MC2K Integration Going Smoothly

Kenny Douglas, MC2K’s general manager, said firm’s of MC2K’s size experience growth pains even if they’re the state’s fifth largest ISP. So Arkansas.Net’s Jan. 18 acquisition of the company was a natural progression.

“Just because of the size and strength of Arkansas.Net, it was inevitable,” Douglas said.

MC2K was the heralded product of the June 2000 merger of Millennium Communications and Spectrum Enterprises Inc. In 2001. It bought competitors Dickson Street Online and TerraOne.

MC2K’s six full-time employees were asked to apply for jobs at Arkansas.Net. Sharpe said his staff of 33 will likely grow a little because of the buyout.

The companies’ networks are apparently nice compliments, and integration should be concluded swiftly. The addition of MC2K also makes wireless Internet service an option, but Arkansas.Net is still studying that deployment.

One immediate benefit will be greatly extended support service hours for MC2K customers. Charles “Trey” Sharpe III, Arkansas.Net’s president and CEO, said service is a company hallmark.

“We will do anything within our power to make sure that Arkansas.Net just works,” Sharpe said. “The floods and ice storms we can’t help. But if we discover a problem at 1 a.m. that affects 2,000 of our customers on the other side of the state, our technical dispatch team leaves and attempts to have it taken care of before most people wake up.”

That’s how Arkansas.Net expects to compete with titans such as America Online and Earthlink.com. International firms can’t match such fast and personalized service, Sharpe said.

Duplicate equipment obtained in the takeover will likely be used to expand into additional cities. The company’s impressive arsenal now includes:

• 100 percent Cisco statewide backbone network.

• 21 Sun servers that are Enterprise class or the teleco-grade Netra line.

• True DS3 connectivity to the Internet (45 megabits per second).