Managed from a purpose-built
NOC in Leeds, Planet's network was first switched on in October 1995 with over 2,000 businesses connected by the end of the following year. The office in Leeds was shared with
hardware specialist and sister company ESS, with the two formally
merging on 1 January 1997. The merged company retained the Planet Online name. Planet was sold to
Energis in August 1998 for £85m at a time when it carried around 40% of all
internet traffic in the UK. In August 2000, the company was renamed
Energis Squared and given new branding consistent with that of its parent. It was later integrated into the rest of the Energis business, losing its separate identity. Planet notably provided the back-end infrastructure for the consumer ISP
Freeserve, led by
John Pluthero, which helped it to become one of the UK's few profitable ISPs at that time. Then as
Cable & Wireless Worldwide, itself led by Pluthero until 2011 then as part of
Vodafone and subsequently IBM the company continues to provide similar services to Freeserve's ultimate successor,
Orange Broadband. == Awards and recognition ==