Pipex ( ) was the United Kingdom's first commercial

Internet service provider An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides a myriad of services related to accessing, using, managing, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, no ...

(ISP). It was formed in 1990 and helped to develop the ISP market in the UK. In 1992 it began operating a 64k transatlantic leased line and built a connection to the UK government's

JANET Janet may refer to: Names * Janet (given name) Surname * Charles Janet (1849–1932), French engineer, inventor and biologist, known for the Left Step periodic table * Jules Janet (1861–1945), French psychologist and psychotherapist * Maur ...

network. One of its first customers was Demon Internet which popularised dial up

modem The Democratic Movement (, ; MoDem ) is a centre to centre-right political party in France, whose main ideological trends are liberalism and Christian democracy, and that is characterised by a strong pro-Europeanist stance. MoDem was establis ...

based internet access in the UK. It was also one of the key players in the development of the

London Internet Exchange The London Internet Exchange (LINX) is an Internet exchange point (IXP) providing peering to over 950 different autonomous systems (ASNs). Established in 1994 in London, LINX operates IXPs in London, Manchester, Scotland, and Wales in the ...

through a meeting with BT in 1994. The company went through a number of mergers and acquisitions and by 2007 had dropped to be the sixth largest ISP in the UK. The Pipex name was used by a number of companies within the group, which were gradually renamed following the sale of its home broadband business to Tiscali UK in 2007. In 2009, the former Pipex Wireless business, rebranded as Freedom4, bought the former Pipex Business, known as Vialtus. Freedom4 also purchased Daisy Group through a reverse takeover, and the three companies were brought together as Daisy.

History

Formation

The company was formed as the first commercial ISP in the UK by Unipalm in 1990 as ''The Public I.P. Exchange Ltd'' (PIPEX), founded by Peter Dawe. In mid 1992, it began operating a 64k transatlantic leased line to

UUNET UUNET Technologies, Inc., formerly UUNET Communications Services, was an American commercial Internet service provider. Founded in 1987, it was one of the first and largest commercial ISPs and one of the early Tier 1 networks. It was based in ...

and another to JANET. One of its first customers was Demon Internet, shortly followed by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

. In November 1994, Keith Mitchell, then chief technical officer of PIPEX, initiated a meeting with BT to discuss the creation of a London-based Internet exchange. Pipex donated a Cisco Catalyst 1200

Network switch A network switch (also called switching hub, bridging hub, Ethernet switch, and, by the IEEE, MAC bridge) is networking hardware that connects devices on a computer network by using packet switching to receive and forward data to the destinat ...

which formed the basis of the

(LINX). Unipalm Pipex was sold to UUNet in November 1995 for £150 million and became UUNet/Pipex. The brand became known as ''Worldcom Pipex'', after UUnet merged with MFS, which is later acquired by

WorldCom MCI, Inc. (formerly WorldCom and MCI WorldCom) was a telecommunications company. For a time, it was the second-largest long-distance telephone company in the United States, after AT&T. WorldCom grew largely by acquiring other telecommunicatio ...

before merging with MCI to form MCI WorldCom, later renaming back to MCI which was then taken over by

Verizon Communications Verizon Communications Inc. ( ), is an American telecommunications company headquartered in New York City. It is the world's second-largest telecommunications company by revenue and its mobile network is the largest wireless carrier in the ...

. Pipex retained contracts with Verizon with regards to the network structure. David Rickards and family acquired the PIPEX brand for an undisclosed sum and the new company PIPEX Internet Ltd was born. In January 2002 saw the first push to provide

digital subscriber line Digital subscriber line (DSL; originally digital subscriber loop) is a family of technologies that are used to transmit digital data over telephone lines. In telecommunications marketing, the term DSL is widely understood to mean asymmetric dig ...

(DSL) lines instead of traditional modems and Pipex invested £2 million to get 40,000 DSL users online.

Reorganisation

In October 2003 Pipex was acquired by GX Networks plc, which retained the Pipex name by renaming itself Pipex Communications plc. In September 2006, Pipex purchased Toucan from IDT Telecom for £24 million, and Cable & Wireless' Bulldog Broadband for £12 million. Pipex sold its home broadband business and the rights to use the Pipex name to Tiscali UK in July 2007 for £210 million. As a consequence, Pipex Wireless was renamed Freedom4 in October 2007, followed by Pipex Business in February 2008 which was renamed Vialtus. Pipex Communications reverted to the GX Networks name in March 2008. Freedom4 agreed to purchase Vialtus and Daisy Group in July 2009, performing a

reverse takeover A reverse takeover (RTO), reverse merger, or reverse IPO is the acquisition of a public company by a private company so that the private company can bypass the lengthy and complex process of going public. Sometimes, conversely, the public compa ...

of Daisy. The former Pipex residential business, as part of Tiscali, was integrated into TalkTalk when Tiscali UK was itself acquired by TalkTalk's parent The Carphone Warehouse in 2009.

History

Formation

Reorganisation

See also

References

Further reading