minute dialup pricing. In the short term, non-Verizon dialup customers are cut off in parts of the United States.

The Powerful Remote Niche
[April 25, 2006] Although the company's only two years old, the founders of this open source hardware and software startup have been into remote connectivity since 1985.

VoIP is Truly a Service
[April 21, 2006] Providing VoIP service brings the ISP closer to the customer, and if you're prepared for this, it's a good thing.

Connecting With Real Estate
[April 20, 2006] ISPs hate trying to deal with landlords, so we talked to one ISP that is working with several of the biggest.

Dedicated Dialup for $100 Per Month
[April 19, 2006] ISPs can learn from this new business service offer from ISP veteran New Edge Networks, part of EarthLink, precisely because no new technology is involved.

The WISP Box
[April 18, 2006] A cantankerous self-described megalomaniac drops by our offices to describe the one appliance that every WISP needs.

The More Telecom Monopolies Change, the More They Stay the Same
[April 17, 2006] Concerns about monopoly power in communications and commerce predate the telephone, and we can learn much from history.

BatteryCorp Adds Site Audits
[April 17, 2006] The company that turned battery provision into a high touch managed service adds tower site audits to its list of services.

Rick Boucher Addresses the Freedom to Connect Conference
[April 14, 2006] This congressman understands the issues.

Templeton's Dark Sense of Humor
[April 13, 2006] He's done it before, and at the Freedom to Connect conference, EFF Chairman Brad Templeton championed internet freedom by channeling the dark side.

Skeptical About Net Neutrality
[April 11, 2006] Although he called net neutrality "crypto-nationalization," blogger and telecom guru Martin Geddes at times suggested that net neutrality would be too little rather than too much.

Editorial: Just Tell Me The Price
[April 6, 2006] Vendors can destroy their business by making prices too complex

The Freedom To Connect
[April 4, 2006] The Freedom To Connect conference opened with a speech from an FCC Commissioner followed by a speech by the conference's founder, both addressing the same topic: the future of the internet.

Wikipedia 2.0
[April 3, 2006] The next web-based encyclopedia will be a more perfect source of information and includes an unusual affiliate deal that will benefit VISP network providers.

Cogent's Latest Price Drop
[April 3, 2006] While most internet companies are trying to charge more for their services, Cogent takes advantage of price deflation, charging less for burstable bandwidth.

Why Net Neutrality is Necessary
[March 31, 2006] All we are asking for is a free market untainted by lobbyists, fake grassroots groups, push polls, and all the other weapons of regulatory capitalism.

MSN Replies to AOL Price Rise
[March 31, 2006] Local ISPs tend not to worry about promotions from the big companies because of all the hidden fees and the lengthy contract commitments, but MSN's latest offer has neither.

Handling the Thermodynamics of Webhosting
[March 30, 2006] An intuitive, easy to use website builder reduces friction between the buying of a website, the building of the website, and that valuable upsell that every webhost desires.

Engineers See the Politics in the Internet
[March 28, 2006] It was law professor Lawrence Lessig who famously noted that code is law on the internet. Now even the engineers are realizing that regulators could break the net, and they're meeting at the Freedom to Connect conference.

Put a WatchTower in Your NOC
[March 24, 2006] If you're deriving more revenue from business customers, striving to grow from an ISP to an MSP, network monitoring is the foundation of many of the services you wish to offer.

ADTRAN Aims at Converged Networks
[March 23, 2006] ADTRAN unveils its top of the line access concentrator built for the networks of the future.

Peer to Peer E-Mail Protection
[March 21, 2006] As more regulation impacts small businesses, and as customers become aware of privacy issues, encrypted e-mail is becoming more and more valuable. But encryption is just one feature of this e-mail privacy solution.

Book Review: Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability
[March 20, 2006] Yes, all it takes is common sense to design a good website, but reading this book will persuade you that a decade of website consulting experience adds valuable insight.

Billions and Billions of Phone Bills
[March 17, 2006] ISPs and CLECs handle millions of phone bill line items each year, and one company has software to make it much easier, saving hours and hours of time.

