Name Game
Whats in the name? Millions of dollars worth of branding, if UUnet is the name in question. And yet, the international brand will apparently be flushed down the toilet as WorldCom finishes reorganization and merges key UUnet units with their equivalents within the WorldCom operation. The Ear hears the UUnet brand will still be around when addressing the carrier community, and then phased out. Is this an end of an era or what? Whats next — UUnet co-founder John Sidgmore retiring?
Moving Up
After a year in the streaming business, Broadwing has 10 customers on board. It recently reached a deal with Avid Internet Solutions for specialized streaming media storage equipment installation, estimated at about $100,000. WhISPers Web Patrol reports consulting firm Lucrum is an early customer.
Poor Host
Shared hosting a commodity? Think again! Atlanta-based Interland jacked up its hosting prices to $27.95 per month from $19.95, effective late February, explaining it has added new services and needs to pass on costs. The increase caused a snafu: Several large, quarterly-billed customers were offered a “loyalty rate” of $25.15 per month, only to find they were billed the full rate. Interland is busy reimbursing credit cards.