eintellego's skeeve stevens

COMMSDAY SUMMIT SYDNEY 2013 Skeeve Stevens

WHY BEING A SMALL/MEDIUM

CEO & Chief Architect, eintellego NetworksDirector of the Internet Society of Australia

ISP IS STILL VIABLESKEEVE STEVENS

COMMSDAY SUMMIT SYDNEY 2013 Skeeve StevensCOMMSDAY SUMMIT SYDNEY 2013 Skeeve Stevens

Why being a small/medium ISP is still viable

What’s this talk about?

• Why being a small/medium ISP is still viable in Australia today

• Details of the forthcoming book “So, You Want to be an ISP?”

INTRODUCTION



Whats been happening

• ISPs are disappearing – mostly due to mergers and acquisitions

• The Industry is changing

• ISPs are starting to diversify their offering to customers

• A strong wholesale market is enabling non-ISPs to sell Internet services to their existing customer base

• There is still a LOT of opportunity out there for vertically focused ISPs – which are mostly in the pico-small size

BACKGROUND



MARKET CONSOLODATIONWhere did all the ISPs go?

WestNet

OzEmail

TransACT

iiNet

iiNet

iHug

Netspace

AAPTResidentia

l

10 Others

Froggy

Esclipse

AOL|7

Commander

iPrimus

M2 Group

Hotkey

West Australian Networks

Datafast

aaNET

Platform Networks

EFTel

Club Telco

Dodo

Other small ISPs

VivaNET

Planet Netcom

Internode



MARKET CONSOLODATION…continued

B Digital

PPC-1

Pipe Networks

TPG

TPG

Comindico

Soul

IntraPower/Trusted

Cloud

RequestDSL

Powertel

Nextep

AAPT

Telecom NZ

Wizz

Star-Tech

Clever Networks

BigAir

BigAir Grop

Vivid Wireless

Unwired

Optus Internet

Optus

iBurst(Customers)

AccessPlus

Allegro

Uecomm



• Traditionally ISPs have stayed within their field of expertise – or close to it• Few ISPs are known for their prowess in Customer Service – even our biggest

ones• It is going to go both directions (I will explain in a moment)• It is easier than ever to sell you-branded products

• OEM everything• Own the customers – everything they need/want!

DIVERSIFYINGNew Markets



New Markets

TelephoneHome / BusinessVoIPMobile

Internet Services Power & Gas InsuranceHome, Contents, Car

Retail StoresAlarm Monitoring

Others to come?Health?Financial Services?

Dodo

DIVERSIFYING



New Markets

SoftwareChromeOS

SearchEarthMaps/StreetViewAndroidGoogle+

Business SolutionsGoogle AppsAdwords/SEOSearch Appliances

EntertainmentMusic, MoviesTV, Apps

Others to comeTelevision - tryingWearable AccessoriesInternet Access

Google

HardwareMobile PhonesiGlass

Up to 5Mbps download, 1Mbps upload speed • No data caps • Free service guaranteed for at least 7 years • Includes Network Box$300 construction fee (one time or 12 monthly payments of $25) + taxes and fees

DIVERSIFYING



New Markets

Portable MusicComputers Mobile Phones EntertainmentMusicMoviesTV

Others to comeTelevision?Wearable AccessoriesInternet Access?

Apple Computer

NBNInternet + TV + Music + Movies + Apps + Software + Hardware

DIVERSIFYING



New Markets

FuelMobile Services

SupermarketsGroceriesClothing

Credit CardsCredit & Prepaid

InsuranceHome, Contents, Car

Others to comeInternet Access?Health?

Coles/Woolworths

nbnInternet

DIVERSIFYING



IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTANDAbout being a small ISP

• You don’t have to make millions to be happy• Making a difference can be significant• Doing it right, can mean a payoff later• Customers prefer personal service and will often go away from the big guys

on principle



WHY – YOU SHOULDNTWhy No

• You are not committed• You don’t have a niche or micro-niche• You’re not involved• You have no profile• You suck at partnerships• Your products aren’t competitive or interesting• You aren’t meeting a need



WHY – YOU SHOULDWhy Yes

• You have a comfortable niche that you own• You are known in your space• You are part of a community• You partner well with others• Be able to run a profitable business• Be multi-skilled (Management, Sales, Marketing….)



ISP SIZESHow big do you have to be?

