Why Being a Small ISP is still Viable

COMMSDAY SUMMIT SYDNEY 2013 Skeeve Stevens

WHY BEING A SMALL/MEDIUM

CEO & Chief Architect, eintellego Networks Director of the Internet Society of Australia

ISP IS STILL VIABLE SKEEVE STEVENS

COMMSDAY SUMMIT SYDNEY 2013 Skeeve Stevens COMMSDAY 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 s6ll 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 acquisiJons

•  The Industry is changing •  ISPs are starJng to diversify their offering to customers

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

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

BACKGROUND



MARKET CONSOLODATION Where did all the ISPs go?

WestNet

OzEmail

TransACT

iiNet

iiNet

iHug

Netspace

AAPT Residential

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



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

ones •  It is going to go both direcJons (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!

DIVERSIFYING New Markets



New Markets

Telephone Home / Business VoIP Mobile

Internet Services Power & Gas Insurance Home, Contents, Car

Retail Stores Alarm Monitoring Others to come? Health? Financial Services?

Dodo

DIVERSIFYING



New Markets

SoEware ChromeOS

Search Earth Maps/StreetView Android Google+

Business Solu6ons Google Apps Adwords/SEO Search Appliances

Entertainment Music, Movies TV, Apps

Others to come Television -‐ trying Wearable Accessories Internet Access

Google

Hardware Mobile Phones iGlass

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 Music Computers Mobile Phones Entertainment Music Movies TV

Others to come Television? Wearable Accessories Internet Access?

Apple Computer

Internet + TV + Music + Movies + Apps + Software + Hardware

DIVERSIFYING



New Markets

Fuel Mobile Services

Supermarkets Groceries Clothing

Credit Cards Credit & Prepaid

Insurance Home, Contents, Car

Others to come Internet Access? Health?

Coles/Woolworths

nbn Internet

DIVERSIFYING



IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND About 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 o^en go away from the big guys

on principle



WHY – YOU SHOULDNT Why No

•  You are not commi_ed •  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 compeJJve or interesJng •  You aren’t meeJng a need



WHY – YOU SHOULD Why 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 mulJ-‐skilled (Management, Sales, MarkeJng….)



ISP SIZES How big do you have to be?

Pico ? 10 -‐ 100 Micro ? 100 -‐ 500 Small ? 500 – 1,000 Medium 49 1,000 – 10,000 Large 24 10,000 – 100,000 Very 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 NICHE Examples

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



NICHE/ MICRO NICHE Focus

Industry

Ethnic

Finance

Education

Mining

Food

Media

Real Estate

Entertainment

Sports

Aged Care

Sex

Age

Religion

Legal

Construction

Engineering NGO

Energy

Government

Italian

Chinese

Greek

Korean

German

Arabic

Hobbies

Others?



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



NICHE/ MICRO NICHE Examples – Legal Industry - BarNet



NICHE/ MICRO NICHE Examples – Age Vertical - Seniors



NICHE/ MICRO NICHE Examples – Satety Vertical



NICHE/ MICRO NICHE Examples – Ethnic Focus - Japanese



WHOLESALE SERVICES Where 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 ISP Easy as

•  Wholesale Providers •  Outsourcing

•  OperaJons •  Support •  MarkeJng •  Systems (Billing, DNS, HosJng, etc)

•  Vendors •  Consultants

•  eintellego Networks / io Networks – probably others •  Community



THE BOOK So, 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, colocaJon/hosJng providers, wholesale ISPs, residenJal ISPs, virtual ISPs and others.

Case Studies

Websites, Mailing-‐lists, Chat, Podcasts, Consultants, CerJficaJons, etc

Resources

THE BOOK What’s in it?

Detailed informaJon about all aspects of an ISPs network, including their core switching, rouJng, 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, RouJng, 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, VirtualisaJon, Vya_a, MicroJk, 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, MarkeJng.

Before You Start

The Community, Conferences, OrganisaJons, Business operaJons, innovaJon of technology, trends, strategy.

Life as an ISP

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

How Stuff Works

OperaJonal Support Systems such as AuthenJcaJon, Provisioning, Helpdesk, Billing, Monitoring, Backup, etc.

OSS

COMMSDAY SUMMIT SYDNEY 2013 Skeeve Stevens


THANK YOU www.eintellegonetworks.com

[email protected]

@eintellego @skeevestevens @networkceoau

/eintellegonetworks

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

TM

The Experts Who The Experts Call™



Technology

Why Being a Small ISP is still Viable