pair.com company

In the years since pair Networks was founded, much has changed about the company and about the Internet itself. However, the commitment to our mission has never wavered -- provide the highest-quality Web hosting services we possibly can.

A Single Idea

The idea for pair Networks was formed in the summer of 1995. CEO Kevin Martin saw a niche that needed to be filled: a company that focuses exclusively on high-quality, affordable Web hosting. With a 600 square-foot office, a single employee, a partial T-1 line, and a $10,000 family loan, pair Networks was born and went online on January 11, 1996.

That first year was an exciting time. All aspects of the company were being created from scratch, company functions and procedures were being developed, and pair Networks' customer base skyrocketed at a rate that surpassed even the most optimistic projections.

pair Networks Moves Up

By the end of its second year, pair Networks had grown to the point that the small office was no longer adequate, and in January 1998, the company moved to a larger facility. The next two years brought even faster growth -- so much so that by late 1999, pair Networks had once again outgrown its offices and data center space.

In December of 1999, pair Networks completed its second move to a much larger and more scalable location -- the River Park Commons on Pittsburgh's Historic South Side. The company has been in this location for years, and despite non-stop growth, will be able to comfortably expand for quite some time.

What's Changed and What Hasn't

Many facets of the company have changed over the years. At its inception, pair Networks offered only four accounts: FTP, Basic, Advanced, and Webmaster. Those accounts still exist, but now we offer more hosting options and services than ever before.

We still painstakingly build and maintain our core systems in-house as we've done from day one, but we've also partnered with some of the best Web application developers out there such as Movable Type (powerful blogging software) and ShopSite (feature-laden shopping cart application), which gives our customers the ability to develop more dynamic Web sites.

Where We Are Now

pair Networks has expanded from its humble beginning to truly impressive numbers. The original partial T-1 line has been replaced by multiple, ultra-high capacity fiber optic circuits. What was once a single switch is now a multi-layered, redundant local network. And the single 120MHz "powerhouse server" has now become thousands of servers in constant upgrade rotation. That single employee is now an entire team of professionals working 24/7/365 to support our valued customers.

pair Networks continually expands its services and offerings. pairNIC, our domain name registrar, gives our hosting customers a way to register, renew, and transfer their domain names. pairLite gives customers with hobby sites an inexpensive way to host their online projects. Our QuickServe dedicated server and pairColo co-location offerings allow larger organizations and businesses to bring their Web site projects to life. As the months and years go on, pair Networks will launch additional projects that will benefit our customers.

The Future: We're Not Stopping

For all that has changed, the center has not budged, and pair Networks remains as committed to offering the highest-quality Web hosting -- as it did from the first day the lights went on in a small office building in Pittsburgh. It is that recognition of what got us here that will keep us here for a long time to come.

pair Networks operates its own exclusive, custom-built Internet datacenters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Adjoining our headquarters office, the datacenters have been pre-built to accommodate years of growth. The datacenters feature everything necessary to ensure the absolute best in uptime and reliability for your site.

WORLD CLASS NETWORK
We operate our own dedicated, multi-homed network in our own datacenters. Our local network is fully-switched and collision-free, while our external connections are GigE (up to 10,000Mbps) to five diverse backbone networks. We use Juniper Networks routers and Foundry Networks switches for wire-speed, rock-solid connectivity to our upstream providers.

Through hand-tuning in addition to BGP route selection, we ensure optimal route selection focused on private peering and automatic failover in the event of outages.

We are continually expanding and upgrading our network for capacity and diversity.

Our connectivity providers are:

VerizonGigE
SprintGigE
Global CrossingGigE
Level(3)GigE
Electric LightwaveGigE
PitX peersup to GigE

pair Networks
2403 Sidney St, Suite 210
Pittsburgh, PA 15203
Facsimile: +1 412 381-9997

+1 877 PAIR NET (877 724-7638 Toll Free -- US and Canada)
+1 412 381-7247 (Global)
option 1 -- Sales / New Accounts 8am-8pm M-F (EST)
option 2 -- Technical Support** (24/7 daily access)(5 or 6 digit Billing Account Number required)
option 3 -- Make a Payment / Contact Billing (24/7 daily access)