The history of Netpath, Inc. begins in December of 1994 when Bill
Powell attended a seminar hosted by the Wake Forest University Babcock school of Business. The seminar was concerned
with the growing Internet business, discussed Internet providing at a more or less basic level, and different aspects
of the ISP business as it was known at that time. Bill proceeded to return home and thought to himself, "It might
be nice to have an Internet Provider in Burlington."
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Like any man with a vision, Bill turned to resources that were available in his community. He
contacted Ben Pitts, who had a computer store called BGP Enterprises, which exists to this day at 2466
Corporation Parkway in Burlington. Ben listened to his ideas and immediately tossed a name into the hat for
consideration. In his opinion that person had considerable online experience. The person he was referring to
was none other than Chris Laforet, who, at that time, ran two free-to-the-public bulletin boards which were
subscribed to the Fidonet system. Chris had, in addition, developed all the software to run the bulletin
boards (anyone remember Simplex?).
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On the 3rd of January 1995, Bill, Ben and Chris met face to face for the first time and discussed
the possibilities of forming an Internet Provider. Once they had agreed that an Internet Provider would be a
wonderful addition to the Burlington landscape, they proceeded to attempt to attract additional investors who
could contribute seed capital for this venture. There were two "Dog and Pony" shows in which ideas were presented
to possible investors.
After the second event Netpath opened its doors on July 5th, 1995. Chris and Geoff had actually started work on
preparing the equipment in March. When Netpath finally started doing business it had a total of 8 modems, a Telebit
Trailblazer terminal-server, a Cisco 2501 router, and the requisite mail, news and web servers. The office was run
entirely by Geoff and Chris until the winter of that year when Eric Ray (who had gotten into the habit of hanging
out with them) came on board in a part time work position. In the spring of 1996 Eric was offered a full time
position which he has occupied from that day henceforth.
By the winter of 1995, Netpath had grown to 32 modems and continued to grow at a rapid pace. Fortunately Netpath
has been blessed with a very forward-thinking group of investors which believes in the basic operating philosophy
of quality rather than quantity and consequently have always chosen the best equipment and the best options that
could be afforded.
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Picture from the IUGA fieldtrip to the Mebtel offices. |
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Unfortunately when this company was started nobody had any idea of its potential growth rate.
They had a "pie in the sky" dream of reaching a thousand accounts during its lifetime. With the blossoming of
the Internet these dreams were realized much sooner than anticipated and Netpath found itself cramped for space!
Its first office was a 400 square foot area off of Corporation Parkway in Burlington. Needless to say, this
location was small and cozy. With the rapid increase of accounts it was discovered that more space was needed
to house the rapidly replicating racks of modems. In June 1996, Netpath relocated to its current office space,
an 1800 square foot location on South Church Street.
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Moving an ISP is a very exciting operation: not just the actual physical movement of the equipment,
desks, work stations and computers, but also coordinating the movement of telephone lines. Any time one has to
depend on lines being transferred from one location to another in a timely fashion, all sources of problems can
and will crop up. For a period of days Netpath had its voice lines and fax operating on South Church Street and
their modem lines operating at Corporation Parkway! Needless to say, this presented a challenge to the ability to
provide technical support. After all the lines were moved, Netpath settled very comfortably into the current office
where everyone has been very satisfied for these past years.
Netpath has added a number of services since June of 1996. Most worthy of note are the frame relay
drops. The PRI-based 56K and ISDN support, and most recently the conversion of all T-1s to operate upon a
fiberoptic OC-3 ring that interconnects its office with BellSouth's Elon and Burlington central offices.
Netpath has had a number of wonderful staff members who have come and gone over the years, including Brian Jeffries
(who currently is a student at NC State during the school year and an intern with Microsoft during the summer),
Andrew Dorsett (currently at Virginia Tech - also won the 2000 SkillsUSA-VICA National championships for
Internetworking), Tim Clark (attending NC State), Nathan Harrell (attending NC State) and Ray Hillen (who was a
Marine while working with Netpath part-time and who now works in Raleigh for a large Networking company). The
permanent staff members also include Mark Matherly (Web Publisher), Jeff Young (Director of Operations),
Michelle Knight (Office Manager), Jennifer Scott (Billing Manager), Randell Lee (Customer Support) and
Khamnoan Hoamvongsor (Customer Support). Also on staff we have several part-time employees including: Rick
Richards, Jim Larzelere and Jeffrey Pounds.
Netpath is run by the President Chris Laforet along with a very active board of directors whose
Chairman/CEO is Dean Thompson. They constantly meet together to discuss new technology and how Netpath can incorporate
this technology in its offering to its customer base. Netpath has also been very active within the Internet
community, having founded and sponsored an Internet user group since 1995 which would meet once a month at Elon
College. More recently the user group has suspended its meetings but continues to be active through its mailing
list.
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Snapshot from the IUGA picnic at Lake Macintosh. |
One of Netpath's philosophies is that of incorporating the input of its users into its decision
making. Through its participation in the Internet Users Group, Netpath has been able to not only provide Internet
services but respond to the needs of the Internet community. Netpath also has always maintained a storefront and
it is very common for users to drop in and chat a while. Netpath has offered its services on multiple occasions
to schools and organizations by providing guided tours of its facilities and speaking to groups. Netpath strongly
believes in being part of its community and in participating in events that contribute to the formation of
individuals within the community. Netpath's employees have extracted much personal benefit from participating in
events such as IUGA (Internet Users Group Of Alamance), lecturing groups such as the Rotary Club and Kiwanis,
and interacting with up and coming technology students both at ACC and from our local school systems.
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