GWI (Great Works Internet) is a privately held

telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

company providing internet and phone services for residential and business customers in Maine. The company was established in 1994 and is headquartered in

Biddeford, Maine Biddeford ( ) is a city in York County, Maine, United States. It is the principal commercial center of York County. Its population was 22,552 at the 2020 census. The twin cities of Saco and Biddeford include the resort communities of Biddef ...

History

Originally known as Biddeford Internet Corporation, the company was set up to serve the Greater

area as a local

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 ...

. Within one year, the

Corporation A corporation or body corporate is an individual or a group of people, such as an association or company, that has been authorized by the State (polity), state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law as ...

had expanded to serve 70 percent of the

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

population with dial-up service. In 1996, the Biddeford Internet Corporation partnered with Casco Cable and New England Cable Vision and became one of the first ISP's in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

to provide technical support to the cable industry. The Corporation also offered wholesale

Domain Name System The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical and distributed name service that provides a naming system for computers, services, and other resources on the Internet or other Internet Protocol (IP) networks. It associates various information ...

(DNS), domain name hosting, and technical support direct to its cable customers. In 1997, Biddeford Internet Corporation completed statewide network access in Maine and changed its name to Great Works Internet, in honor of the

Great Works River The Great Works River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed June 30, 2011 river in southwestern Maine in the United States. It rises in central York County and flows ge ...

- a river in Southwestern Maine. The name was later shortened to GWI. In 2002, GWI introduced GWI Broadband, an ADSL based High Speed Internet service, rolling the service out to 50 communities in Maine and New Hampshire within one year. In 2003 and 2004,

Inc. Magazine ''Inc.'' is an American business media company founded in 1979 and based in New York City. ''Inc.'' publishes several print magazine issues per year, and is anchored by journalistic content online and on social media, focused on entrepreneurship a ...

recognized GWI as one of the country’s 500 fastest growing companies. GWI was again recognized by Inc.com in 2010 and 2011 as one of the 5000 fastest growing private companies in the USA. The company added residential phone service in 2005 and commercial phone service in 2007. In 2011, GWI CEO Fletcher Kittredge was named large company Business Leader of the Year{{Cite web , url=http://www.mainebiz.biz/news47668.html , title=MaineBiz , access-date=2011-10-03 , archive-date=2011-08-24 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110824151922/http://www.mainebiz.biz/news47668.html , url-status=dead by MaineBiz, a business news magazine.

References

External links

Official website
Telecommunications companies established in 1994 Companies based in Maine Internet service providers of the United States 1994 establishments in Maine