Evolve to SIP
[March 17, 2006] With a pair of new boxes, this company has mapped out an easier voice upgrade path from TDM to SIP.

e-Book Review: $200 Billion Broadband Scandal
[March 16, 2006] In a news cycle entirely free of historical data and analysis, the phone companies can promise the same thing over and over again, win concessions, and fail to deliver. Here's the documentation of the scandal.

An Infrastructure for Services
[March 13, 2006] It's a problem that's about as old as the ISP industry itself: as services get more complex and equipment more capable, customers aren't evolving at all.

Enterprise VoIP Router
[March 7, 2006] ADTRAN builds on decades of voice experience with a new kind of router.

A Threat to Rural Dialup
[February 28, 2006] It always seemed that no matter how little residential competition existed in the cities, the nation's rural senators would protect the little townships, but soon there may be zero competition in some small towns, as a database change goes into effect on March 5, 2006.

Be Ambitious
[February 24, 2006] You're a member of several local organizations, and you are prominent in charities. But you can take your networking a step farther than you ever thought possible.

Coburn Ventures Conference Call: "The Free World and Its Implications"
[February 23, 2006] As the price of everything on the internet plummets towards zero, a pair of analysts discuss the passing of business empires.

IPTV Content Provider Seeks ISP Partners Worldwide
[February 16, 2006] ISPs often fail to address the needs of non-English speakers in their community. Here's one service that could solve the problem.

E-Mail Security in the Worx
[February 13, 2006] This product offers ISPs encrypted e-mail. It's a service designed to be offered to small- and medium-sized business, at first.

E-Mail Marketing System Pays ISPs, Eases Filtering
[February 10, 2006] While charging money to send e-mail is not new at all, the details of the system embraced by AOL and Yahoo! include several unique elements.

The Appliance That Fights Phishing
[February 10, 2006] This week, at DEMO, a new box was unveiled, backed by a system that's keeping tabs on all the web's bad actors.

Mirapoint Makes it Easier
[February 7, 2006] A company specializing in serving carrier customers introduces purchase plans for regular ISPs.

EarthLink's DSL Plus VoIP Offering
[February 6, 2006] Currently in local trials, EarthLink's DSL plus phone service competes on features as well as price.

Rudy Yakym, President, Cyberlink International
[February 3, 2006] To close E-Myth week at ISP-Planet, we interview the founder of a WISP and ask him how Christiantiy, E-Myth, and business work together.

Jon Price, founder of The Golden Group
[February 2, 2006] It's E-Myth week at ISP-Planet, and today we interview the guy in charge of ISPCON to learn how implementing the E-Myth system is changing his business and his understanding of it.

John McKown, President and Founder, Delaware.Net
[January 31, 2006] It's E-Myth week at ISP-Planet, and today we interview the founder and president of a medium sized regional ISP and webhost.

Book Review: The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It
[January 30, 2006] Michael Gerber writes that most small business owners fail to understand why they got into the business in the first place, but that if they take the time to work on their business, not in it, they can rise above the tyranny of work to find freedom and joy.

An Asterisk Appliance
[January 27, 2006] The code developed by an appliance marker that enables Asterisk to interact nicely with enterprise firewalls could eventually do much much more. That's because this is open source.

Netopia's Provisioning and Support Tool
[January 24, 2006] DSL Forum standards enable CPE providers to aid ISPs in automating the provisioning process. We present Netopia's take on TR-069.

From BBS to Commercial Host
[January 23, 2006] We saw a BBS on the ISP-Lists, got in touch, and learned the company's story, dating from before the invention of the web browser to the present day.

WISPs Work Together
[January 20, 2006] One of the largest WISPs in the U.S. (absolutely the largest by some metrics) has a system in place for working with other WISPs to extend all parties' coverage areas.

ISP Profile: Iserv
[January 19, 2006] The company is growing fast through acquisition, adding customers and also adding new services to its portfolio.

Editorial: The Fight the Bells Will Lose
[January 13, 2006] If the Bells block google and other content providers, they will find that regular, decent ISPs gain as the RBOCs are finally forced to pay for their latest abuse of monopoly power after years in which they got away with everything.

