Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

[Paul Smith <paul AT foundryzero.com>]

On Jan 22, 2004, at 6:02 PM, Jeremy Portzer wrote:

> So why did the Interpath ownership sell out to CP&L in the first place?
> Could it be that the business was "sunk" before that anyway, hence the
> desire to sell?
>
> There seem to be a lot of really smart people around here who used to
> work for Interpath.  Which makes me wonder if they had a little too 
> much
> technical expertise, and therefore too high a payroll, to be successful
> in the long run.  Their business plan may never have been a successful
> one regardless of the sale to CP&L.
>
> --Jeremy

	Well, Interpath Classic had been pretty successful as a dial-up ISP 
(we had POPs in rural parts of the state where we were the only 
internet access available), but the national dial-up co.'s were moving 
in. Of course, there was also an established and growing business 
access offering, and Interpath Classic had a spot at MAE-East. Hard to 
say what would have happened if the CP&L merger hadn't occurred, but it 
certainly didn't seem from where I stood like Interpath Classic was 
anywhere close to "sunk".
	I can imagine that although Interpath "Classic" was by no means 
planning to abandon dial-up, it could see the way the wind was blowing 
dial-up-wise and wanted to expand in the direction of business access 
and managed internet services. CP&L wanted expertise and a brand to 
help leverage and commoditize all that expensive CaroNet fiber. 
Interpath already had a network, a presence in the market, and a spot 
at MAE-East (which was no small matter). CaroNet had that sexy fiber 
network for Interpath to build out on... At the time it happened, the 
CaroNet - Interpath deal probably made a lot of sense for both CBC 
(Capital Broadcasting owned Interpath Classic) and CP&L. Of course, 
what happened after the merger - well, I guess it pretty much speaks 
for itself. Obviously, the new management wanted to grow super-fast, 
but often at the expense of super-smart, and what they ended up with 
was not super-sustainable. It's hard to imagine what was going on in 
the top-floor meeting rooms when you try to explain what happened with 
TriNet for example.
	As to Interpath Classic's profitability, there were a lot of very 
talented people there indeed, but it seemed like a lean operation to me 
(less than 50 employees, I think) and I sure as heck wasn't overpaid, I 
can tell you that much ;). After the merger, I remember Chris Darby 
(new-Interpath's CP&L-appointed CEO) saying that Interpath Classic had 
been unprofitable when CP&L bought it. I tended to take what the new 
management had to say with a large brick of salt though, and I doubt 
his assertion about Classic's profitability accounts for all the money 
CBC spent meeting CP&L's terms (I suspect the all-new access servers 
and elaborate new trouble-ticket system Interpath had just bought were 
conditions CP&L set for the merger) or that Interpath Classic had just 
moved into a new data center (which the new regime promptly moved us 
out of to send us to Morrisville).




Paul Smith
Foundry Zero
www.foundryzero.com
(919) 805-9212