Internode appoints a CIO

ISP Internode has hired technology entrepreneur Frank Falco as its CIO following an 18-month stint on the company’s board.

As CIO, Falco will plan the evolution and coordinate the integration of Internode’s core technology to support the company’s fast growth; it has gone from 100 employees in 2005 to 450 in 2009.

“We do a good job now, despite some legacy systems from the fast-growth phase, so my role is to build and refine that solid infrastructure base to deliver both better customer service and introduce innovative new services,” he said in a statement.

As the ISP industry matured, delivering these new value-added services would become increasingly important to the success of Internode, Falco said.

“Broadband has gone from being just a service to a platform that delivers a range of services such as Voice over IP, private IP networks and IPTV,” he said in the statement “Enhanced telephony services present a big opportunity, both for our residential and business customers.”

Falco was previously general manager of business development at financial software specialist Finantix in Sydney, Operations Manager at search engine optimisation firm YourAmigo and founding CEO of online application development company Recall Design.

Internode CEO Patrick Tapper said having Falco on-board as CIO would help maintain the energy and enthusiasm of a start-up company despite the ISP becoming a much larger enterprise.

“Frank’s insight into technology and hands-on understanding of running rapidly growing businesses qualify him uniquely for the CIO role and will help to keep Internode innovating like a young company,” he said in the statement.

Falco will remain as board member at Internode on top of his new duties.

Earlier this month Internode lauched MiFi, a pocket-sized wireless gadget which brings together WiFi and 3G mobile broadband.