Making a Business from Collaboration
[January 12, 2006] This integrator uses open source solutions to deliver unique products to unusual customers, building a collaborative business by peeling an onion in reverse, serving customers that others had abandoned.

Tucows Says E-Mail is Critical
[January 6, 2006] As the company adds another service to its suite of ISP products, the company's president and CEO elucidates a deceptively simple business strategy.

E-Rate Pays
[January 3, 2006] An ISPCON speaker and ISP CEO has an interesting message: if you're willing to do the homework—lots and lots of homework—this government program can pay you as you do good, helping your local schools.

2005

Adding Financial Services to the ISP Portfolio
[December 19, 2005] One of the top competitive ISPs in the U.S. acquires a powerful Wall Street connection.

Marc Silvestri Says Dialup is a Good Business
[December 19, 2005] With a big acquisition, the nation's largest founder-owned ISP vaults up the subscriber rankings (update due later this week).

More Than Just A Firewall
[December 15, 2005] When NuVox Communications needed to offer top quality security for the company's twenty-first century voice services, it went to its partner of four years and obtained a complete package.

EarthLink Means Business
[December 14, 2005] EarthLink's acquisition of New Edge Networks positions the company to offer more business services, part of an ongoing trend as ISPs move towards the VAR and integrator market.

AJAX Integration Progresses at Webmail.us
[December 14, 2005] Using the latest in Web 2.0 technologies enables the webmail provider to offer more.

Follow SonicWALL To A Professional Internet Industry
[December 12, 2005] Service Providers rely on partners, and as internet partnerships become more complex, vendors and resellers are working together. We talked to a vendor about their award winning partnership program in an attempt to understand what the ideal relationship would be.

To Kill Zombies, Use Iron
[December 8, 2005] The myths say that you use silver to kill a werewolf. One company says that with iron, you can kill zombies (and spam and viruses).

Blue Security's Anti-Spam Community
[December 5, 2005] There's plenty you could do about spam, if you had the time. Eran Reshef says you should let his team fight your spam fight for you.

Propel Thinks Globally
[December 2, 2005] The accelerator specializing in very very big ISPs announces gains across the globe.

SlipStream Data Embraces Competition in Dialup Acceleration
[December 2, 2005] One thing's certain: if you're in favor of competition, you're certainly not an RBOC, even you compete as vigorously as anyone else.

Artera Turbo's New Product
[December 1, 2005] The acceleration vendor has a whole new twist on acceleration and has redefined what it offers to ISPs.

Managing the Data Center
[November 28, 2005] Plenty of apps already control devices remotely, but a new appliance aggregates the apps. Think of it as a controller of controllers.

So Many Services for Wireless
[November 28, 2005] One vendor says that global opportunities arrive when you combine voice, data, and other services.

VoIP and that Duck
[November 23, 2005] One VoIP CEO urged the FCC to look at VoIP and not to duck responsibility based on an old saying.

ISPCON: The Government and the Wires
[November 22, 2005] ISPCON attendees packed a room at an early morning session to learn about the policy issues they face.

The FCC and WISPs
[November 22, 2005] While ISPs and CLECs are being written out of telecom, the FCC is working hard to make life better for WISPs, two lawyers told attendees at ISPCON.

Why It's Important To Be Neutral
[November 21, 2005] In these fractious times, you get the headlines if you're for or against something, but one ISP executive who has always believed in internet individuality argues passionately for internet neutrality. He's part of a movement that's asking every ISP to sign up.

Disk Specialist
[November 18, 2005] Whether it's hard drives or CD-ROMs, this company can make them do things you might not have realized were possible.

Economies of Scale in E-Mail Security
[November 17, 2005] A company that may be the world's top anti-spam authority is offering its security service to major service providers at a price that significantly undercuts the competition.

Solving the "Down at 3 AM" Problem
[November 15, 2005] Some problems are so annoying, it's worth starting your own equipment company just to solve them.

The Backup for the Towers
[November 14, 2005] ISPs looking to upgrade their business from a product to a service could learn something from a battery maker turned service provider.

This Registrar Wants to Steal Your Customers
[November 11, 2005] It's Veterans' Day, and one company is wrapping itself in the flag and sending deceptive invoices to your customers, using the WHOIS list illegally, in a scam familiar to every ISP.

