ISACOMM

ISA Communications Services, Inc. (ISACOMM) was a long-distance telephone company headquartered in Atlanta. It was the first telephone company to offer a virtual network service to corporations and the first to offer codec-based videoconferencing services. The company was also a pioneer in shared tenant services, by which a commercial landlord includes telecommunications services in its lease package.

Formation

ISACOMM began as a concept within Insurance Systems of America (ISA), an Atlanta company founded in 1970 to write and license applications software for the insurance industry. Sensing an opportunity in the telecommunications market, ISA created ISACOMM in 1978. Several insurance companies took minority ownership positions in ISACOMM, but ISA retained majority ownership. The founders of ISACOMM were Richard C. Smith, an executive from ISA, and Kenneth H. Crandall, a principal in the creation of Satellite Business Systems (SBS). Smith and Crandall were ISACOMM's CEO and CTO, respectively. Smith later became CEO of Telcordia.