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                    Intelec International E-Mail Network

                      þ The Birth of Intelec Part 2 þ
                               by Dave Calmer

  In our last issue we looked back at the birth of Intelec as detailed in
  the In-Basket files of August of 1990, this month we'll continue the story.
  Originally this was going to be in the format of an interview with Cliff
  Watkins,  but due to some technical problems it's going to be a little
  different than planned (in other words I can't locate my notes and I have
  to finish the story <g>).

  In our last issue we learned when Intelec started, but we didn't get a
  chance to see why it was started or what accounted for the sudden surge of
  popularity and growth. For these answers I went straight to the source and
  asked Cliff, and while these won't be his exact words it's close enough
  (in other words I'll let Cliff see the story so if I'm too far out of line
  with remembering what we talked about he corrected me before you read this
  <g>). The network was started for a simple reason, upon applying to a
  nameless network Cliff was turned down because there was already a board
  in his area that carried it so he felt the only way he was going to get
  E-mail for his users was to start a network of his own. The original
  network was mostly business related conferences serving a handful of
  systems, but all of this changed in late 1989. At this time quite a few
  sysops had a falling out with one of the other networks and discovered
  Cliff's little network. Many new faces and ideas joined the network and
  started what we all know as Intelec today.

  Why have we had so much success when other networks come and go so often?
  According to Cliff it's all a matter of the attitude of the participating
  sysops and the network users, an attitude best described as friendly and
  professional. Of course there was a another side to the story that Cliff
  wouldn't say himself, but a good deal of the credit goes to him also. I've
  been with Intelec since the early days, I've seen Cliff in action and I
  can assure you that a big reason the network is so successful is because of
  his determination and hard work. As Cliff says though, it's been a team
  effort that got us where we are today, let's just be thankful he was our
  coach!

  In the summer of 1990 Intelec had grown to over 90 systems, today we are
  quickly approaching 400 active network systems. What can we expect to see
  in the future? Cliff's answer to this was short and to the point, more of
  the same things that got us to where we are today. Just what are those
  things though? Listening to what the users of the network have to say and
  giving them what they ask for when possible. Cliff's goals for the network
  are very straight forward, he wants Intelec to be the premiere E-mail
  network available to the "private" BBS crowd. All in all I'd have to say
  he's taken the right steps towards that goal so far, we can all look
  forward to even bigger and better things in the months and years ahead.