The Power of Open Source Telephony
[November 11, 2005] Interested in learning more about Asterisk, we spoke to the author.

Asterisk Business Edition
[November 11, 2005] The certified build of the open source PBX is available now at a price that's designed to unnerve the closed-source competition.

Security and Moore's Law: Whitfield Diffie's Thoughts
[November 10, 2005] Ever faster CPUs make life difficult for a variety of industries—ISPs, for example, operate in a market suffering constant deflation—but, as the inventor of public key cryptography noted, Moore's Law is particularly challenging to security vendors.

The Marconi Foundation Celebrates Gordon Moore
[November 9, 2005] Famous engineers and mathematicians gathered to celebrate the single greatest individual in the industry that builds every CPU.

The Marconi Foundation Celebrates Human Ingenuity
[November 9, 2005] Famous engineers and mathematicians gathered to share their interests and concerns as technology continues to develop at a rapid pace.

WISP Profile: D.C. Access
[November 8, 2005] Like so many ISPs, it was started by someone who couldn't find an ISP they liked. It now has many business lines, including one vertical market that must be unique.

Is This Blogging God Right For You?
[November 7, 2005] There's growing competition in the blogging services software market, including an interesting product from a company that was featured in ISPCON's Startup City.

Licensing Content for the Internet
[November 4, 2005] With IPTV music licensing conditions still undecided, we asked a cable industry content entrepreneur and pioneer how the last round of agreements were negotiated, and learned that the future may be nothing like the past.

Common Sense in Selling Services
[November 3, 2005] An industry veteran pointed to areas in which every company in the business could do better. The good news is that with room to improve, any service provider can become first class.

Experts Recommend: Top Value-Added Services for SME Customers
[November 1, 2005] ISPs need to offer more than just connectivity in order to retain small business customers—and in order to stand out from the service provider crowd.

Experts Recommend: Top Value-Added Services for Residential Customers
[October 31, 2005] ISPs need to offer more than just connectivity in order to retain residential customers—and in order to be profitable.

If You're Thinking Of Selling, Look At The Big Picture
[October 28, 2005] ISP valuation guru Paul Stapleton told ISPCON attendees exactly which xSP businesses are selling for high valuations.

ISPCON Buzz
[October 27, 2005] Plenty happened at ISPCON—we'll be writing about it for weeks—but here are some news items that stand out.

Wireless CPE for Dialup Subscribers
[October 25, 2005] We never wrote up the company's first product, which we thought nobody would buy (we were wrong). Now that the company's second product is on the market, we decided to learn about both.

The Future of Messaging
[October 24, 2005] When the company entered the scene, that's exactly what the website said—"The Future of Messaging"—and it said nothing else. Now it's got plenty of products, and one of them just might be the future of messaging.

The Many Challenges of VoIP Peering
[October 21, 2005] At ISPCON, one speaker explained why building a global VoIP network will be far more challenging than the stitching together of a global IP network through peering agreements.

ISPCON Keynote: Three Hosts, Three Strategies
[October 20, 2005] The ISPCON webhosting keynote brought together some key players in the industry, each of whom described a different core strategy.

Planet ISPCON
[October 17, 2005] Let ISP-Planet be your other ISPCON guide.

Interview With Jon Price
[October 14, 2005] Looking over the ISPCON program, we had a few questions. So we e-mailed them to the person in charge of the show.

Modular is Best
[October 13, 2005] If you want to keep pace with the rapidly changing telecommunications business, one vendor says, you build modular software and keep thinking outside the box, away from the appliance.

Covad's Acquisition of NextWeb Makes Sense
[October 11, 2005] It's the biggest ISP deal in recent memory. WISPs are interested, especially those hoping to sell out at the same valuation. So here's the deal.

Winning Municipal Business
[October 10, 2005] We spoke to key executives at a major ISP that just won national attention with a public contract win. We asked what it took to win the first contract, and what was planned next.

