Interview with Richard Tang of Zen

Tacitus · Nov 22, 2008, 11:07:39

Mooching around the internet I came across this interview with Richard Tang the MD of Zen. I thought it was interesting, particularly his ideas on management. I'll bet the interest payments on the £20M HQ are eye-watering.

Interview is here

Rik · Nov 22, 2008, 11:11:39

He's one person who will be very happy at falling interest rates.

Sebby · Nov 22, 2008, 11:38:30

Wow, that's quite an HQ!

Rik · Nov 22, 2008, 11:39:24

Makes IDNet Towers look small.

Sebby · Nov 22, 2008, 11:40:50

Simon · Nov 22, 2008, 11:42:42

Zen are one of the only ISPs I would consider using, other than IDNet.

Sebby · Nov 22, 2008, 11:43:43

Same here.

Rik · Nov 22, 2008, 11:43:54

Them or Newnet, but Zen would be my first choice.

Simon · Nov 22, 2008, 11:55:10

Oh well, at least we'd all know someone on their forums!

Rik · Nov 22, 2008, 11:56:06

I haven't gone yet.

Tacitus · Nov 22, 2008, 15:53:02

Quote from: Rik on Nov 22, 2008, 11:11:39
He's one person who will be very happy at falling interest rates.

I bet! I was also interested to learn how their subscriber base is split between business and consumer. Also the financial numbers.

The downturn could of course hit them more than iDNet. Although Zen appear the bigger outfit they could fall between two stools. Too big - not small and lean. Not big enough - don't really have the muscle to take on the very big outfits.

Rik · Nov 22, 2008, 15:58:15

I think that's going to be the issue facing all the smaller ISPs now, as distinct from vISPs, Tac. BT are delaying the provision of the new hostlinks, and taking their usual inordinate amount of time to put in place 'old fashioned' centrals instead. IDNet haven't advertised for some time in order not to oversell their existing capacity, despite the fact that they should have had massive new capacity in June. It really doesn't help with the business plan.

Tacitus · Nov 22, 2008, 16:24:40

Quote from: Rik on Nov 22, 2008, 15:58:15
BT are delaying the provision of the new hostlinks, and taking their usual inordinate amount of time to put in place 'old fashioned' centrals instead.

I've just been over to SamKnows and found that my exchange which was supposed to be enabled in Q4 2010, now has no date whatsoever.

The only hope is that the decline in the £ will attract someone like AT & T from the States Maybe Spanish Telecom O2s owners will start offering real alternatives, although at present they don't seem interested in LLU for any exchange with less than 15/20,000 subscribers. Even TT will do exchanges with 5000.

Rik · Nov 22, 2008, 16:28:32

My date has gone back by six months, Tac. I can't believe how dismally BT are failing with this project - and it's not the end of it when they do convert an exchange, to judge by all the reports I've seen from early adopters.

We need to get IDNet big enough to go to LLU, but BT are not helping there right now.

Tacitus · Nov 22, 2008, 17:43:06

Quote from: Rik on Nov 22, 2008, 16:28:32
We need to get IDNet big enough to go to LLU, but BT are not helping there right now.

I agree and can imagine Time and Simon tear their hair out every day. Has the new central been delayed or is it still on track?

My line's currently having one of it's regular hissy fits with loads of errors.

Edit: There's a video of RT doing a tour of Zen Towers - their new office building here

Rik · Nov 22, 2008, 17:49:50

The new hostlink (the 21CN product) has been delayed further and looks like being being six months late at the moment. The new central is due in January and, so far, we've not heard of any delays - but nor are BT willing to push it through faster to compensate for the delays on the hostlink.

Rik · Nov 22, 2008, 17:52:50

Quote from: Tacitus on Nov 22, 2008, 17:43:06
Edit: There's a video of RT doing a tour of Zen Towers - their new office building here

He needs a haircut.

Tacitus · Nov 22, 2008, 17:57:57

Quote from: Rik on Nov 22, 2008, 17:52:50
He needs a haircut.

I thought that, but I think it's the in thing with computer people as the MD of Sun needs one as well.

It must be galling to be under the BT monopoly when you're trying to run a business whilst you're dependent on them. I can understand why companies such as Zen and iDNet would want to go LLU simply to be in control of their own destiny. OFCOM are no use either as they seem to be in bed with BT.

There's a piece in today's Grauniad by Patrick Collinson saying the same thing about the gas regulator.
LINK It's about half way down.

