The big merger in the Internet world. I'm Fred Fishkin with Bootcamp, a report on computers and technology. They are ISPs, or Internet service providers. And soon, Earthlink and Mindspring, will become a single company carrying the Earthlink name. Both companies have built good reputations for service and reliability, and the man who will serve as president of the new venture, Mindspring head Mike McQuary, promises that won't change...

"I think that up til now we've had two of the happiest member and subscriber groups of any Internet services in existence. What it'll really mean for them is a blending of the best services and products that we both provide."

Subscribers will be able to keep their same email addresses. The change should be transparent to the users. The company will have a combined three million subscribers, putting it in second place behind America Online....

"And from here, our job is going to be to do as much selling and marketing as we can to establish a secondary choice for consumers to AOL."

Things are changing fast. Households not already online soon will be, with faster connections.

"And the new Earthlink plans to be a contender in that niche of the market as well."