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Stargate ramps up 'Net access
Friday, January 23, 1998 By Ken Zapinski, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Stargate Industries Inc. of Rostraver is buying the Internet service business and related assets from USA OnRamp Inc. of Pittsburgh.
The deal will make Stargate the largest regionally based Internet provider in Western Pennsylvania, the company said. The two companies did not disclose the price of the transaction, which consisted of cash, stock and assumption of debt. Stargate secured financing through RRZ Capital Markets Inc., a Pittsburgh-based investment bank.
Stargate will now have about 17,500 residential dial-up Internet customers and more than 1,000 commercial customers, about half of which were acquired in the deal. The company expects its monthly revenue to double over the next year, to more than $800,000 a month, Stargate spokesman Shawn M. McGorry said.
"As a larger entity we will have access to financing and capital that will allow us to keep up with technology" while still maintaining the advantage of local tech support, McGorry said.
USA OnRamp will focus solely on developing computer networks for businesses, school districts and other groups. Networks allow different computers to interact with each other, with servers and with peripherals like printers, sometimes over long distances. The company will now operate as USA OnRamp Network Integration Corp.
Stargate has already begun notifying both its existing customers and former USA OnRamp customers of the change via e-mail messages and letters. The company said the purchase will have little or no impact on most of the former USA OnRamp Internet customers. Some may need to change the dial-up phone number in their computers. Stargate representatives will work with commercial customers to make any necessary Web site or system adjustments, the company said.
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