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  • From: Paul Smith <paul AT foundryzero.com>
  • To: "Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/" <internetworkers AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [internetworkers] Fwd: RTP business whines for cheap (and pretty) labor
  • Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2004 10:47:04 -0500


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





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