Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 25, 1995 TAG: 9510250102
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ELISSA MILENKY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Long
NRVnet Inc., which will formally open its doors on Nov. 1, becomes the first local, privately owned company to operate a modem pool separate from the one run by the Blacksburg Electronic Village. A modem pool gives computers a way to talk to each other, and can provide access to the Internet.
The opening comes after months of discussion that an overloaded BEV modem pool could no longer meet the needs of a community increasingly dependent on the Internet.
Because BEV was part of a research project, the rates - a $6 connection fee and an $8.60 monthly bill - were kept artificially low. NRVnet will offer unlimited Internet access for $15 a month, with an initial $25 connection fee.
The switchover from BEV to other services will not be immediate. BEV Director Andrew Cohill said his staff will examine NRVnet during the next few months to ensure "there's an acceptable level of performance from a private provider."
A time table for moving people off of the BEV modem pool would be determined only after close study. At that time, nonuniversity subscribers will be given a list of acceptable modem pool providers and tips on how to choose the right company - such as how to make price comparisons and whether there is adequate technical support, Cohill said. Meanwhile, BEV is still taking on new subscribers.
"We have always said from the beginning that the BEV was experimental and a research project and was not based on economics," Cohill said. "It's not the university's role now that there's enough customers in town. We think it's time for the private sector to take over because they're going to do the job better than we are."
NRVnet formed after Ted Hudson, co-owner of H&W Computer Systems in Christiansburg, realized there was a market for a private modem pool provider. He enlisted Jim Hassall, a former systems analyst at PolyScientific, as company president and several H&W employees to come up with a technical and business plan.
Initially, the plan was to make H&W, a full-service computer store, the modem pool provider. Instead, NRVnet was formed as a separate corporation with Hudson and H&W co-owner Wes White as two of the principal investors.
"We realized it was big enough that we'd break it out and form it as a separate corporation," Hudson said.
The group also formed NRVnet's parent company, Internet World Headquarters, to set up businesses in other states. For now, Hassall said he and his staff are primarily focusing on NRVnet. "We've got to crawl before we can spring," he said.
NRVnet is housed in a storefront on Blacksburg's Main Street across from Gables Shopping Center. The evolving office is still dusty from the refurbishing. Office furniture consists of a desk and several fold-up and plastic chairs but 50 to 75 people already have signed up for the service.
The company, which has four full-time employees, is hoping for far more subscribers once it opens its doors - and the staff finishes the interior decorating. NRVnet will be available throughout Blacksburg's local calling area, including Radford and Salem. Jeffrey Lance, marketing director for the company, said NRVnet is working with Bell Atlantic to allow people in the Roanoke Valley to dial into the company's network through a local, rather than long distance call.
Initially, NRVnet will have 96 phone lines, which will be doubled in a few months, set for 28,800 speed modems. Customer service hours will be from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., but company officials hope soon to expand that to 24-hour service.
Users will be given a disk that will transfer them onto the NRVnet system, along with any site-specific information from their BEV accounts. E-mail addresses will change, but Hassall said people will be able to keep their sign-on names.
"The transition is real important," Lance said. "We want it to be as smooth as possible."
The modem pool is only part of the BEV, which was launched two years ago by Virginia Tech, Blacksburg and Bell Atlantic to test the Internet market and determine how a community could interact via computer. Information available on the BEV varies from a list of hotels, to coupons for a pepperoni pizza, to local discussion groups.
Since its inception, 5,896 people have signed on, approximately 1,500 of them not affiliated with the university, said Judy Lilly, director of Communication Network Services. Those people are calling into approximately 350 modems. The influx of users means busy signals at peak times when it is difficult to log onto the system.
"It's a very expensive venture when you take all the pieces into account," she said.
The university intends to keep its modem pool, Cohill said, but will eventually restrict it to faculty, staff and students. Some of the approximately 1,500 private users include school children and teachers. Lilly said no decision has been made whether public entities like school systems will be able to stay on the BEV modem pool.
"We're reviewing how we're going to handle those," she said.
Cohill stressed that no modem pool provider will be favored over another. Though NRVnet is the first company to enter the market, Cohill expects three more private providers in the area by the spring. That number does not include Bell Atlantic, which plans to offer a modem pool of its own.
Infinet, which is owned by The Roanoke Times' parent company Landmark Communications Inc. in Norfolk and New York-based Knight-Ridder Inc., provides Internet access to more than 600 people in Roanoke. The company has considered becoming a private modem pool provider to augment the BEV.
Bill Warren, managing editor of The Roanoke Times, said discussions regarding Infinet's role with the BEV are continuing. "We hope to provide service in the near future," he said.
Competition is good news to Ron Thigpen, a BEV subscriber for more than a year. Thigpen is not affiliated with the university and eventually will have to sign on with a private company. He has been concerned about the cost of a private provider but he said the $15 fee for unlimited service is fair.
"I would hope in the future other providers besides NRVnet would pop up so there would be some competition so people would have a choice," Thigpen said.
Business: NRVnet
Service: Internet access
Number of employees: Four full-timers. Part-timers to be added later.
Opening date: Nov. 1.
Cost: $25 connection fee, $15 monthly fee for unlimited access.
What does this mean? The company will offer a private modem pool and Virginia Tech's hope is for the Blacksburg Electronic Village to move private users to this and other independent providers. No one will be removed immediately from the BEV modem pool.
by CNB