Pico ? 10 - 100Micro ? 100 - 500Small ? 500 – 1,000Medium 49 1,000 – 10,000Large 24 10,000 – 100,000Very Large 8 100,000+

• Medium-Very Large defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the rest I defined• June 2012 ABS Data - http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/Lookup/8153.0Chapter6Jun%202012• ACMA Fact Sheet - http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=PC_1723• Lifehacker - http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2011/02/smaller-isps-are-a-dying-breed-in-australia/

• ACMA say there are over 800 ISPs in Australia• ABS say there are about 81 ISPs with over 1000 users in Australia (June 2012)• That means there are over 700 Pico to Small ISPs• Total ISPs – June 2011 = 97; Dec 2011 = 91; Jun 2012 = 81 (closing or merging?)• iiNet in 2011 said that number of ISP dropped from 450 to 250 in 2010



NICHE/ MICRO NICHEExamples

• What is a niche to an ISP?• What does it mean being niche focused?• Examples of niche ISPs



NICHE/ MICRO NICHEFocus

Industry

Ethnic

Finance

Education

Mining

Food

Media

Real Estate

Entertainment

Sports

Aged Care

Sex

Age

Religion

Legal

Construction

EngineeringNGO

Energy

Government

Italian

Chinese

Greek Korean

German

Arabic

Hobbies

Others?



NICHE/ MICRO NICHEExamples – Regional Focus - Community Telco and Ace



NICHE/ MICRO NICHEExamples – Legal Industry - BarNet



NICHE/ MICRO NICHEExamples – Age Vertical - Seniors



NICHE/ MICRO NICHEExamples – Satety Vertical



NICHE/ MICRO NICHEExamples – Ethnic Focus - Japanese



WHOLESALE SERVICESWhere do I get it?

BigAir

NBNCo

Telstra

Tier 1

FirstPath ispONE

Exetel

iSeek

Tier 2

AAPT

Vocus

Optus

Tier 1.5

Nextgen

TPG/Pipe

M2 Group iiNet TelcoInABox

WIP

Highway 1 aka

ZettaNet



HOW EASY IS IT TO BE AN ISPEasy as

• Wholesale Providers• Outsourcing

• Operations• Support• Marketing• Systems (Billing, DNS, Hosting, etc)

• Vendors• Consultants

• eintellego Networks / io Networks – probably others • Community



THE BOOKSo, You Want To Be an ISP?



THE BOOK

• Why write it• Who is it for• What’s in it• Where am I up to• When will it be released



Case studies will be provided which will be based on some ISPs that I’ve worked with over the last 15 years such as: Datacentres, colocation/hosting providers, wholesale ISPs, residential ISPs, virtual ISPs and others.

Case Studies

Websites, Mailing-lists, Chat, Podcasts, Consultants, Certifications, etc

Resources

THE BOOKWhat’s in it?

Detailed information about all aspects of an ISPs network, including their core switching, routing, redundancy, scalability, security (DoS) & more.

Technical Stuff

xDSL, Fibre (Lit and Dark), Copper (EFM), Ethernet, Wireless, Satellite, 3G/4G wholesale, including some old technologies such as Dialup/ATM/etc.

Tail Technologies

LNS/LAC, Routing, MPLS, CGN, Transit providers, Peering and types of peering, Datacentre types.

ISP Technologies

A brief overview will be provided on networking vendors such as: Juniper, Cisco, Brocade, IBM, HP, SDN Technologies, Virtualisation, Vyatta, Microtik, as well as some wireless – all as it all pertains to Service Provider equipment.

Networking Vendors

Should you or shouldn’t you be even thinking about doing this? Telling the reader the good and the bad.

Thinking About It

Staffing, Equipment, ISP types/models, Target markets, Legals, Customers, Outsourcing, Products, Marketing.

Before You Start

The Community, Conferences, Organisations, Business operations, innovation of technology, trends, strategy.

Life as an ISP

Internet Governance, IANA/RIR and IP Addressing especially APNIC, IETF and ISOC, DNS, Routing, Wholesale Providers.

How Stuff Works

Operational Support Systems such as Authentication, Provisioning, Helpdesk, Billing, Monitoring, Backup, etc.

OSS

COMMSDAY SUMMIT SYDNEY 2013 Skeeve Stevens


THANK YOUwww.eintellegonetworks.com

[email protected]

@eintellego @skeevestevens @networkceoau

/eintellegonetworks

Thanks to:- Shara Evans of Market Clarity – www.marketclarity.com.au- AusNOG Mailing-List Members

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