The Storms of Ontario

Storm Internet of Eastern Canada operates all flavors of Internet. The company also operates in all weathers. Its equipment has recorded temperatures ranging from 51°C (124°F) to -40°C (-40°F).

by Alex Goldman ISP-Planet Associate Editor [December 3, 2002]

Five co-founders started Storm Internet in 1996. The company started small but has grown to an outfit providing dial-up, DSL, cable, wireless, webhosting, and advanced services such as consulting and T-1 bandwidth. It currently serves about 10,000 clients. As some of them are businesses, the company estimates its total subscriber base at about 150,000 or 160,000 end users.

Storm's Internet access page provides coverage maps for each dialup technology the company employs. The network is a varied patchwork of access technologies centered around Canada's capital, Ottawa, reaching south through densely populated and rural areas.

"We grow through interacting with our community," says Earl C. Matthews, Storm vice president of business development. The company supports a variety of charities in its coverage area (the charities are listed here).

The company works closely with local government. "We like to think of Ottawa as a high tech capital, but there are coverage holes where you cannot get broadband," explains Matthews. The local infrastructure permits a variety of access technologies, and Storm provides whatever access flavors it can at any location.

"We work with small local phone and cable companies to provide access. Where the Bell Canada circuits allow it, we'll provide DSL, but in some places wireless is the only option. We talk to the local government and to companies about what we can do for them in exchange for roof or tower space," notes Matthews

The company settled on its niche almost as soon as it was founded. In its wireless niche, the company found that wireless licenses, especially local wireless licenses, were easier to obtain than urban licenses. The company now uses DragonWave licensed spectrum wireless products and fiber for its backbone, and then uses unlicensed spectrum to distribute bandwidth from the company's nodes.

"It became clear that we could not match Rogers, the Canadian cable giant, and Bell Canada. We saw other ISPs finding niche markets, and our CTO was good with wireless, so we chose wireless as our niche. The first equipment we tried was not suited to outdoor deployment, but equipment has improved since. Of course, we have a climate in Ottawa. The highest temperature we've recorded was 51 degrees Celsius (inside a box on top of a mountain). That is about 124 degrees Farenheit (and it melted some wires), and for the low temperature, keep in mind that at the top of a 200 foot tower it's several degrees colder than on the ground. If it's 20 degrees below zero on the ground, factor in wind and height and it's forty degrees below zero on the tower. In that weather, you need real arctic gear because the wind can freeze your lungs and eyeballs."

Of course, in extreme weather, it would be best to not go up the tower at all. But circumstances can force action. "We made a promise to the mayor of Merrickville-Wolford, J. Douglas Struthers, that if he built a tower, we'd bring wireless broadband Internet to them. They just built the tower, and we made a promise. We expect to hook up the town within two weeks," says Matthews.

Weather also effects coverage distance. "We don't promise what we cannot deliver," says Matthews. The company offers a free site survey for wireless service. The customer pays only if the site is okay and they do not order service. If the site is farther than eight kilometers from the tower, the company will ask the customer to sign a "marginal service agreement" to make sure they understand their service may be affected by wind and snow.

"The bottom line," says Matthews, "is that we don't go over ten kilometers and we try to stay within eight kilometers."

Just because wireless is its specialty, the company does not ignore other technology options. "I'm like an ice cream vendor," says Matthews. "When I talk to people I just ask, 'what flavor do you want?'"

The founders sold their company at an opportune time but are still working at the ISP. In September of 2000, the company was acquired by International DataCasting Corporation, which is listed on the Toronto stock exchange under the ticker symbol IDC. "We're now like a live proof of concept," notes Matthews. "If someone wants to see a living, breathing wireless network they can start in Hawkesbury, drive through Ottawa out to Renfrew (that's one hour). Then they can go down to Brockville (that's two hours) and back to Ottawa (one more hour). That's a large coverage area."

Matthews is bullish on all technologies. "You've got to work closely with your equipment suppliers to find out what they're developing, and you have to tell them what you'd like to see."

So what's in the future? "Bigger pipes! When we started, just a few years ago, we had one big honking 1 Mbps backbone and that was all we needed. Now we have three 100 Mbps pipes. If you'd told me we'd be at 300 Mbps in just a few years, I would not have believed you, but the equipment makers are talking about Gbps and I guess we'll see Tbps eventually!"

—End