Powergroup Celebrate Fifteen Years in Business

Looking Back at 1995 and Confidently to the Future

Fifteen years ago three young entrepreneurs decided that the internet was going to be big, very big. Deciding that they wanted to be a part of the internet revolution meant quitting their jobs, re-mortgaging their homes and in general taking a gamble that the internet would offer them the opportunity to create a successful business.

With money begged and borrowed from family and friends and knowing that it was important for any business in its early stages to keep costs low, one of the founders was 'persuaded' to convert his house into a computer centre and meeting room. On the 16th May 1995, from a house in Emerson Valley, Milton Keynes: Power Internet Limited was born. Powered by dial-up modems and plenty of pioneering spirit the company became the 13th ISP (Internet Service Provider) in the UK and rapidly began to build a base of home and business users.

Today the Internet has affected most parts of our lives, dictating how we do business, how we consume news and how we communicate all over the planet. Fifteen years ago Power Internet (Powernet), were not the only company to start trading on the internet. 1995 was an auspicious year which also saw EBay, Amazon, Yahoo and MSN all go online. In 1995 the first online traders had a potential customer base of 16 million people worldwide, in 2010 that figure has grown to 1.1 billion.

The founders of Powernet shared a passion for technical innovation and wanted to create a business that allowed organisations and individuals to best utilise this newly emerging technology. Despite their enthusiasm, none of the partners had setup or run a business before, and being one of the very first ISP's in the UK, meant that there were no examples or business cases in which to learn from. Founding member, Tony Tugulu recalls Powernet's first few weeks, "We had done our homework and knew the technical theory but putting it into practice was a real baptism of fire." Powernet initially offered core ISP services: dial-up connections, web hosting and e-mail. But it soon became apparent that unlike other UK ISP's, Powernet would offer something else - versatility. While the larger ISP's simply provided dial-up connections and e-mail, Powernet were offering website design, IT development and any manner of bespoke solutions for their business customers. Importantly Powernet provided a human and down to earth attitude to their client's requirements. "We are still one of the few ISP's that can say we are on first name terms with many of our clients in both business and residential sectors" Tony is rightly proud of the relationship Powernet has with its clients, "We pride ourselves on offering a totally UK based technical support team, who are able to resolve issues and not simply log calls while reading from a check list."

Typically innovative, Powernet were the first UK ISP to offer a human 365/24/7 technical support service. In 1998 the business was growing significantly and the need to employ more staff meant a new business base was required. Tony recalls moving premises: "We had outgrown our residential home, It was a massive change for Powernet, moving into Bank House, Central Milton Keynes signaled the beginning of some amazing growth in the business." At the same time Powernet also opened an office in Birmingham specifically to cater for the growing demand in web design and IT development. "It was 1999, before the infamous dot-com bubble burst and many companies were asking us to give them a web presence, despite not really knowing what to use it for." Inevitably in 2001 the dot-com bubble did burst, the stock exchange experienced a minor collapse and overnight the demand for web development dropped away. Many Internet start-ups had been built on houses made of straw with no real understanding of business uses or benefits. "We were lucky, web design and IT development was a busy side to the business that we had grown over the years as demand had increased, but it was still our core ISP services that supported the business through the lean times."

Today web development is still an essential part of Powernet's business, but focus has moved to more complex and bespoke projects that fulfill their business customer's requirements. "Because we offer some of the most comprehensive and secure connectivity, WAN (Wide Area Network) and infrastructure solutions in the UK we are better able to harness and support growing customer needs for bigger and faster connectivity."

In 2002 ADSL (Broadband) had just been introduced in the UK, and Powernet once again became an early adapter of this new and exciting technology, being the first UK ISP to offer businesses a chance to benefit from cheaper and faster connectivity. ''Suddenly you were able to send and receive far larger files with internet speeds 16 times faster than a conventional modem'' recalls Tony, ''and as a result businesses could start offering their users far more complex solutions and services over the Web''. With still further needs to expand and grow the company moved to its current home on Midsummer Boulevard in Central Milton Keynes.

Despite starting out as purely an ISP, Powernet has developed many facets to its business and this led to Powernet diverging into three distinct divisions that handle each core aspect of the business. Powernet would continue to serve the ISP type services that had always been core to the business. Power Corporate was setup to manage large network infrastructure on a national and European scale. Finally Power Telecom was introduced to handle development of VoIP and business comms' to new and existing customers. Together Powernet, Power Corporate and Power Telecom would be known as Powergroup.

Today Powergroup is the largest, independently owned Internet solution and service provider in the UK, with a head office based in Milton Keynes and an infrastructure that spans Manchester, Telehouse and Global Switch in London Docklands. Always innovative and at the cutting edge of technology, Powergroup were the first company to use broadband connections to provide connectivity for business networks, a practice that has now become standard in the industry. Powergroup were the first ISP to offer multiple Mail Boxes, home user websites, business level SLA's and developed many major corporate websites including the first pan European e-commerce websites for Adobe EMEA.

2009 saw Powergroup make significant investment in its core infrastructure, providing true UK resiliency from sites in London, Manchester and Milton Keynes. "We have found that many business's never think about what might happen if they lose connectivity," said Kayode Ogundele, Chief Technical Architect at Powergroup, "but for most businesses it will have a massive affect on how they operate even resulting in them being unable to trade. Powergroup's core infrastructure now means that all our customers can enjoy a truly resilient connection with one of the largest networks in the UK."

By taking advantage of the latest networking technologies, Powergroup are able to offer connectivity solutions that were previously only available to global corporations. Because Powergroup are provider independent we guarantee the most competitive rates whatever the type of connection.

"Over the last few years we've seen businesses using their connectivity in a wider variety of ways than ever before," said Corporate Account Manager Ross MacGregor. Organisations now monitor property remotely via CCTV, back-up servers and workstations overnight, control stock levels in real-time, allow home-workers to remotely connect to an office, harness the power of VoIP and video conferencing, use web services including emerging cloud computing applications. Ross continued, "We offer our customers a better value-for-money connection that will give them the increased bandwidth they need for any future developments in IT and infrastructure, while providing a personalised service."

Connectivity and bandwidth for business will be vital over the next 15 years and you can be sure that Powergroup will be there keeping business connected.

Connecting business since 1995, Powergroup's roots and pedigree are based in Powernet, one of the longest established and most respected independent Internet solution and service providers in the UK.

What else does Powergroup offer?

As a communication service provider offering a 'one-stop-shop', we can provide you with a real opportunity to integrate your fixed, Internet and Voice over IP services to increase the efficiency and reduce the overall cost of all your communication services. Powergroup can offer you:

• Hosted Internet security solutions
• Dedicated Internet connectivity
• Private circuits
• Domain name registration and web hosting
• Voice over IP
• Managed networks
• Hosting
• Network security
• Bespoke solutions
• Consultancy

Contact us

For more information on how Powergroup can help you increase productivity and reduce your communication costs, please contact us. Call: 01908 605188 or email: info@powergroup.co.uk

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