Network Infrastructure Subscribers access the company's services by connecting to a network with their PCs or other terminal devices using local telephone service. Network connections are made through communications hardware, such as telephone lines, as well as routers, switches and modems, which the company owns and which serve to direct data and enable communication among a variety of computer operating systems. The network infrastructure which is utilized, consists of three primary tiers: local points of presence; a middle tier, which connects the points of presence to regional network operations centers; and an international bandwidth tier, which connects the network operations centers to the Internet backbone. The network currently includes eight points of presence and has the capability to provide dial up access, with local telephone calls, to the entire Israeli population. The company leases the land on which the points of presence are located from various landowners.
Internet Gold uses only digital incoming lines. The company provides 56Kbps (V.90 and V92) surfing capabilities at all ports, and uses the leading RAS remote access server technology from 3Com, as well as Cisco routers at all of its points of presence. Internet Gold is the first Israeli Internet service provider to use ATM wide- area-network technology in its connection centers. The company continuously monitors capacity demands on its network, so network resources grow ahead of market demands. Generally, when the network reaches 70% to 80% utilization, which may occur at peak hours, the company either orders new capacity from third-party vendors or buys the necessary new systems and equipment in order to handle the current and forecast higher rates of use. Network Design Each of the company's points of presence includes hardware along with routing equipment and associated leased telephone line interface devices. Modems are interconnected to switched telephone networks serving the local area and high-speed telephone lines connect the point of presence router to other sites within our network. The hardware and software deployed at each physical facility allow the company to analyze the performance of the network and perform limited maintenance remotely. Based on subscriber growth and demands, the company leases new high-speed telephone lines and installs hardware into its network. This allows additional traffic to travel over the network in a more efficient fashion. Network Centers We currently operate through fully redundant network centers in Israel. In order to ensure reliable service, our network centers monitor network traffic, quality of service and security issues, as well as the performance of the equipment located at each of our physical locations. These facilities also serve as the primary site for our delivery of business services and communications between our physical locations and external service providers. We monitor our network centers on a 24 X 7 basis. Our monitoring systems are connected to a paging system that automatically warns the appropriate technical support staff of potential network faults, overcapacity or other problems. We intend to continue to enhance the capabilities of our network centers as our subscriber base grows.
