AN ON-LINE OLYMPUSNET NEWSLETTER December, 1999

• New web server
• Webmail
• WebKeystone
• New billing system
• Control of accounts to customers
• Mail server upgrade
• Broadband to the Peninsula

NEW WEB SERVER
One of our holiday gifts to our customers and to ourselves this year includes the move to our new secure web server, satsop.olympus.net, which is now up and running. This new machine increases our server capacity and performance and speeds up WebKeystone databases. All of our virtual domain customers' web sites have been moved to the new server, and our new hit statistics present detailed information for tracking how a site is used. We are in the process of bringing five new servers on-line for additional functionality and replacement of older machines.

WEBMAIL
For those of you traveling over the holidays, you can get mail over the web. Webmail is a limited mail program for when you are away from your desktop computer, or if you have "Mail Clog" problems. You log into Webmail from any web browser that's connected to the Internet. Thus you can get and send mail from a relative's house, a colleague's computer or the nearest public library. You'll need to know your OlympusNet user name and password. Go to:
http://www.olympus.net/webmail
and enter your OlympusNet username and password. Webmail checks YOUR OlympusNet e-mail account only. You MUST know your OlympusNet Dialup password. Webmail is not meant to be a substitute for your regular email program, but you can review, answer, and delete (or not delete) your messages as desired. (Webmail was built using WebKeystone).

WEBKEYSTONE
WebKeystone is used for building dynamic web sites, particularly those that need databases. It may be used for many applications, including sending email to your web site's visitors, assigning passwords to your visitors for controlled access to your web site, storing and retrieving information from an SQL database, generating new Web pages from your visitor's input, using message boards and guestbooks on your web site, setting up mailing list subscriptions from your Web page, and creating complex tools such as trouble ticket dispatchers, file managers, database managers, and shopping carts. We used WebKeystone to build our Customer Database to track your support requests and allow our support personnel to cross reference earlier problems that you called or mailed to us. We have a new WebKeystone form creator, called Formbuilder, which automatically creates simple forms for your web site. Formbuilder is included with our entry level Web Business Account. Learn more about Formbuilder at:
http://www.webkeystone.com/utilities/formbuilder.html

NEW BILLING SYSTEM
We are in the process of switching to new billing software. The goal is to let you query your account to list the various services you have requested and to let you see your payment history. The billing software will be linked to our servers which will let you set up and change your mail and web accounts as described next.

CONTROL OF ACCOUNTS TO CUSTOMERS
In early February we will start work on automating the setup of our servers so that you will be able to change your dialup account or web account yourself. For example, you'll be able to put your account on Hold, change it to Travel Status or add search engines to your web account. Those account changes will be automatically sent to the billing software and to the servers for instant setup.

MAIL SERVER UPGRADE
OlympusNet's primary mail server has been up and running for over a year - a feat equaled by few Internet Service Providers. It now needs to be taken down briefly for an upgrade very early in the morning. If you would like to know the day we will make the upgrade, please subscribe to the Olympus-Announce mailing list at:
http://www.olympus.net/olympusnet/olympusonly/olympusfeatures/mailinglists.html

BROADBAND TO THE PENINSULA
In the second quarter, US West will connect the Peninsula with fiberglass. That will make it possible to get the Internet over cable as well as your phone lines (DSL) at speeds much faster than 56k. OlympusNet is currently exploring various ways to bring you broadband access. To offer broadband services we'll need to form partnerships with other companies. It is of vital concern that our partners share our views about reliability and quality, so we are researching the alternatives carefully.

WHO IS OLYMPUSNET?
OlympusNet is a locally owned and operated company that has offered Internet access to the Peninsula since 1993. We consist of fourteen talented and dedicated individuals who have built OlympusNet to be a $1MM company. What distinguishes us is our emphasis on quality, our ability to help our customers, participation in our local communities, understanding the technology, and our knowledge of how to write software. Those assets have funded the development of WebKeystone which next year will compete with similar products made by billion dollar companies. It is you who have made our development possible, allowing us to live and work in this wonderful part of the world. Thank you. Our best wishes for this holiday season.

Ned and Kate Schumann and the staff of OlympusNet
support@olympus.net