One of the first ISPs in the U.S. Founded in 1989 by Martin Schoffstall and William Schrader, PSINet was based in Northern Virginia. Originally Performance Systems International, PSINet was an Internet provider before the Internet became a commercial entity in the mid-1990s.
Going public in 1995, PSINet was very successful in gaining market share as the Internet began to bloom. However, too many subsequent acquisitions along with inexperienced managers in a brand-new line of business, caused the company to declare Chapter 11 by 2001. PSINet was never profitable, and in 2002, most of its assets were acquired by Cogent Communications. The Canadian, U.K. and European subsidiaries of the company were acquired by other network providers. See
ISP and
The World.