The company was founded in 1991 by Robyn Taylor and Managing Director
Simon Hackett, Internode was the first ISP to offer
ADSL2/2+ services in Australia, by installing their own
DSLAMs in
Telstra exchanges. This allowed them to offer access speeds of up to 24 Mbit/s, significantly higher than the fastest speed then offered by Telstra at the time (1.5 Mbit/s). (See also
Broadband Internet Access, Australia) Internode also provided a Naked ADSL2+ service, operating on both Agile and Optus hardware. Internode was a part of the
Terria consortium which bid to build the
National Broadband Network.
Acquisition by iiNet On 22 December 2011,
Western Australian based
internet service provider iiNet announced the acquisition of Internode in a deal worth $105 million. In May 2012, it was announced that
Simon Hackett's role would change from being the managing director of Internode to become a non-executive board member for iiNet. At the same time several members of Internode's management team were transferred to management positions within iiNet. In November 2013, it was announced that Simon Hackett would be leaving Internode and the iiNet Group to join the board of the
NBN Co which has been tasked by the
Australian Government to provide the next generation of broadband to Australia. In September 2015, iiNet was acquired by
TPG Telecom in a $1.65 billion deal. In December 2023, Internode announced that it would cease accepting new customers to the Internode brand, and that all existing residential Internode customers will be migrated to the iiNet brand.
Milestones •
Telecommunications backbone in regional Australia: 2001 marked the launch of the
Coorong Communications Network, one of the first non-incumbent telecommunications backbones built into a regional area in Australia, offering low cost voice and data services to regional customers. In 2005 a second regional network based on the same technology was deployed in the
Yorke Peninsula region, demonstrating that the underlying model is not only sustainable, but reproducible. (see Press Release) •
Games network: 1 July 2002 saw the launch of the Internode Games Network, a private
gaming network run by Internode for its ADSL customers. It became the largest gaming network in Australia (in terms of peak daily player count) ahead of even
Telstra's GameArena. It has since been discontinued. •
Agile Broadband rollout: In mid-2003, Internode's infrastructure company,
Agile, installed its own equipment in the Telstra exchange at
Meningie, South Australia. This made it the first exchange in Regional Australia where ADSL was available from a non-Telstra
DSLAM. DSLAM deployment continued, ultimately becoming national in extent. •
International Backbone: In early 2005, Agile extended the national private backbone it operates for Internode to connect to the United States. This link was initially provided by leased capacity on the
Southern Cross Cable system, expanded in December 2006 to also utilise capacity leased on
Australia-Japan Cable to provide an alternative pathway to that provided by Southern Cross Cable. •
Unmetered content: Internode also runs content servers such as a cluster of
Steam content servers. Further 'unmetered' content available via the national Agile backbone network includes relays of popular streaming audio sources and a 10
terabyte mirror server. includes a file mirror and radio streams •
Gaming Network: Internode offers free services to members, recently giving a free advance screening of the blockbuster
V for Vendetta in
Brisbane, and
Lucky Number Slevin in
Melbourne. These screenings will be discontinued in favour of supporting events, such as the Canberra Games Festival. •
SourceForge Mirror: On 3 June 2008, Internode announced the availability of the first full Australian
SourceForge mirror. •
IPv6: On 18 July 2008, Internode launched a national
IPv6 service, the first in Australia. •
Email Services: On 30 November 2023 Internode will stop providing an email service. Internode email addresses are moving to The Messaging Company in 2023 and will be at a yet to be determined cost to the end user. Internode has supported many local events, such as the
Adelaide Film Festival,
WOMADelaide, the
Adelaide Fringe (for at least 10 years until 2014) and the Global
Green hosting Challenge. It also provides services for video game company
Valve. ==Products==