The Cogent-Level 3 Dispute
[October 7, 2005] Even though peering has ended and links remain severed, the peering agreement was not violated by either side. The dispute pits a restructured, low-debt Ethernet provider against a more traditional, debt laden provider in a fight that's unlikely to end soon.

Thinking About Skype and eBay
[October 6, 2005] We spoke to a company that's already offering voice services to eBay users to learn more about the Skype buy specifically and about VoIP opportunities in general.

VoIP Consolidation
[October 3, 2005] One VoIP acquires another and the combined package enables even more services. But are businesses ready to take advantage of what's on offer?

How To Grow, How To Change
[September 29, 2005] One ISP that made the transition from selling basic dialup to selling advanced business services tells a story that contains important lessons for ISPs who seek business customers.

Hostopia
[September 26, 2005] This white label webhost has a key advantage over much of the competition—it doesn't compete with its ISP customers.

Senator, That's Not The Issue
[September 23, 2005] WISPs who are eager to use the 700 MHz band will be disappointed. McCain's spectrum law is politics as usual in Washington, D.C. It ensures that as big money changes hands and noble sentiments about first responders are aired, special interests get special deals and small business is shut out of the spectrum.

In Praise of .XXX
[September 23, 2005] The proposed domain name would neither destroy the porn industry, as its porn industry opponents suggest, nor enrich the porn industry, as its conservative opponents suggest.

Accelerator Adds Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware
[September 22, 2005] The accelerator market is as competitive as ever, just like the ISP market. As ISPs are asked to provide more applications as part of the standard package, one more accelerator vendor adds additional services to their offering.

Telco Industry Begins IPTV Standards Process
[September 20, 2005] As the telecommunications industry starts work on standards, it seems focused on competing with cable, ignoring the television that's already available on the internet.

Community Responds to Katrina
[September 19, 2005] The tech community is playing a role in the massive Katrina relief effort.

New Hampshire ISP Association to Hold Annual Meeting
[September 19, 2005] The NHISPA will hold its annual meeting in Manchester, N.H. on Wednesday October 5 and Thursday October 6.

A CLEC Perspective on Regulation
[September 16, 2005] A conversation with a key executive at a major CLEC shows that ISPs, CLECs, and VoIP providers have much in common as regulators prepare gifts for RBOCs.

Customers Don't Realize What VoIP Can Do
[September 12, 2005] We talk to a VoIP solution maker and one of their more interesting niche customers about what is possible now and what the future may bring.

Editorial: ISPs Can Survive
[September 8, 2005] While the FCC seems determined to eliminate independent DSL, survival strategies exist for ISPs willing and able to adapt. We identify three key skills and two elements of local geography that could be vital to your success.

Message From Louisiana
[September 2, 2005] Communications are an important part of any relief effort, and ISPs can play a significant role in the massive relief effort for victims of Katrina. The Hunt Brothers of Franklinton, La. are asking for help for nearby Bogalusa—and for New Orleans.

The Heart of the Penguin
[September 1, 2005] David Skoll, CEO of Roaring Penguin Software, is building the e-mail management solution of the future on an open source platform, using the skills he honed as a student, when he wrote the most flexible calendar app we've seen.

Do You Know What Your Network's Doing Now?
[August 30, 2005] The maker of a unique box that streamlines P2P networks to lessen their load on an ISP's network has a unique offer for ISPs.

Former BBS, Current BSP, Improves Anti-Spam
[August 18, 2005] A business services provider (BSP) who's been around since the ice age era of FIDOCon chooses an improved anti-spam solution.

Knowledge of the Network is Power
[August 15, 2005] An ISP planning to deliver the services of the future needs to understand and control its network.

A Veteran in the Anti-Spam Legal Wars
[August 12, 2005] From recent headlines to the earliest spammer convictions, this ISP has always been at the forefront of the fight to convict spammers of their crimes.

Editorial: Joy at the Death of a Spammer
[August 11, 2005] While the Internet as a collective whole rejoiced in the seduction, drugging, and murder of a spammer, solutions to the spam problem involve legislation and education rather than vigilantism.

The ATM WISP
[August 9, 2005] You may think it's impossible to meld ATM reliability with Wi-Fi deployability, but one such network has been running for ten years.

