Founder & Early President · Late 1990s–2000
Phoenix Networks
Building a national broadband company at the moment America began its transition from dial-up Internet service to persistent, high-speed connectivity.
Peter founded Phoenix Networks during the rapid expansion of Internet access in the late 1990s.
Phoenix developed from a telecommunications and network-services operation into a national broadband provider. The company marketed residential and business-class high-speed DSL Internet access together with services that included:
- Business and residential DSL
- Internet security solutions
- Email hosting
- Web hosting
- Onsite technical services
- Customer installation and support
- Enterprise network services
Contemporary industry coverage described Phoenix Networks as a national broadband carrier. The company invested in customer support technology and introduced real-time website chat so customers could communicate directly with sales, service and technical-support representatives — an unusually advanced capability in 2000.
Peter was publicly identified as Phoenix Networks' founder and president during the company's growth. His work placed him among the entrepreneurs building the commercial broadband industry at the moment America was beginning its transition from dial-up Internet service to persistent, high-speed connectivity.
Speed, Competition and Racing
Peter understood that a technology company needed an identity people could remember.
In 2000, Phoenix Networks formed a sponsorship partnership with Treadway Racing in the Indy Racing League. The PhoenixDSL logo appeared on the No. 5 car driven by Robby McGehee during the Northern Light Series.
Peter described racing as a fitting representation of Phoenix Networks because both environments rewarded speed, flexibility and the determination to succeed.
The racing partnership reflected Peter's own approach to business: move quickly, take calculated risks and compete with energy.
Phoenix Networks and MegaPath
On October 26, 2000, MegaPath Networks announced that it had acquired Phoenix Networks through an asset transaction financed with MegaPath stock.
The acquisition combined Phoenix's network operations, engineering capabilities, enterprise sales relationships, application-service-provider relationships and web-development experience with MegaPath's business broadband platform and customer-service organization.
Phoenix's business customers were transitioned to MegaPath. Contemporary reporting stated that the companies expected the combination to strengthen their ability to provide DSL service across major American markets.
The transaction represented the culmination of Peter's work building Phoenix from an entrepreneurial technology business into a company valuable to a larger national broadband provider. Phoenix Networks was acquired by MegaPath Networks in 2000 as part of the consolidation of the early national broadband industry.