CSU Alumni Entrepreneurs Celebrate 10th Anniversary!

FORT COLLINS, CO -- October 27, 2005 -- Front Range Internet, Inc. (FRII), one of Colorado's largest Internet service providers, started in the minds of two CSU students ten years ago. On Halloween Day 1995, Brad Ward and his good friend, Andy Neely (along with Brad's father, Bill Ward) finalized all of their brainstorming and business plans--and went live on the Internet-with FRII. This week RAM fans at FRII celebrate success on and OFF the football field.

If you look at the roster for the FRII team, you'd see that more than half are CSU Alumni. And at least 20 more are current CSU students. In addition to the strong full-time Ram representation, FRII offers many internships to CSU students each year.

"I like that we're made up of so many CSU Alumni. It kind of goes along with our company philosophy and practices: to work with local vendors and support local organizations. Having so many locals working at FRII results in us being familiar with our customers and the community," says Chief Operations Officer, Brad Ward.

"I had completed a program with Lockhead Martin and thought starting FRII was a great idea," added Bill Ward, Brad's father and CEO of FRII. I am still proud of that decision and while I didn't go to CSU, I am becoming more and more involved with the university-sitting on the Computer Science Advisory Board and speaking in the CSU Entrepreneurial Program."

The team of three has grown to 56 employees and they have succeeded where other 'dotcoms' failed. They've acquired several small local competitors along their way and this year were awarded the Fast50 honor for the 4th consecutive year. The Deloitte and Touche Fast50 program awards the 50 fastest growing technology companies in the state. FRII was #34 this year.

"When I took a break from my education to focus on professional pursuits in 1995, I lost my student access to CSU's excellent Internet facilities. Part of the motivation for FRII's birth was our realization that there was a growing demand for solid commercial Internet access in the northern Colorado community. I'm proud that our early designs began by meeting the standard of excellence CSU had created," adds the third founder of FRII and Chief Technical Officer, Andy Neely.

"Front Range Internet has continued to evolve its Internet offerings. FRII is no longer just a small-scale Internet provider. While we continue to serve residential customers with dialup and broadband, FRII has become a provider of high bandwidth services and Voice over IP to companies throughout Colorado and the U.S.," said Bill Ward.

FRII is a local favorite for many in surrounding communities for their customer service and 24-hour support. "We look forward to another ten years of growth, success and service to our customers," says Shawna Killen, director of Sales and Marketing (yes, a CSU graduate!).