Webmail Directory: Webmail.us
[August 8, 2005] This company is betting on convergence, developing sophisticated applications while remaining focused on its core business.

From Chaska to The Alamo
[August 2, 2005] This hotspot solution provider is interested in deployments large and small, anywhere in the world.

Planning for a Power Outage
[August 1, 2005] Data centers shouldn't just be prepared for unexpected disasters. Sometimes, problems call you up and give you the forecast date and time of their occurrence.

A CLEC Operations Consultant
[July 28, 2005] This ISP CEO has returned to his original calling, being a consultant, and shows that even without reciprocal compensation, being a CLEC can bring in serious cost savings.

Wi-Fi Planet Keynote: The Impact of Open Standard Radio
[July 27, 2005] A key observer and Internet investor explained to attendees at the Wi-Fi Planet Conference & Expo why most pundits and players will inevitably underestimate the disruptive potential of Wi-Fi.

Wi-Fi Planet Keynote: Wi-Fi vs. Telcos
[July 26, 2005] In his keynote speech at the Wi-Fi Planet Conference & Expo, "Wi-Fi vs. Telcos", a famed Internet guru spelled out why he's looking to nimble wi-fi providers, not "telcos, cablecos, and cellcos" for innovation and the next killer app.

A Flashy Filter
[July 25, 2005] This agile content filter works in both home and small business environments and features a GUI that will please anyone trying to reduce help desk calls.

Investing in the Future of Broadband
[July 18, 2005] A traffic shaping solution maker gets a big investment from an investor with connections.

Top Six ISPs in Canada by Subscriber: Q2 2005
[July 18, 2005] Broadband continues to grow in Canada, as Rogers passes Telus in disclosed subscribers.

IceWarp Reaches Out to ISPs
[July 14, 2005] The maker of a well known e-mail server adds several significant upgrades, aimed at ISPs with large subscriber bases and ISPs with business customers.

ISPCON: Keynote Speaker Says, "This is Your Opportunity"
[July 12, 2005] While big companies fight them, local ISPs should see the latest broadband builders as an opportunity, not a threat.

ISPCON: Notes from the Show Floor
[July 11, 2005] The ISPCON show floor is the place to find out what's happening.

ISPCON: Making Allies from Enemies
[July 8, 2005] A group of experienced legislative activists told attendees that in politics, everyone eventually has to work with those they hate the most.

Be a Better VoIP Partner
[July 1, 2005] Dave Clark says that ISPs and WISPs make common mistakes during the VoIP startup phase, mistakes that can be easily avoided. Avoiding getting it wrong is easy; getting it right is quite complex, as he explains in detail.

Bells and Whistles and Messaging
[June 23, 2005] One of the oldest messaging servers has, at this time, more features than most. If you're looking for a top class server, this one should be on your list.

E-Mail Services Wrapped in Blue
[June 22, 2005] This company offers a wide variety of e-mail services for ISPs with small business customers.

SlipStream Data Touts Success
[June 20, 2005] One dialup accelerator claims to have broken away from the competition, into the lead.

Asterisk is Developing
[June 17, 2005] We talk to two participants in the VoIP open source project about achievements so far and goals for the future.

Rich Webmail for Everyone
[June 6, 2005] The largest non-facilities based ISP in North America rolls out a new webmail product that's nifty whether you're on dialup or broadband.

A Local VoIP Provider
[June 3, 2005] Whether ISPs see M5 as an example to imitate or a potential partner to work with, there's a lot to learn from the business focused VoIP provider with ISP roots.

Outsource Security to the Cloud
[May 26, 2005] One company is building security data centers, offering top of the line up to date products to ISPs and business customers on a plan the company calls "Security in the Cloud".

The Internet is the Infrastructure of Democracy
[May 17, 2005] David Weinberger says that the internet that we are all a part of is the key to freedom, progress, democracy, and fighting terrorism.

Small Pieces Loosely Joined
[May 16, 2005] At the Freedom To Connect Conference, several speakers gave short talks on elements of the internet in which they were expert.

Knock Down the Silos
[May 13, 2005] A lawyer for MCI presented a common sense framework for internet regulation at the Freedom To Connect conference. It's about getting rid of old ideas and seeing the internet as it really is.