Rik · Nov 22, 2008, 18:04:27

Can't help but agree with the man, can you take. Of-whatever never seems to work for the consumer but rather the 'client' industry. It's a sham, and we all know it, but Govt doesn't seem to care. Allowing retrospective price increases is a scandal.

Oh, I should add that Simon D doesn't need a haircut, but I can't vouch for Tim.

Sebby · Nov 22, 2008, 18:58:50

Quote from: Tacitus on Nov 22, 2008, 17:43:06
My line's currently having one of it's regular hissy fits with loads of errors.

That's unlikely to have anything to do with capacity, Tac. It'll be to do with bursts of noise - something that's could be either internal or external to your property.

Tacitus · Nov 22, 2008, 20:10:53

Quote from: Sebby on Nov 22, 2008, 18:58:50
That's unlikely to have anything to do with capacity, Tac. It'll be to do with bursts of noise - something that's could be either internal or external to your property.

I know Seb - I was really thnking aloud when I wrote that.

Funny thing is, a lot of these sessions seem to happen around the same times. Generally in the morning around breakfast and early evening. It's not something in my house that I can think of.

Trouble is if I try sorting it out with Demon I get the usual load of script monkeys, so I have to ask whether it's worth the effort unless it gets really bad.

Sebby · Nov 22, 2008, 23:48:55

Have you tried the usual things, such as the test socket or removing the ring wire, out of interest?

Tacitus · Nov 23, 2008, 08:16:18

Quote from: Sebby on Nov 22, 2008, 23:48:55
Have you tried the usual things, such as the test socket or removing the ring wire, out of interest?

The modem socket is wired directly into the main socket (it's in the roof space) via a Clarity faceplate, so the ring wire shouldn't make any difference. Also I've used Cat5 for the wiring and routed it v carefully to avoid mains interference. I live in a bungalow so it's not too difficult.

The modem is plugged into a power block which has a built in smoothing circuit - ferrite ring and so on. Available from Maplin at around £35 - expensive as it was intended for high end hi-fi systems, but if you're on a poor line like me you'll do anything to try and eliminate all possible problems.

The only other possibility is the power brick (transformer) to the modem, but I've swapped this out and it makes no difference.

It really needs someone from OpenReach to sort it out as the line is gradually degrading. About 12 months ago I got a consistent profile at around 2500, now it's down to 1500/1750.

I contemplated moving to another ISP but since it's a line problem I'm not sure it would make any practical difference. Apart from the script monkeys, Demon aren't that bad. Can't see the C & W takeover making any difference either.

Sigh. Hard life isn't it

Rik · Nov 23, 2008, 10:38:26

Quote from: Tacitus on Nov 23, 2008, 08:16:18
I contemplated moving to another ISP but since it's a line problem I'm not sure it would make any practical difference.

IDNet, or a similar ISP, might be more effective at getting BT to fix the line, Tac, but the risk is always that BT will simply condemn it instead.

Tacitus · Nov 23, 2008, 11:05:58

Quote from: Rik on Nov 23, 2008, 10:38:26
IDNet, or a similar ISP, might be more effective at getting BT to fix the line, Tac, but the risk is always that BT will simply condemn it instead.

I agree Rik. It is one of the problems with Demon that the people in Bangalore are incredibly reluctant to get involved with BT. I suspect there's a) Demon's reluctance to risk a charge from BT and, b) a lack of patience on the part of the people on the ground to deal with Bangalore. Never prove either of these of course.

Could be that idNet or Zen would be better at persuading them - I'd even be prepared to risk a charge. OTOH since my neighbour is also having bad line problems with TT, it seems fairly conclusive that the lines are not up to much. TT though are able to crank up the power, although I imagine that becomes self defeating in the end.

You can understand why I'm reluctant to stir the pot too much.

I've probably been put on a 9dB SNR target with all the noise as I was regularly syncing at 2880 a year ago, which considering the line quality was fair enough. At present it's 2176K so I might be getting a profile of 1750 at present. It has been down to 1250 before now, so could be worse. It is at least reasonably stable.

Must be over a year since I added to my collection of modems, so perhaps it's time to try another

I did think about separating modem and firewall. Put a vanilla modem in the roof adjacent to the socket and operate a separate firewall in the 'office'. I put the wiring in before the last redecoration so it's doable. Expensive though and it would bring its own problems, possibly without any gain.