Web Security and Commerce

IP Connectivity

One of my first goals was to get the Internet connection up and running.

Lesson: Set milestones and stick to them.

Setting up an Internet service provider and a commercial Internet service is a huge task. So I broke the job down into smaller, understandable chunks. Each chunk had its own milestone: a thing that was to be accomplished, and a date by which it was supposed to be accomplished.

On a piece of paper, I sketched out my first set of goals and milestones:

• July 1—Get leased line installed.

• Mid-July—Get IP connection up and running.

• August 1—Get dial-up access working to router.

• August 15—Open up service for a few testers.

• September 1—Announce service to the community.

The key ingredient in much of this was having working phone lines—something that the house didn’t have when we moved in. Before we had closed on the house, we had placed an order for four residential phone lines—after all, the house was first and foremost a residence. I had also made arrangements with a mid-level ISP in Cambridge called CentNet for a 56K connection to the Internet that would be delivered over a four-wire DDS frame relay connection. To make this whole thing work I had obtained a Cisco 2509 router—a basic Cisco router with two high-speed serial ports, eight low-speed asynchronous serial ports, and an Ethernet.

Lesson: Get your facilities in order.

I waited for and met the NYNEX telephone installer on the day that our residential phone lines were due to be installed. The man wanted to run ...