Published February 2002

In ‘belt tightening’ climate, SnoNet closes

Herald Business Journal Staff

SnoNet, a Snohomish County nonprofit Internet company, suspended operations effective Jan. 31, President and CEO Tom Campbell said, citing a decline in revenues in its Internet services, difficulty in financing new products and the overall funding climate.

"We had hoped to scale a number of products into a broader marketplace, but we simply ran out of gas in a major climate of belt tightening," Campbell said.

Clients of the company will experience no break in service, Campbell said. SnoNet has developed an agreement in which WhidbeyNET will assume and offer service to all of SnoNet's Web sites.

The company's staff, which numbered as many as five in late December, has been laid off.

Founded in 1994, SnoNet was created as a result of the Snohomish County Economic Investment Plan, becoming a central part of a countywide effort to spur investment, job creation and innovation, according to a news release issued by the company. SnoNet's achievements included:

• Creation of a portal Web site that included a community calendar and access to many nonprofit services.
• Development of the SnoVote Web site and partnership to bring election resources to the Internet.
• Provision of free and reduced Web-site hosting for nonprofits and associations.
• Development of MATCHES, a Web-based system of connecting employers, students and volunteers.
• Formation of the Technology Services Cooperative, a member-based service to help nonprofits access technology.
• Use of technology to promote civic engagement in a number of projects, including Healthy Communities, ASCENT 21 and a community issues forum.
• Establishment of the Teens4Teens Web site, a program for local teens to develop Web-based content on issues that concern them.

In announcing the decision to suspend SnoNet operations, Larry Hanson, SnoNet board Co-Chair and Publisher Emeritus of The Herald Business Journal, noted that the organization had "accomplished much of what it was originally created to provide to our community."

"In recent months, our board also saw that its mission was no longer as unique as in the past, and many of its services are now widely available commercially and in the community," he said.

"We hate to lose a valuable community resource such as SnoNet," Snohomish County Executive Bob Drewel said. "My hope is that we can find new funding and relaunch SnoNet when we have a favorable climate and focus for its services."

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