sentences:  Prior to TWICS offering public access Internet, Jeff Shapard led the company and developed the foundation for the community
  .Until the mid-1990s, TWICS based their community on the Participate conferencing system running on a VAX computer from Digital Equipment Corporation.In 1993 TWICS became the first organization in Japan to offer public access Internet services by leasing a line from a US-owned company called InterCon International KK (a subsidiary of TCP/IP software maker, InterCon Systems Corporation).