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<\/a>Tang\u2019s decision to base Zen in Rochdale, rather than London where most ISPs clustered, helped the fledgling company stand out. \u201cIt gave us space to grow,\u201d Tang said. \u201cWe wanted to do things differently, and being outside the London bubble was part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Over the last 30 years, Zen has evolved alongside constant technological change and the internet itself \u2013 transitioning from dial-up to broadband and fibre services \u2013 while staying true to its independent roots.<\/p>\n
Reflecting on the company\u2019s journey, and looking ahead, Tang said: \u201cWhen I started Zen, I could never have imagined how transformational the Internet would become. The fact that we\u2019re still here 30 years later \u2013 thriving, independent and making a positive impact \u2013 is beyond my wildest dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cZen remains proudly independent. I\u2019ve seen so many of my peers sell up, but that\u2019s never been my goal,\u201d he said. \u201cZen exists to do right by people and the planet. Money is just the fuel to make that happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
That ethos underpins Zen\u2019s B Corp certification, achieved in 2020, which recognises its social and environmental responsibility. From carbon reduction initiatives to employee empowerment, Zen continues to lead by example in how a tech company can balance profit with purpose. <\/p>\n
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Brits get nostalgic as Zen charts 30 years of going online <\/p>\n
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To mark its 30th anniversary, Zen commissioned new research exploring how Britain\u2019s relationship with the internet has evolved \u2014 from floppy disks and dial-up tones to TikTok and AI.<\/p>\n
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The \u201cBoomers vs Zoomers\u201d study revealed that 31% of Brits remember floppy disks as their first way to access the internet, while a third of 18-year-olds have no idea what a floppy disk even is. Four in ten say YouTube or Facebook were their first online obsessions, while almost a quarter recall buying clothes as their first online purchase.<\/p>\n
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When asked what they miss most about the early days, Brits cited \u201csimplicity\u201d \u2014 a contrast to today\u2019s always-on, endlessly scrolling digital world. Yet, despite changing habits, the internet\u2019s role in modern life has never been more vital: a third of people said they couldn\u2019t live without it, with top reasons including entertainment (60%), reconnecting with friends (54%) and learning or upskilling (35%).<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe\u2019ve been there since the very beginning of the UK internet, which has come from nowhere to become a critical part of our lives,\u201d said Tang. \u201cWhat\u2019s clear is that while platforms change, the human drive for connection and creativity has remained the same. The next 30 years promise to be even more transformative.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Looking ahead, a third of Brits believe that robots will take over household chores and driverless cars will be commonplace within 30 years \u2014 predictions Tang thinks will arrive much sooner.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d say both within the next 15 years,\u201d he added. \u201cAnd what all these advances will rely on is strong, secure and reliable connectivity \u2014 exactly what Zen was built to provide.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2026.making it the longest standing independent ISP in the UK! Zen internet, a B Corp certified business, has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78289,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[85,123,46,125],"class_list":{"0":"post-78288","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-internet","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-internet","10":"tag-israel","11":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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<\/a>Richard started Zen with just \u00a35,000, a few Linux PCs, and six dial-up modems perched on an Ikea shelf. It\u2019s grown from a two-person start-up into one of the UK\u2019s leading independent ISPs, employing more than 650 people and serving businesses and consumers nationwide.<\/p>\n