A non profit making organisation in Kerry has become Ireland's latest online service provider, claiming to offer customers the fastest available access speeds to the Internet and the World Wide Web.
Rattoo Heritage Society, a registered friendly society, is setting up the first Kerry "point of presence" to the Internet, Kerryweb Ireland, at the Heritage Centre in Ballyduff, near Tralee. Individuals or companies in the local phone area will be able to go online for the price of a local phonecall (up to now, going online involved ringing a provider outside the 06 area) plus the annual connection fee.
The new service will feature Pentium 133 servers, V34/28.8 modems and 30 64K lines, adding up to a 1.92 Megabits per second connection to the Internet. "There is nowhere faster," says Kerryweb's technical director, Phil Carolan.
Kerryweb is using the same US Robotics modems employed by Indigo, launched as Ireland's fastest service provider in November. Indigo currently has 1.5 Mb band width and plans to add a further 2.5Mb later this year, says managing director Michael Brannagan.
However, Kerryweb doesn't aim to get into the Internet user battle, planning to concentrate instead on Kerrybased subscribers. The impetus behind the project was to provide worldwide access to Rattoo's data, according to project director Sean Quinlan.
From February 1st, the heritage centre will begin to compile "The Great Book of Kerry" on the new computer network. Completion of the interactive book is expected to take five years.
The finished work will be "a talking, living book which will trace in great detail the history of the kingdom of Kerry from the great ice age of 10,000 years ago up to present times," Mr Quinlan says. He hopes to involve historians, archaeologists, environmentalists, schools and colleges and individuals in compiling the book.
Rattoo Heritage Society has submitted an application to Leader II for 50 per cent funding for Kerryweb, and expects to create 20 full time jobs over the coming year.
Private connection to Kerryweb costs a flat annual rate of £150. Business dial up is available for £290, which includes a home page and multiple mailboxes. Kerry schools and colleges can have full Internet access for £150 a year.
Kerryweb Ireland also has a data communications unit which can provide modems, terminal adapters, routers and other communications hardware.