FairPoint Communications
Address: 1201 Cornwall Ave., Bellingham, WA 98225
Phone: 527-0200
Start date: October 1999

 

Telephone services seem to have be come extremely complicated since the Telecommunications Deregulation Act of 1996. A business may have one company as its local carrier as well as a different group handling its long-distance calls. Then there's Internet service and maybe even separate billing for voice mail that makes it all the more complex.

Companies such as FairPoint Communications Corp. have latched onto the “keep it simple  idea – one company providing business customers with multiple communications products all on one consolidated bill, including standard services. These companies are known as Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLECs).

FairPoint, a North Carolina-based telecommunications company, recently opened a regional office in Bellingham's Cornwall Plaza at 1201 Cornwall Ave. The firm bills itself as an “alternative  telephone company, offering small- to medium-sized businesses a menu of options: local dial-tone service, long distance, Internet access, voice mail, dedicated private lines and frame relay services.

Frame relay is a data transfer service that compresses packets of information and sends it over fiber-optic lines. This is generally more affordable than buying a dedicated line for data transfer.

FairPoint competes with local phone monopolies, such as USWest and GTE, and its prices are 10 percent or more lower than those of competitors, says Gary Weston, regional sales manager in Bellingham. The company''s philosophy is to provide small communities with highly personalized service, low prices and the same telecommunications options which are typically only available in a major metropolitan area.

We like to approach businesses from a consultive standpoint,  says Weston. “We want to be able to understand their business plans so we can provide them with long-term solutions. 

As a CLEC, FairPoint can purchase local telephone service wholesale from the local phone monopoly and resell it to business customers at competitive rates. According to the company, FairPoint typically resells the services for a period of time and then builds its own facilities.

The communications firm was founded a year ago as a subsidiary of the Charlotte, N.C.-based MJD Communications, currently the 17th-largest telephone company in the United States. The parent company has its roots in the acquisition of independent telephone companies throughout the country. FairPoint has regional offices in the Northeast, New England, Yakima in Eastern Washington and now Western Washington. It recently opened a new sales office in Olympia and is expanding into Oregon.

Since entering the Washington market, the company has sold more than 2,700 access lines to customers.

The Bellingham office employs eight people. FairPoint also has sales representatives in Mount Vernon, Anacortes and Oak Harbor and will be expanding into Port Angeles, Port Townsend and Ferndale.

Weston, a native of Bellingham, has 17 years of experience in the telecommunications industry. He worked in management and director-level positions 10 years with Sprint and AT&T and has also been a business owner.  

–  Heidi Thomas

 

 

 

Clipclop.com
Address: www.clipclop.com
Start date: December 1999

 

John Henry of Ferndale owns a horse ranch and frequently finds himself spending hours on the Internet looking for information. 

It is frustrating when you're looking for something and you continually have to search another link and then another and another,  he says. “When I need information, I want to find it quickly, not spend four hours looking for it. 

Henry decided to create a website for equine aficionados that provides a “one-stop shopping  atmosphere. He was already chief executive officer of Promark Software, a company that creates educational software sold by National Geographic Society and Encyclopedia Britannica. With a 40-year background in the software industry, Henry believes he has the understanding of how to make data bases relate. 

The result is clipclop.com, an approach that seems to be unique. “If you want to find out something about horses, this is a way to find it quickly,  Henry says.

The site lists 80,000 equine-related businesses and organizations. “If you're looking for a horseshoer or a vet, for example,  he says, “you can just put in the phone prefix of your area  and the information will be at your fingertips.

The Web page features a dictionary of horse-related terminology, so a reader can learn more about his area of interest. Or, if the vet has given you a medical or anatomical term, you can find out more about it and where to find products or treatments.

Say you want to learn more about jumping. Through clipclop.com, you''ll have access to every magazine article written on the subject, Henry declares.

The site has features such as “Ask a Trainer,  “Ask a Vet,  Equine Youth Pages and a weekly syndicated radio program, “The Horse Show with Rick Lamb  plus an archive of all previously broadcast shows.

Visitors will be able to locate service providers by category or geographic regions, learn about current equestrian events and view televised events.

A browser can search for breeds, riding disciplines, boarding and stables, books, videos and publications, breeding services, farm supplies, feed and nutrition, gifts, health care, sales and auctions, horse shows, tack and apparel, training and instruction, transportation

and trailers. 

It has a calendar of events, free listings for horse-related businesses and clubs, on-line chat rooms, horse jokes, virtual postcards, and will offer free e-mail.

One can subscribe to magazines, order catalogs, book vacations and complete purchase transactions without leaving the site.

Clipclop.com is conducting a 4-H fundraising contest. Each month for the next two years, the corporation will donate $1,000 to the 4-H club which submits the best collection of horse-related photos, drawings, cartoons, stories, poems, jokes or limericks.

The equine market represents a $25 billion a year industry, which is larger than the railroad, furniture or movie industries, according to a news release from the corporation, and the median income for all U.S. horse owners is almost double that of other Americans,

Clipclop.com wants to share in that market by becoming the “location, location, location  for the horse industry.

We're essentially developing real estate where people will want to advertise,  says Henry,

because if you find what you want quickly, then you will go back again and again, and you'll also tell your friends about it. 

Although the organization will not carry any inventory or physically handle any goods, it will bring buyers and sellers together and process transactions in return for a fee of about 5 percent of the transaction.

The site was in operation for testing for several months but its official public launch date was Dec. 1.

The corporation currently employs seven persons and Henry anticipates

within the next two years that number will increase to around 200.

  We have to make sure we are keeping up with current information,  he remarks.

Although clipclop.com is a Canadian corporation, Henry is chairman of the board and he says there are future plans to set up a marketing arm of the company in Whatcom County.

–  Heidi Thomas