ICONZ

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ICONZ Limited
Type Privately Held Company
Founded 1992
Headquarters Auckland, New Zealand
Area served New Zealand, Asia
Key people Michael Spencer, Owner
Sean Weekes, CEO
Industry Telecommunications
Products Dial Up, Fibre Optic Connectivity, ICONZ Satellite, Extend Wireless, Araneo wireless, Wired Country Wireless, UNS Broadband, ICONZ ADSL, Co-location and Dedicated Server Hosting, Web Hosting, Domain Registration, Fortinet Solutions, Business Tolls and Email Solutions
Employees 60
Website iconz.co.nz

The Internet Company of New Zealand Limited (otherwise known as ICONZ) is a New Zealand Internet Service Provider, and was a pioneer company in providing internet connections to residential New Zealand users. ICONZ now provide internet solutions in New Zealand, and Colocation/Dedicated Hosting solutions across the Asia Pacific region.[1][2]

The ICONZ Group is made up of several smaller internet related companies: ICONZ Ltd, 2day.com, Webfarm, Freeparking and the newly acquired Webvisions. Their competitors include Xtra, Orcon and ihug.

Contents

[edit] History

In 1992 ICONZ was founded as a small business venture, by Chris Thorpe and Jon Clarke in Jon's garage. By 1994 ICONZ had grown and was one of only two companies providing internet solutions to the Auckland and far north regions of New Zealand [3] with only 18 Dial Up lines, and a 48K MDDS circuit.

In 1995, ICONZ hosted auckland.nz.undernet.org IRC node setup which was significant step forward for New Zealand Global communications. [4] The Undernet is now one of the largest Internet Relay Chat (IRC) networks.

ICONZ was acquired by AsiaOnLine in 1999 and moved from being a NZ based ISP to a Pacific based ISP. The branding was changed to AsiaOnline, and they were given a new look. They joined a multinational company scattered around the Pacific Rim, with offices in California, Hong Kong, The Philippines, China, South Korea, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.

The IRC node auckland.nz.undernet.org was decommissioned in 2000/2001 due to repeated Denial of Service attacks. Shortly after AsiaOnline entered liquidation, and the New Zealand portion was sold to Michael Spencer in November 2001 who reinstated the ICONZ branding.


In 2004 ICONZ introduced another New Zealand first and launched ICONZ Satellite, which was the first fully bi-directional broadband solution in New Zealand. This was delivered in a partnership with Shin Satellite IPStar. [5] This is particularly important, as this was the first attempt to compete with Telecom (NZ's line/internet monopoly) on a national scale. [6] Shortly after Webfarm Ltd, and Freeparking [7] were incorporated into the ICONZ Group.

With the satellite technology available to them, ICONZ worked alongside the New Zealand Government to provide 63 rural schools and communities with high-speed internet. [8] [9] By providing such internet solutions, ICONZ and the New Zealand Government enriched the learning environments of hundreds of kiwi kids. It also meant that ICONZ was expanding competition in the broadband market across New Zealand. In 2005 using the same satellite technology, ICONZ worked alongside Landcorp to provide farms with high-speed internet and to connect rural parts of New Zealand. [10][11]

In 2005, ICONZ brought 2day.com into the fold, and in 2007 Webvisions was added to the ICONZ group.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ "National Business Review", November 22, 2006. 
  2. ^ "ICONZ goes Ocoloco", Computerworld New Zealand, June 24, 2003. 
  3. ^ Simon Lyall (2007-08-28). "Internet access in New Zealand". nz.comp. (Web link). Retrieved on 2007-04-20.
  4. ^ Abley, Joe (2005). Notes from NZNOGs '05 History of Peering session. wlug.org.nz mailing list. Retrieved on 2007-04-20.
  5. ^ Bell Wellington, Stephen. "Iconz wins Probe funding for satellite service", Computer World, 2004-08-05. Retrieved on 2007-28-08. 
  6. ^ (Response to Telecom Submission to the Commerce Commission on the proposed price and non-price terms for access to and interconnection with Telecom’s fixed PDN and access to Telecom’s fixed PDN backhaul (“Wholesale Bitstream”), <http://www.comcom.govt.nz/IndustryRegulation/Telecommunications/Wholesale/WholesaleDeterminatons/ContentFiles/Documents/FW_%20TCL%20Wholesale%20Bitstream%20Cross%20Submission%20-%20PUBLIC(Chris%20Abbott)%20(TCL%20UBS%20Submission%20280105%20_Publ0.PDF.>. Retrieved on 27 August 2007 )
  7. ^ Scoop (2004-02-24). "ICONZ Expansion Drive Secures Freeparking". Press release. Retrieved on 2007-28-08.
  8. ^ Progressive Party (2007-08-03). "High speed Internet for very remote communities". Press release. Retrieved on 2006-07-03.
  9. ^ beehive.govt.nz (2004-10-01). "Final Project PROBE Contract Signed, Cost Revealed". Press release. Retrieved on 2006-08-27.
  10. ^ Delivery, Rural. Satellite Internet Connections for Remote Locations. Retrieved on 2005-11-05.
  11. ^ News, TVNZ One. Landcorp Moves Farmers into Future. Retrieved on 2005-12-29.