Ziggurat

Ziggurat is a communications and data infrastructure corporation. Founded in 2030, the company had a plan to transform the old fiber-optic Data Term network into a new system, the CitiNet, in order to restore cheap and reliable communication across Night City.

Overview
Ziggurat efforts to create CitiNets to overcome the DataKrash and prevent another one began in Night City, and quickly expanded to other cities in North America. The corporation overlaid the CitiNets with community-driven Data Pool protocol. Not only did Ziggurat provide the network infrastructure, but also the apps needed to use it: data crawlers, chat and email programs, and a suite for creating and editing contents of all types. In addition, the corporation developed the Garden, the premiere platform for sharing that content on the Data Pool, where corporations and individuals can set up their own Garden Patches.

2030s
Ziggurat was founded in Night City in 2030. The corporation had a plan to transform the old fiber-optic Data Term network into a new system and restore cheap and reliable communication across the city. With a grant from Night Corp and buy-in from the fractious City Council, the brand-new CitiNet was up and operational within months.

2040s
Ziggurat branched out from Night City to other metroplexes in North America. By 2040, most cities in the New United States, Pacifica Confederation, Canada, and the Free States now had CitiNets and Data Pools. Ziggurat also was able to restore communication between metropolitan regions by providing simple and inexpensive city-to-city communication via hourly data-packet burst transfers along a cobbled together patchwork of reclaimed phone lines, free-space optics, and even Nomad couriers.

Soon after the Night City Data Pool went online, Ziggurat published the first set of apps to make use of it. Which allowed them to collect fees from the government for setting up and maintaining CitiNets and Data Pools. Ziggurat also monetized their use by collecting and selling data, selling advertising space, and supplying users with in-app upgrades.

Most content on North American Data Pools were created using Ziggurat Apps and consumed via The Garden, the corporation's platform used for producing and sharing content publicly. Any Garden user was able set up their own Garden Patch, a space on the Data Pool made specifically for sharing their text, audio, virtual, and braindance creations. Patches are customized using a limited variety of free overlays or more functional—and thus more expensive—templates. Once setup is completed, users can populate their Patch with text, still imagery, audio and video, virtual, and braindance creations that other users can consume and comment on. Ziggurat runs targeted advertisements before, after, and during Garden content, cutting the creators in for ten percent of revenues.

PopMedia stars during this time often got their start on the Garden and most performers and companies maintained their own Patch in order to reach their audiences with their entertainment, commercials, and products. In 2043, Ziggurat opened offices in the UK and Australia with the intent of penetrating the European and Australian markets. However the corporation was met with much competition.