the spa! has been providing online services since 1989 in
Western Massachusetts. the spa! currently serves the Pioneer Valley including Greater
Springfield, Holyoke/Chicopee, Northampton/Amherst, Westfield, Greenfield, and Pittsfield.
Equipment
the spa!'s network runs on routers from Cisco Systems, with switching hardware from 3Com.
Our internal network runs on 100Mbit ethernet with core services run on servers from Dell
Computers. All our mission-critical servers have redundant power supplies, RAID-5 storage
subsystems and multiple power paths. Dialup service is provided by 3Com Total Control
Racks, supporting v.90 technology. By using state-of-the-art hardware in conjunction with
proven software packages, we provide a very reliable service to our customers.
Facilities
the spa! has a Bell Atlantic fiber optic cabinet on-site, providing up to a OC-3
(155Mbit) of connectivity. Dial-up connections are fed from PRI's from Brooks Fiber,
covering all of the 413 area code.
Internet Connection
the spa! has two T1 connections, one to Sprintlink and one to UUnet. Internet traffic on
the spa!'s backbone is routed using BGP4, taking the shortest path to its destination on
the Internet. Our Internet connections are full redundant, ensuring that we don't
experience problems as the result of issues with our upstreams. We are in the process of
installing an additional backbone T1 to Qwest Communications and an ATM connection to
provision DSL service via Bell Atlantic.
Personnel
the spa!'s principles have a combined online experience of 35 years -- we started very
young in computing! Prior to starting the spa!, both ran other online services. Our tech
support staff undergoes a 30 day training period and has access to a knowledge base of
information collected over the years.
Brief History
Some customers have been using the spa! since it first went online February 14, 1989!
We're looking forward to our 10th anniversary in 1999 as the only company in Western Mass
specializing only in getting people online!
- 1989
Founded as a 2 line bulletin board service serving Macintosh users in Greater Springfield.
Opened up to PC users later that year. Joined Fidonet, the first public network of
computers.
- 1991
Relocated to Chicopee to include service to Northampton/Amherst area. Line count is 4.
- 1992
BBS continued growing first to 8 then to 16 lines.
- 1993
the-spa.com is registered with the Internic on July 7, 1993. the spa! then becomes the
first commercial provider in Western Mass to offer internet e-mail and newsgroups.
Newsgroups were delivered to the spa! via satellite! Voted #34 in list of Top 100 Online
Services by Boardwatch Magazine Readers Poll. We broke out the Dom when we went to 24
lines.
- 1994
Voted #15 in list of Top 100 Online Services by Boardwatch Magazine Readers Poll. Largest
online provider in Western Mass at 32 lines -- this really seemed like a heck of a lot
back then! Required more Dom to celebrate of course...
- 1995
Began offering full internet access in January. Too busy to celebrate. First spa! employee
comes on board. Began planning move to current facilities in South Hadley.
- 1996
Relocated to South Hadley with completion of 9 month NYNEX installation of dedicated fiber
optic facilities to connect the spa! to the Holyoke Central Office. Carando becomes first large site designed by the spa!
(they're still with us!).
- 1997
Began offering 56k x2 access in early April. In summer, expanded access to include
Greenfield.
- 1998
In late February, expanded local access to include most of Franklin county, Palmer/Monson.
- 1999
the spa! celebrated 10 years of being online!
spa! Trivia