We, the Internet
[May 12, 2005] A law professor argues that laws and regulation will harm the internet, not help it—that it's up to the builders of the infrastructure and applications to build the internet faster than governments can crush it.

At F2C, ISPs and VoIPs Have Similar Concerns
[May 10, 2005] The prospect of a network dominated by a single short sighted company threatens the freedom to connect—and innovate—of small businesses everywhere.

The Internet and Its Discontents
[May 9, 2005] A major internet researcher moves calmly from simple facts about the internet to a discussion about the key issue that will make or break its future.

Be a Service Innovator
[May 6, 2005] A software developer from Sweden challenges ISPs to offer services not bandwidth, and says he can prove that it works. Service innovation is necessary because the triple play is boring.

VoIP Court Ruling
[May 4, 2005] A ruling on a little watched case in Texas could set the stage for the legal freedom of VoIP.

The Freedom To Connect
[May 3, 2005] Bell Labs rebel David Isenberg gathered a cross-disciplinary group to discuss the intersection of politics and the internet.

New Anti-Spam Benchmark
[May 2, 2005] We talked to the testing outfit that just released an anti-spam benchmark about how the tests work and how often the software will be tested in the future.

AOL Mail on the Web
[April 25, 2005] We chatted (by phone) with the largest ISP in the U.S. about the company's webmail product.

How Much Data Backup Does A Dollar Get You?
[April 21, 2005] At PCFort, a dollar gets your customers in the door. The company has a low entry level price designed to appeal to ISPs and to ISPs' residential and SOHO customers.

The Adzilla Project
[April 18, 2005] It sends ads, blocks ads, kills viruses, and even plans to change the way ads are bought and sold on the internet. But will ISPs take to this ambitious project?

A Warning On Deliverability
[April 14, 2005] A new study is a warning to ISPs that they may be blocking more than they know.

An Extreme Phight Against Phishing
[April 11, 2005] When California ISP DSL Extreme decided to fight phishing, the company realized it already had tools that, with a little tweaking, could do the job.

Just Deep Six It
[April 8, 2005] One vendor announces a solution to the porn problem.

Adding Power to the PBX
[April 7, 2005] You don't have to be big to offer a complete suite of voice mail and call management features, says a vendor looking for webhosting and business ISPs.

Cerf Says Symmetry is Beautiful
[March 31, 2005] The father of the internet gave an after dinner speech at F2C, persevering through thunderous applause and the occasional comment to describe the next step in the process of evolution of his baby.

A Simple Strategy
[March 31, 2005] This VoIP provider claims it's the simplest. Any ISP with a billing system is welcome to join for an up front prepayment for services of $250.

Planning for Broadband Ubiquity
[March 28, 2005] As legacy businesses around the world lobby their governments to prevent the deployment of technologies like wireless broadband and VoIP, one of the largest corporate research programs in the world is already planning for everything they're trying to prevent.

A Wi-Fi VoIP Handoff in the Parking Lot
[March 22, 2005] As a WISP CEO whizzed around a corporate parking lot, he got some weird looks, but he was doing his job, testing the limits of the wireless internet.

The Insurance Agent Who Grew Like You
[March 18, 2005] If you're trying to find insurance, consider a company that, though national now, started out as a strong regional player in Southern California.

Serious Collaboration for Business ISPs
[March 17, 2005] With the purchase of Groove by Microsoft last week, everyone's taking collaboration software seriously. One company, successful elsewhere, is just launching in the U.S. and is seeking large ISPs with business customers.

Ipswitch Adds Anti-Spam to ICS
[March 14, 2005] Ipswitch partnered with Mail-Filters.com to add anti-spam to its Ipswitch Collaboration Suite.

A Cat in a Basement in Oregon
[March 11, 2005] A big name local ISP owes its success, its founder says, to the teamwork of everyone who works there and, of course, to Cleo the cat.

A New Breed of ISP
[March 8, 2005] In all the furor about "anti-competitive" municipal wireless buildouts, press reports frequently ignore the fact that private enterprises are starting to specialize in helping municipalities get off the ground, much to the dismay of the heavily subsidized RBOCs.

