It began with a flash of inspiration in 1995 when Richard Tang (founder and sole shareholder) and his brother Daniel set up Zen Internet as a pilot ISP project using Richard’s life savings.
On 13th October 1995 Zen Internet was officially launched with a low-key announcement in the local newspaper, the Rochdale Observer. We sold our first dial-up Internet access account and boasted a network capable of supporting up to 6 simultaneous users sharing 64Kbps of bandwidth.
In 1996 we won our first ever award - 'Best Growth Business' at the Rochdale Chamber Business Awards. By 1998 we had won our first national award, the Comdex Starlight Award for 'Best Internet Provider'.
By October 1999 we had 25 employees and reached our first significant financial milestone; profit of £99,000 on a turnover of £929,000.
In the summer of 2000 we officially launched our Broadband services and connected one of the first customers in the UK.
With the success of a growing company Richard planned to build a state of the art glass and aluminium headquarters in Rochdale.
By 2001 our headquarters were ready to move in to and provided the room we needed for expansion.
The launch of our Partner Programme soon followed, as we were, and still are, keen to partner with like-minded organisations who understand the value of providing excellent customer service, and want to incorporate elements of our business connectivity into their portfolio.
By 2002, our customer base had grown to over 10,000 and we officially launched our Hosting services. 2004 saw us celebrate our first PC Pro Best Broadband award, the start of year on year success at these awards.
In 2005 we celebrated our 10th anniversary and sales continued to return consistent profits, enabling us to finance our development and sustain growth.
2006 saw a significant change in technology and we launched our "up to 8Mbps" Broadband service.
By 2007 we had expanded our product portfolio to include Broadband Voice, a VoIP product designed to allow customers to make low cost phone calls using their Broadband connection.
With over 300 employees our premises were at full capacity, and with the business continually growing it was time to find a new home. In April 2008 we moved to a new prestigious headquarters at Sandbrook Park, Rochdale.
Just three years after announcing our "up to 8Mbps" Broadband service, technological advances brought even higher speeds and we were able to offer an "up to 20Mbps" service. Fibre Optic Broadband followed closely behind and was launched in September 2010.
2011 saw the launch of our Cloud Hosting and Business Talk SIP services as well as offering "up to 100Mbps" Fibre Optic Broadband services.
In May 2012, we officially opened our new purpose built Data Centre here at our headquarters in Rochdale in response to increased demand for capacity in the North West.
Our award-winning success continues. In September 2012 we won our ninth PC Pro Best ISP award and we are the only provider to be a Which? Recommended Broadband Provider and Which? Recommended Home Phone Services Provider.
February 2013 saw us gain ISO 27001: certification, the International standard for the measurement of information security.
In March 2013 we were announced as Which? Recommended Broadband and Phone Provider for the very first time and also maintained our Which? Recommended Broadband Provider status for the fiftheenth consecutive time.
We have grown to over 420 employees and provide services to over 90,000 customers. We continue to focus on our mission to provide the best ISP service in the UK, whilst expanding our range of products and services for both business and residential customers.