“In April 1995, Philbrook was a sophomore at Worcester
Polytechnic Institute. His secret weapons were Pentiums running
“shareware” called Linux. And he had a business plan for
becoming midcoast Maine’s first ISP….”
“By July 1997, Philbrook had 2,800 customers, nine employees,
six points of presence (POPs), 85 percent of a market only 5
percent penetrated, profitable annual growth of 33 percent, and a
used red Jaguar (see www.infoworld.com/metcalfe).
“Today, Midcoast prospers. It looks messy, but it’s in new digs,
offers local V.90 access to 4,500 customers from Bath to Belfast,
and doubled its revenue during 1999….”
“What are Philbrook’s secrets? He still uses Linux, by Red Hat,
in which he owns stock. He offers two dial-in numbers, one for each
of the slightly incompatible V.90 modems people use a lot. Midcoast
makes a profit after installing customer PCs onto the Internet for
free. And Philbrook helps out in surrounding communities.”