Don't Rip Your Heart Out
[March 7, 2005] One VoIP vendor says that an enterprise's sense of self-preservation will lead it to embrace evolutionary change rather than a total PBX extinction.

Ethernet Avenue
[March 3, 2005] We've had inquiries asking for advice on serving broadband to condos, so we asked one of the bigger players that you've never heard of to tell us how they do it.

Make It As Easy As Possible
[February 28, 2005] After you've sold a customer their own web space, try making it as easy as possible for them to build the site they want, a vendor suggests.

The Most Aggressive Webhost
[February 17, 2005] It's offered free accounts to thousands, run bigger ads than anyone else, and grown very rapidly. Other webhosts are wondering where 1&1 came from and whether the cash will run out. We asked, and learned the answer.

A Roll-up with a Twist
[February 11, 2005] A company currently trading on the pink sheets plans to buy the best rural dialup subscribers in the U.S. and turn them into a national, branded fixed wireless service providing superior broadband and content.

Don't Just Store Photos
[February 10, 2005] Sure, plenty of ISPs sell extra disk space to users who store their photos online, but one software developer thinks ISPs should ask customers "Want some software with that disk space?"

The Disintermediation of the Phone Company
[February 9, 2005] Veteran Internet commentator Gordon Cook says that big businesses no longer need the phone company, and that's just the start of big changes to come.

WISP Equipment: You Can Get What You Need
[February 8, 2005] This WISP veteran has tested plenty of equipment. It has finally found an AP that can serve a large number of customers.

VoIP Adds Spice to Life
[February 7, 2005] And VoIP is also adding spice to the CLEC business plan, challenged recently by adverse FCC decisions.

Our FCC Future: Owned by the Bell?
[February 4, 2005] There's a debate among the ISPs and CLECs (collectively, the "Independent ISPs"): will the new FCC be any better than the old one, or could it even be worse?

Today's Lesson: Meet Your Police Department
[February 1, 2005] One WISP in a major metro area found that all the doors opened after it began to serve those selfsame guardians.

Government Agencies Use Regular Software
[January 28, 2005] Although there is some software they cannot talk about, officers are certainly willing to talk about the goodies they use that everyone has access to.

The Backbone That Grows
[January 25, 2005] This company has yet to see a profit, but that hasn't stopped it from growing rapidly. It's the low cost provider many in the industry love to loathe. We talked to the CEO.

Evaluating UMA
[January 24, 2005] We spoke to a prominent wireless industry analyst about the future of the dual mode technology known as Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA).

Dual Mode a Step Closer to Reality
[January 20, 2005] Companies are ironing out the final wrinkles in technology that will allow cell phone subscribers to use IP networks.

Big Fat Freakin' Backhauls
[January 18, 2005] A Tampa-based WISP needs high capacity radios for the core of its network and one company is delivering them.

WISPs Can Find Money in the Basements of Big Business Buildings
[January 13, 2005] What does a fixed wireless company need to do to land a big real estate deal? For one of the world's oldest ISPs, it took one good deed that garnered a lot of good publicity.

Double the Wireless Bandwidth
[January 12, 2005] A wireless equipment maker specializing in the 18 GHz to 26 GHz range has announced a seriously improved product.

Consulting on the Triple Play
[January 10, 2005] In most parts of the world, including the U.S., voice, video, and IP in a bundle are new and unusual. But some companies are already specializing in building the infrastructure that delivers it all.

Be Accountable, Part II
[January 7, 2005] In part II of this two part series, we speak to a veteran WISP broker about how an ISP's accounting is a fundamental part of its business.

Be Accountable, Part I
[January 6, 2005] We speak to a WISP investor and veteran small business finance professional about how an ISP's accounts make the company more presentable to buyers, sellers, and potential investors. Do it right now, and it'll be easy to do it right later when you're a larger, busier company.

They've Got The New Stuff Before We Do
[January 3, 2005] Test equipment manufacturers are not famous for innovation, but perhaps they should be. Before anything reaches retail, it's tested in their labs. They get the new things before the rest of us.