Riding The Crest Of The Wave Part 2 And The Rise of the Internet

CREATED BY PRITESH GANATRA Published: 06/05/2025 @ 09:00AM #90sBusiness #BTInternetEmergence #ShowroomClosure #CallCentreLife #DialUpDisks

In 1997, the showrooms were closed and I went into the business call centre. The first dial-up disks were beginning to emerge that allowed customers to have a BTconnect (later BTinternet) email address. So, the Internet was becoming a thing ...

Crest of the wave soars, Gliding towards the shoreline, Nature's steady dance

BT were a trialist for Barclaycard, and we had access to an experimental Shopping Mall called Barclay Square. I was able to shop online to test and measure early cybersecurity for online payments and how to build a secure gateway. My main purchases were sending flowers via Interflora on my lunch break from the comfort of my desk in the office.

Here is an article from 2016 if you want to read more. Later, Indio Square was launched. Also, in 1998, BT showed us case studies and one of the most memorable for me was how a butcher from Yorkshire was able to sell his locally produced Black Pudding into Japan as he had commissioned BT to build him a website.

His sales were through the roof, and the butcher's exports
were way above the cost of the website!

We were on a roll. Yahoo was the main home page for BT Internet customers, and we all had a Yahoo.com email address. We saw the launch of Google in 1998, now one of the biggest Tech companies in the world, dominating not only the Internet search market (we all say, "Just Google it!"), but also a 50% market share in mobile phone operating systems, in the form of the Android OS.

Then came the incremental surge in registering domain names as having an online presence became increasingly important to be ahead of the game. Some unscrupulous people were registering some obvious domain names to sell at a profit, before the practice of domain squatting became something to be frowned on by the law.

Amazon had been an online book retailer, launching in 1994, but we really didn't hear of them until the late 90s/early noughties, as the UK was just embracing the internet and the USA were a few years ahead with this way of doing business.

Look at them now: £3.1 billion in online sales
in the UK alone in 2023!

I have been fortunate to have been on the front line (the proverbial 'crest of the wave') in lots of ways, and I am still in the industry. Another area where I have seen a massive change is in the mobile phone arena. In 1996, when I was selling hardware and contracts for BT Business, Nokia and Motorola were once the King and Queen of the hardware market, with Ericsson a very close third in the Market.

Did you know, Motorola is widely credited for manufacturing the first portable phone in 1973, however, Ericsson had designed and made a suitcase-sized car phone, weighing 40 kilos, way back in 1956!

1997 was the transition from analogue mobile phone technology to digital, SIM-card-based GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), and international roaming became a thing! You didn't have to run around trying to find a pay phone in France when your car had broken down was the plus side; obviously, early costs for International Roaming were quite high compared to these days.

And all of a sudden, we had Blackberry
dominating the Global market!

There are many videos on YouTube about the rise and fall of Blackberry, one of the most secure email systems in the world, which is no longer with us! To be continued ...

Until next time ...

PRITESH GANATRA
Your technology problem solver

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About Pritesh Ganatra ...
The word 'Technology' has too many connotations in today's world! Where do we start? Simple terms like 'IT' and 'Telecoms'? or terms that appear NOT to have an actual meaning at all!, e.g. 'Internet of Things (IoT). Technology also encompasses specialist products and services like 'Rugged' and 'Tough' android devices, Lone Worker Software, panic alarm devices, smart energy devices, low energy lighting, credit card terminal (PCI DSS) security, indoor/ outdoor Wi-Fi systems, Ultrafast Gigabit internet connectivity, access control systems, industrial IoT circuit controllers. BTS UK can consult from simple solutions to the most complex, provide some of the products through a wholesale channel, bring together a multi-disciplined 'Task Force' to deliver and implement complete Technology 'projects'. I am your technology problem solver and I look forward to helping you.

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