Arrival of nasty viruses, spam deluge see ISPs raise the filters. It’s been a busy old year on the ISP front. Ihug, one of the oldest and largest of the nation’s ISPs, merged with Perth-based up-and-comer iiNet. Between the two of them they have a business worth $100 million a year and, because of a neat geographical fit, they won’t be closing offices or laying off staff. Perth has expanded ever eastward from Perth while Ihug is the number three in New Zealand. Both have their eyes on the eastern seaboard of Australia. IiNet claims to be the largest reseller of DSL services from Telstra in Australia and is very interested in Ihug’s voice solution to complement its offerings. Back in New Zealand Orcon Internet has been busy helping consolidate the New Zealand ISP market. It’s bought 23 ISPs in the past three years and is rumoured to be in the market for Iprolink in the weeks ahead. It’s also bought the customer base and security technology from Auckland-based SecureNet, which is undergoing a legal battle of its own against a former customer, Woolworths. SecureNet is accused of abusing its position as supplier of secure services by reading emails destined for Woolworths’ executives during a contract dispute. This year also saw most of the major ISPs introduce anti-virus and anti-spam filters. After letting end users struggle for years to manage the chore at the desktop, ISPs are blocking almost all viruses within minutes of a new breed emerging. Full Story
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