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<H4>By Jim Dennis, Ben Okopnik, Dan Wilder, Breen, Chris, and the Gang,
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the Editors of Linux Gazette...
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and You!
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<br>Send questions (or interesting answers) to
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<H3 align="left"><img src="../../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif"
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height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
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>Free Business Consulting: NOT!</H3>
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<p><strong>From
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Abdulsalam Ajetunmobi
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</strong></p>
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<p align="right"><strong>Answered By Jim Dennis
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<br></strong></p>
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<!-- sig -->
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<!-- ::
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Free Business Consulting: NOT!
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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:: -->
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<P><STRONG>
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Dear Sir,
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</STRONG></P>
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<P><STRONG>
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I am a Computer Consultant based in London, United Kingdom. I am, in
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conjuction with two other partners, making enquiry on how to set up Internet
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Service as a busness outfit in line with the estbalished ones like AOL,
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Compuserve etc. Our operation will be based in Africa.
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</STRONG></P>
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<P><STRONG>
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Could you kindly advise me of what it entails and the modality for such a
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business. I would like to know the required equipment, the expertise and
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possibly the cost.
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</STRONG></P>
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<P><STRONG>
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Thanks for your co-operation.
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</STRONG></P>
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<P><STRONG>
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Yours faithfully,
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<br>Abdulsalam Ajetunmobi
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</STRONG></P>
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<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
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HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
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> [JimD]
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The Linux Gazette Answer Gang is not a "Free Business Consulting"
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service. We volunteer our time and expertise to answer guestions
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that we feel are of interest to the Linux community.
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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It is true that Linux is ubiquitously used by ISPs as a major part
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of their network infrastructures. Actually <A HREF="http://www.freebsd.org/">FreeBSD</A> might still have
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a bit of an edge over Linux. It's true that free UNIX implementations
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have grown to dominate the once mighty SunOS and Solaris foothold
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in that field.
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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Microsoft's NT gained some ground among ISP startups in the nineties;
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but lost most of that to their own instability, capacity limitations
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and pricing. NT at ISPs now exists primarily to support customers
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who demand access to Microsoft's proprietary FrontPage extensions or
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other proprietary protocol and service offerings.
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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So some might claim that your question is indirectly "about Linux."
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Of course that would be like saying that questions about setting up
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a new automotive dealership are "about automotive mechanics."
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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Here's my advice: if you don't know enough about the "modality" of
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the ISP business, if you have to ask <EM>us</EM> what setting up an Internet
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service entails, then you aren't qualified to start such a business.
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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First, the basic technical aspects of setting up an internet service
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should be obvious to anyone who as used the Internet. You need a
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persistent, reliable set of high speed and low latency connections to
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the Internet. (Duh!) You need some equipment (web servers, name
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servers, mail exchangers and hosts, routers, hubs, and some sort of
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administrative billing and customer management systems --- probably
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a database server). You need the technical expertise to manage this
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equipment and to deal with the vendors (mostly telcos; telephone
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service companies and other ISPs) that provide you with your Internet
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services.
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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Some elements that are non-obvious to casual Internet users are:
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ISPs are loosely arranged in tiers. Small, local ISPs connect to
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larger regions ISPs. Regional ISPs perform "peering" with one another
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and with larger, international ISPs. Some very large ISPs (like
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AOL/Compuserve and MSN, etc) get to charge hefty peering fees from
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smaller and intermediate ISPs. When you link up with "podunk.not"
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they often only have one connect to one "upstream" provider. A better
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"blueribbon.not" might have a couple of redundant POPs (points of presence)
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and a redundant links to a couple of upstream providers.
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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Now, the business requirements (for any business) depend on a detailed
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understanding of the business at hand. You have to know how to get
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the service or product on the "wholesale" side, possibly how to package
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and/or add value to that service or product, and how to re-sell it
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to your customers. If you don't know the difference between a third
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tier ISP and a backbone provider; you don't know enough to formulate
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a sensible business plan in that industry. If you don't have contacts
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in that industry and in your market segment within that industry
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then you should seriously ask what possible advantage you could have
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over your competitors.
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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(Don't start any business without an advantage. That makes no sense.
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If you don't truly believe in your advantage --- go work for someone
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who does have one).
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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Perhaps you think that you won't have any competitors in Africa; or
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that you have some business angle that none of them have. Great! Now
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go find and hire someone who knows that business in that market. Then
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you can do your own feasibility study to see if there are real
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opportunities there.
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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Keep in mind that you are likely to need professional contacts in the
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regional governments where you intend to operate. Throughout most of
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the "third world" there is quite a bit of overt corruption --- and
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outright graft is just a part of doing business in most places
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outside of the United States and western Europe. Don't get me wrong,
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I'm not saying that the governments and bureaucracies in Africa are
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more corrupt than those in the U.S. --- just that the corruption is more
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overt and the graft is more likely to be direct cash, rather than through
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the U.S. subtefuges of "campaign contributions" and various other
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subtleties.
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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Anyway, if you don't like my answer keep in mind that this question
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is basically not appropriate for this forum. Other readers will
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probably flame me and call me a racist for my comments about the customs
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in other countries. Oh well. I'll just drop those in <TT>/dev/null.</TT>
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(Rational refutations; pointing to credible comparisons or independent
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research would be interesting, though).
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
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<H5 align="center">This page edited and maintained by the Editors
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of <I>Linux Gazette</I>
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<a href="http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html"
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>Copyright ©</a> 2001
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<BR>Published in issue 67 of <I>Linux Gazette</I> June 2001</H5>
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<H6 ALIGN="center">HTML script maintained by
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