EarthLink , headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, is one of the major Internet service providers in the United States, with 5.4 million members (2004 estimate).

It was founded in 1994 by Sky Dayton. From a modest beginning of ten modems, the company has grown to include over 2,000 POP numbers in the US—and over 40 internationally.

On February 4, 2000, the company (then based in Pasadena, California) merged with Atlanta-founded MindSpring, making them the second-largest ISP in the U.S.—second only to AOL.

EarthLink provides a variety of Internet connection types, including DSL, satellite, cable, and broadband over power lines. It is one of the industry leaders in the crusade to rid the world of spam as well as spyware. EarthLink takes an almost laid-back approch to the Internet, allowing its users as much freedom and personal configuration as possible. Although it does provide its users with its own software (TotalAccess), it doesn't require its use (unlike AOL). The support section of the EarthLink website has detailed instructions for configuring Windows and Mac OS to access their network, either with the EarthLink software or with the standard networking features that come with those operating systems. They also give directions for configuring a number of popular email client software to use their servers. They don't list Linux on their support pages, but since they operate entirely via standard Internet protocols, any experienced Linux user can easily translate the standard settings for either Windows or Mac OS to the needed Linux settings.

SIPshare

Earthlink SIPshare is a Session Initiation Protocol based file sharing network. It was made by Clay Shirky and David Beckemeyer .

External links

• EarthLink.net
• History of EarthLink
• EarthLink SIPshare