ATMNet
Encyclopedia
ATMnet was a regional Internet Service Provider
(ISP) located in San Diego, California
, United States, that began business in 1994, until its purchase by Verio
in the late 1990s as part of a national roll-up of regional ISPs. ATMnet was originally an operating unit of Visicom Laboratories Incorporated (Visicom) called Visicom Network Services (VNS). VNS was started by two Visicom employees as an experimental entry into the rapidly expanding ISP marketplace shortly after the government allowed commercial use of the Internet infrastructure. VNS initially provided dial-up services in the San Diego, California market and later provided dedicated Internet services to businesses through T1 and factional T1 "local loop" circuits. ATMnet operated under domain names atmnet.net and atmnet.com.
In 1994 Visicom sold its interests in VNS to the founders and a former Visicom executive. This group formed a Limited Liability Partnership
(LLP) doing business as ATMnet. This name was chosen to reflect the underlying technology (Asynchronous Transfer Mode
) intended to form the basis of a new national infrastructure as ATMnet joined the emerging ISP industry as one of a small number of United States backbone providers. At its peak, the ATMnet backbone extended from San Diego to the San Francisco Bay area and eastward to Tucson, Arizona. The California portion was based on a fiber optic link operating carrying Internet Protocol (IP) packets over the ATM protocol as implemented in switches manufactured by FORE Systems
. The bandwidth on this circuit was OC3c (155 Mbit/s), the first such link in the US to be used to provide Internet services.
While only a regional ISP, ATMnet was a strong advocate for the early Internet providers throughout the California and Arizona service areas. Indeed, as a representative member of the Commercial Internet Exchange (CIX.org), ATMnet CTO appeared before FCC to speak out against claims by Pacific Bell and other large phone companies. This BANDWIDTH forum was widely discussed and ATMnet's outspoken CTO [Mike Trest] went further to encourage cross-over discussions between members representing IETF, ATM FORUM, and CIX which became part of the Clinton-Gore "Next Generation Internet Initiative" . ATMnet was also one of many early Internet providers invited to create the report "Research Challenges For The Next Generation Internet" . Eventually this early next generation iniative became "Public Law 105-305, The Next Generation Internet Research Act of 1998 (H.R. 3332), enacted October 28, 1998" . In 1997, the San Diego Business Journal included in their annual publication, "THE LISTS", a listing of San Diego Internet service providers. This list included ATMNet. Fourteen of the ISPs on the list used ATMNet's backbone for access to the Internet either through local loops or co-location of their servers and routers at the ATMNet facility in Sorrento Valley. ATMNet's infrastructure at the time included dual fiber optic connections to the Internet meet points in northern California operated at OC3-c rates (155 Mb/s). These circuits were the only circuits operated at that high rate in the national Internet backbone that were not funded by any government program or subsidy.
After the sale of ATMnet to Verio, one of the ATMnet founders, together with the principal of one of ATMnet's Japanese business partners (The Kuljian Corporation), founded ATMnet Japan (aka Nippon ATMnet) based in Shin-Yokohama, Japan
. This company provided various Internet-related services and training for several years operating under the domain atmnet.co.jp .
Internet service provider
An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...
(ISP) located in San Diego, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, United States, that began business in 1994, until its purchase by Verio
Verio
Verio is a global web hosting provider headquartered in the United States. Incorporated in 1996 in Denver, Colorado, it is currently a wholly owned subsidiary of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Communications, who acquired the company in 2000...
in the late 1990s as part of a national roll-up of regional ISPs. ATMnet was originally an operating unit of Visicom Laboratories Incorporated (Visicom) called Visicom Network Services (VNS). VNS was started by two Visicom employees as an experimental entry into the rapidly expanding ISP marketplace shortly after the government allowed commercial use of the Internet infrastructure. VNS initially provided dial-up services in the San Diego, California market and later provided dedicated Internet services to businesses through T1 and factional T1 "local loop" circuits. ATMnet operated under domain names atmnet.net and atmnet.com.
In 1994 Visicom sold its interests in VNS to the founders and a former Visicom executive. This group formed a Limited Liability Partnership
Limited liability partnership
A limited liability partnership is a partnership in which some or all partners have limited liability. It therefore exhibits elements of partnerships and corporations. In an LLP one partner is not responsible or liable for another partner's misconduct or negligence. This is an important...
(LLP) doing business as ATMnet. This name was chosen to reflect the underlying technology (Asynchronous Transfer Mode
Asynchronous Transfer Mode
Asynchronous Transfer Mode is a standard switching technique designed to unify telecommunication and computer networks. It uses asynchronous time-division multiplexing, and it encodes data into small, fixed-sized cells. This differs from approaches such as the Internet Protocol or Ethernet that...
) intended to form the basis of a new national infrastructure as ATMnet joined the emerging ISP industry as one of a small number of United States backbone providers. At its peak, the ATMnet backbone extended from San Diego to the San Francisco Bay area and eastward to Tucson, Arizona. The California portion was based on a fiber optic link operating carrying Internet Protocol (IP) packets over the ATM protocol as implemented in switches manufactured by FORE Systems
FORE Systems
FORE Systems was a computer network switching equipment company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company is now part of Ericsson.-History:...
. The bandwidth on this circuit was OC3c (155 Mbit/s), the first such link in the US to be used to provide Internet services.
While only a regional ISP, ATMnet was a strong advocate for the early Internet providers throughout the California and Arizona service areas. Indeed, as a representative member of the Commercial Internet Exchange (CIX.org), ATMnet CTO appeared before FCC to speak out against claims by Pacific Bell and other large phone companies. This BANDWIDTH forum was widely discussed and ATMnet's outspoken CTO [Mike Trest] went further to encourage cross-over discussions between members representing IETF, ATM FORUM, and CIX which became part of the Clinton-Gore "Next Generation Internet Initiative" . ATMnet was also one of many early Internet providers invited to create the report "Research Challenges For The Next Generation Internet" . Eventually this early next generation iniative became "Public Law 105-305, The Next Generation Internet Research Act of 1998 (H.R. 3332), enacted October 28, 1998" . In 1997, the San Diego Business Journal included in their annual publication, "THE LISTS", a listing of San Diego Internet service providers. This list included ATMNet. Fourteen of the ISPs on the list used ATMNet's backbone for access to the Internet either through local loops or co-location of their servers and routers at the ATMNet facility in Sorrento Valley. ATMNet's infrastructure at the time included dual fiber optic connections to the Internet meet points in northern California operated at OC3-c rates (155 Mb/s). These circuits were the only circuits operated at that high rate in the national Internet backbone that were not funded by any government program or subsidy.
After the sale of ATMnet to Verio, one of the ATMnet founders, together with the principal of one of ATMnet's Japanese business partners (The Kuljian Corporation), founded ATMnet Japan (aka Nippon ATMnet) based in Shin-Yokohama, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. This company provided various Internet-related services and training for several years operating under the domain atmnet.co.jp .