SooNet has a new owner

SooNet, Sault Ste. Marie's first and largest internet service provider, has been sold, SooToday.com has learned.

The sale was disclosed by SooNet software engineer and partner Stu Rawlings at a Wednesday-night roundtable gathering of local business people who were part of the recent trade mission to Ireland.

Rawlings said that the deal closed about one week ago, but declined to provide us with further details.

Announcement being crafted by Tom Stephenson

Tom Stephenson, SooNet's president, has been preparing a news release, Rawlings said.

In a brief telephone conversation this morning, Stephenson said that SooNet Corp. has not been sold, but assets of the company are being divested and he expected to issue a news release this afternoon The company remains viable and it's business as usual, he said.

In a recent e-mail to SooNet customers, Stephenson said that in the months to come his duties will shift away from routine Internet operations and "I will be concentrating on bringing SooNet Corp. into a new direction in software design and development."

Stephenson added: "I will be working closely with Stu Rawlings, a local systems analyst and new business partner, with the main goal being towards development of specialized software for the law enforcement and security sector."

Rawlings said his recent trip to Ireland with the Sault delegation produced some promising leads in the law enforcement and security fields.

SooNet and SooToday are entirely unrelated businesses.

You heard it here first

To receive free, real-time E-mail updates of SooToday.com's exclusive coverage of local news, just send an Email with "SUBSCRIBE" in the subject line to [email protected].

This free service is provided courtesy of the community-minded businesses whose advertisements appear on these pages.