Earlier whispers have been proved correct; UK ISP Freeserve has officially confirmed its intention to re-brand itself as Wanadoo.

The name change has been expected for the past two years as its French parent, Wanadoo, a unit of France Telecom, has sought to put all of its ISP businesses across Europe under a single brand.

Wanadoo said there would be no change for customers, who will keep their existing email addresses and connections. But Freeserve will adopt Wanadoo's brand identity and logos in everything it does.

The new name, which will be steadily introduced between now and summer, is likely to come accompanied by a number of new product announcements. No doubt we'll have more details in due course.