ClarkNet
Encyclopedia
ClarkNet was an Internet service provider
(ISP) located in Ellicott City, Maryland
that began operation in April 1993. It was the first ISP local to the Baltimore area and the second ISP native to Maryland
. Operations ceased during 2003.
The company's incorporated name was Clark Internet Services, Inc., the service was called ClarkNet, and it operated under the domain name
of clark.net. ClarkNet was founded by Jamie Clark, son of Maryland State Senator James A. Clark, in April 1993. It was located on the Clark family farm, located between Clarksville, Maryland
and Columbia, Maryland
, and initially operated out of a working cow barn. Jamie Clark is deaf and most of the early employees were also deaf. As the company grew the offices moved to Columbia and the computer data center remained at the barn.
ClarkNet was a pioneer in many areas. It was the first ISP to provide dial-up TCP/IP access (via SLIP
or PPP
) targeted for the home user in the Mid Atlantic region. It was one of the first web servers in the world, listed by CERN
as one of the first 100 web servers in existence and one of the first in the country to offer free web pages to its customers. It was the first ISP to provide local dial in access numbers to all of Baltimore, and many parts of Maryland. It was the second ISP native to Maryland. It was the country's first (only?) deaf owned and operated ISP. It pioneered the use of "Centrex
ISDN" which is a 24x7 dedicated flat-rate ISDN line. It hosted, for a time, one of the top ten root Usenet
servers.
ClarkNet enjoyed a great deal of press exposure because of its early entry into the Internet, the fact it was a deaf owned company, its unusual location on a working farm, and its excellent reputation for service. Washington, DC area institutions used ClarkNet as their first exposure to the Internet which included, among many others: NPR
(National Public Radio), SANS
(the SANS Institute), and The Washington Post
. Jamie Clark was interviewed and pictured in Fortune Magazine and was the subject of a feature spot on NPR. ClarkNet was the largest dial-up provider in the Baltimore/Washington area for a time. It won several awards, such as Small Business Administration
awards.
The company employed up to 80 people at its largest. The company was structured with five primary teams: Engineering, Customer Service, Sales and Marketing, Web Development, Accounting, along with a senior management team and a board of directors.
Services provided included: Dialup TCP/IP; Dialup shell
access; Dedicated circuits such as ISDN, T1
, Frame Relay
, SMDS
; Web hosting; Web development
; Colocation
hosting. At its largest it had over 20,000 dialup customers and 2,000 dedicated customers.
ClarkNet was purchased by Verio
in late 1997 but retained a large degree of local autonomy and continued to grow under the Verio brand with many of the original ClarkNet employees in place. Verio was sold to NTT
in 2000 by which time the product focus had shifted away from dial-up and dedicated Internet access to web hosting and most of the original ClarkNet staff, products and network were let-go, dismantled or sold (respectively) over the 2000-2003 period.
The barn on the Clark farm where ClarkNet started burned down in an accident on November 15, 2004, although the company was no longer in existence nor being used by Verio at the time.
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 Ellicott City, Maryland
Ellicott City, Maryland
Ellicott City is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Howard County, Maryland, United States. It is part of the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. The population was 65,834 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Howard County...
that began operation in April 1993. It was the first ISP local to the Baltimore area and the second ISP native to Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
. Operations ceased during 2003.
Domain name
A domain name is an identification string that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control in the Internet. Domain names are formed by the rules and procedures of the Domain Name System ....
of clark.net. ClarkNet was founded by Jamie Clark, son of Maryland State Senator James A. Clark, in April 1993. It was located on the Clark family farm, located between Clarksville, Maryland
Clarksville, Maryland
Clarksville is both the name of an unincorporated community and the name associated with Districts 4 & 5 in Howard County, the third wealthiest county in the United States according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The community is named for William Clark, a farmer who owned much of the land on which the...
and Columbia, Maryland
Columbia, Maryland
Columbia is a planned community that consists of ten self-contained villages, located in Howard County, Maryland, United States. It began with the idea that a city could enhance its residents' quality of life. Creator and developer James W. Rouse saw the new community in terms of human values, not...
, and initially operated out of a working cow barn. Jamie Clark is deaf and most of the early employees were also deaf. As the company grew the offices moved to Columbia and the computer data center remained at the barn.
ClarkNet was a pioneer in many areas. It was the first ISP to provide dial-up TCP/IP access (via SLIP
Serial Line Internet Protocol
The Serial Line Internet Protocol is an encapsulation of the Internet Protocol designed to work over serial ports and modem connections. It is documented in RFC 1055...
or PPP
Point-to-Point Protocol
In networking, the Point-to-Point Protocol is a data link protocol commonly used in establishing a direct connection between two networking nodes...
