Planet Online
Encyclopedia
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
business-to-business Internet Service Provider
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...
. Based in Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, it was started by local businessman and multi-millionaire Peter Wilkinson and Paul Sykes in July 1995.
Managed from a purpose-built NOC
Network Operations Center
A network operations center is one or more locations from which control is exercised over a computer, television broadcast, or telecommunications network....
in Leeds, Planet's network was first switched on in October 1995 with over 2,000 businesses connected by the end of the following year. The office in Leeds was shared with hardware
Computer hardware
Personal computer hardware are component devices which are typically installed into or peripheral to a computer case to create a personal computer upon which system software is installed including a firmware interface such as a BIOS and an operating system which supports application software that...
specialist and sister company ESS
ESS
ESS is the name of the Latin script letter S.ESS may also refer to:In computing:* Emacs Speaks Statistics, an add-on package for the Emacs editor...
, with the two formally merging on 1 January 1997. The merged company retained the Planet Online name.
Planet was sold to Energis
Energis
Energis Communications Limited, briefly Telecom Electric, or more usually just Energis was a 'technology driven communications company' based in the UK and Ireland...
in August 1998 for £85m at a time when it carried around 40% of all internet traffic
Internet traffic
-Historical Internet Traffic Growth:Because of the distributed nature of the Internet, there is no single point of measurement for total Internet traffic...
in the UK. In August 2000 the company was renamed Energis Squared and given new branding consistent with that of its parent. It was later integrated into the rest of the Energis business, losing its separate identity.
Planet notably provided the back-end infrastructure for the consumer ISP Freeserve
Freeserve
Freeserve was a British Internet Service Provider, founded in 1998. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but merged into the Wanadoo group in 2000, itself a subsidiary of France Telecom...
, led by John Pluthero
John Pluthero
John Pluthero was the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director , UK of Cable and Wireless, having joined following the sale of Energis having been its CEO...
, which helped it to became one of the UK's few profitable ISPs at that time. Now as Cable & Wireless
Cable & Wireless
Cable & Wireless Worldwide PLC is a global telecommunications company headquartered in Bracknell, United Kingdom. Cable & Wireless specialises in providing communication networks and services to large corporates, governments, carrier customers and resellers...
, itself now led by Pluthero, the company continues to provide similar services to Freeserve's ultimate successor, Orange Broadband
Orange UK
Orange is a mobile network operator and internet service provider in the United Kingdom, which launched in 1994. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but was purchased by France Télécom in 2000, which then adopted the Orange brand for all its other mobile communications activities...
.
The company was winner of the Best Business ISP award at the ISPA
Internet Service Providers Association
The Internet Service Providers Association, or ISPA, is a British body representing providers of Internet Services.-History:ISPA was established in 1995 as the first trade association for ISPs, promoting competition, self-regulation and progress within the Internet industry...
Internet Industry Awards in 1999 and 2000.