Alamak Internet: Company Profile

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Alamak Internet

Alamak Internet as a business was created in February 1996 but has been in existence as an organization providing services on the World Wide Web as early as July 1995. Originally we provided resources to web developers including links to other web resources, web page color utilities, page hit counters, and a library of CGI (Common Gateway Interface) programs for doing animation, guestbooks, and message boards on the web. Another project developed into an interactive web based chat forum. Since many other internet based chat systems required more in depth knowledge of the internet or were not available to networks protected by a firewall this project took off rapidly. As a free service increasing popularity of the chat service was paralleled by efficiency and added features. The internal operation as well as machine operating system were continually upgraded and optimized to get as many users as possible with the existing hardware. These developments made Alamak Internet an expert at low cost high efficien cy internet solutions. In order to meet demand for service users were encouraged to contribute funds for better hardware. With the increase in capacity and speed, growth in user number was rapid and after 2 months Alamak Internet became its own business.

Alamak Internet was created by John D. Saario and in March 1996 registered as a partnership equally owned by John D. Saario (President) and Anthony Cole (Vice President, silent partner and investor).

Currently as much as 80% of company revenues is derived from chat users paying for extra privledges, but it is our goal to be able to support chatting entirely with advertisements. As a small company we have not been able to expend much effort in this direction but we have run advertisments for several companies with contracts being renewed monthly as long as 5 months in a row.

In May 1996 the need to expand our web development services, and provide server co-location and web hosting for client companies Alamak Internet moved to a new office setup with a full direct T1 with a capacity of 1.5 Mbits/sec. We chose this type of connection as opposed to something less expensive to reduce latency and allow full use of available bandwidth (a frame relay connection has 4 times the latency and packet loss increases sharply after 70% of the rated capacity).

Originally transactions were by check or money order and it could take weeks to arrive and process payments. However, recent enhancements to Alamak technology have enabled us to conduct online credit transactions in a secure environment. Initial tests with an encrypted credit application form doubled our revenues instantly and has since become the primary means of payment. Alamak's unique Point Of Sale system offers instant credit processing and confirmation of orders online. POS implementation consists of a specially designed web page that allows customers to choose from a list of products or services and submit credit card information for billing. Credit processing is run on a secure server (also known as a commerce server) with 1024 bin data encryption to prevent interception by third parties. The merchant processing software automatically deposits the payment into client accounts and provides them with a copy of all transactions. The 15 second credit approval process can increase sales by 100%, and has helped to dramatically reduce the overhead involved in payment collection, as demonstrated by Alamak Internet.

The Alamak Internet Development Team combines a total of over 15 years of computer operations and development, quality management, and customer service experience. This unique combination of experience has enabled Alamak Internet to become a leader in web development and innovative online marketing and communication solutions.

The Alamak Internet Development Team

John D. Saario graduated with a Biology degree from U.C.S.D. and a Ph.D.c. in Biochemistry at University of Washington and has more than 6 years experience in all aspects of unix system management. As system operator he has been responsible for setup, ser ver configuration, security, upgrades, and handled as many as 400 unix system users for the Biochemistry Department and more than 1,000 web based users with Alamak Internet. As a self taught programmer he has developed serveral notable applications both on and off the web including all of the CGI based utilites mentioned above, encrypted credit card CGI applications, as well as Alamak Internet Chat itself. As well as being the original author of the University of Washington Biochemistry HomePage, he has also provided consulting services and developed demo proposals and PERL based applications for National InterAd. Computer languages include PERL, HTML, C, Aspect, Basic as well as using Java, JavaScript, and C++ when applicable. Pages developed by John Saario for Alamak Internet have earned many awards including Housernet Award of Excellence, eAds Site of the Week and WebNut Award as examples.

Mail suggestions to webmaster@www.alamak.com