) targeted for the home user in the Mid Atlantic region. It was one of the first web servers in the world, listed by CERN
CERN
The European Organization for Nuclear Research , known as CERN , is an international organization whose purpose is to operate the world's largest particle physics laboratory, which is situated in the northwest suburbs of Geneva on the Franco–Swiss border...
as one of the first 100 web servers in existence and one of the first in the country to offer free web pages to its customers. It was the first ISP to provide local dial in access numbers to all of Baltimore, and many parts of Maryland. It was the second ISP native to Maryland. It was the country's first (only?) deaf owned and operated ISP. It pioneered the use of "Centrex
Centrex
Centrex is a portmanteau of central exchange, a kind of telephone exchange.In the United Kingdom, British Telecom markets this service as FeatureLine .-Use of Centrex:...
ISDN" which is a 24x7 dedicated flat-rate ISDN line. It hosted, for a time, one of the top ten root Usenet
Usenet
Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
servers.
ClarkNet enjoyed a great deal of press exposure because of its early entry into the Internet, the fact it was a deaf owned company, its unusual location on a working farm, and its excellent reputation for service. Washington, DC area institutions used ClarkNet as their first exposure to the Internet which included, among many others: NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
(National Public Radio), SANS
SANS Institute
The SANS Institute is a private US company that specializes in internet security training. It was founded in 1989, provides computer security training, professional certification through Global Information Assurance Certification , and a research archive - the SANS Reading Room...
(the SANS Institute), and The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
. Jamie Clark was interviewed and pictured in Fortune Magazine and was the subject of a feature spot on NPR. ClarkNet was the largest dial-up provider in the Baltimore/Washington area for a time. It won several awards, such as Small Business Administration
Small Business Administration
The Small Business Administration is a United States government agency that provides support to entrepreneurs and small businesses. The mission of the Small Business Administration is "to maintain and strengthen the nation's economy by enabling the establishment and viability of small businesses...
awards.
The company employed up to 80 people at its largest. The company was structured with five primary teams: Engineering, Customer Service, Sales and Marketing, Web Development, Accounting, along with a senior management team and a board of directors.
Services provided included: Dialup TCP/IP; Dialup shell
Unix shell
A Unix shell is a command-line interpreter or shell that provides a traditional user interface for the Unix operating system and for Unix-like systems...
access; Dedicated circuits such as ISDN, T1
Digital Signal 1
Digital signal 1 is a T-carrier signaling scheme devised by Bell Labs. DS1 is a widely used standard in telecommunications in North America and Japan to transmit voice and data between devices. E1 is used in place of T1 outside North America, Japan, and South Korea...
, Frame Relay
Frame relay
Frame Relay is a standardized wide area network technology that specifies the physical and logical link layers of digital telecommunications channels using a packet switching methodology...
, SMDS
SMDS
Switched Multi-megabit Data Service was a connectionless service used to connect LANs, MANs and WANs to exchange data, in early 1990s. In Europe, the service was known as Connectionless Broadband Data Service ....
; Web hosting; Web development
Web development
Web development is a broad term for the work involved in developing a web site for the Internet or an intranet . This can include web design, web content development, client liaison, client-side/server-side scripting, web server and network security configuration, and e-commerce development...
; Colocation
Colocation centre
A colocation centre or colocation center , is a type of data centre where equipment space and bandwidth are available for rental to retail customers...
hosting. At its largest it had over 20,000 dialup customers and 2,000 dedicated customers.
ClarkNet was purchased 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 late 1997 but retained a large degree of local autonomy and continued to grow under the Verio brand with many of the original ClarkNet employees in place. Verio was sold to NTT
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone
, commonly known as NTT, is a Japanese telecommunications company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Ranked the 31st in Fortune Global 500, NTT is the largest telecommunications company in Asia, and the second-largest in the world in terms of revenue....
in 2000 by which time the product focus had shifted away from dial-up and dedicated Internet access to web hosting and most of the original ClarkNet staff, products and network were let-go, dismantled or sold (respectively) over the 2000-2003 period.
The barn on the Clark farm where ClarkNet started burned down in an accident on November 15, 2004, although the company was no longer in existence nor being used by Verio at the time.
External links
- Sullivan, Kevin. "Interface Among Equals; Deaf Man Sees Vocation in Computer System." The Washington Post, September 14, 1993
- Company history, from a December 1996 ClarkNet home-page via the Wayback Machine.
- Glasser, Jeff. "Internet Entrepreneur Undaunted." The Washington Post, August 12, 1996
- Rogers, John. "ClarkNet Is Purchased By Verio, Colorado-based Internet Services Provider." The Business Monthly, November 1997
- Verio/ClarkNet merger announcement in January 1998 via the Wayback Machine
- "ClarkNet Founder Takes a Chance on the Internet and Wins", Johns Hopkins University, background about Jamie Clark and ClarkNet.
- "Roll-up or not, is it right for you?", Interview with CEO Drew Clark in 1999.