A bunch of news items this week from the metro to look at:
EarthLink has picked up some fast food. The Mexican restaurant chain Del Taco will be using its IPsec VPN technology to serve applications and secure WiFi to its 306 locations across 16 states. We’re still waiting to see what EarthLink will do with its fiber assets, but the managed network side of the business continues to roll on as usual.
Birch Communications is strengthening its channel with via a deeper relationship with one of its partners. The managed communications provider Renodis will be introducing more of Birch’s cloud-based services into its product mix. Birch has been one of the most active consolidators in the space, and the original relationship with Renodis came via one of its 2013 deals, likely that of Ernest Communications.
Alianza and Level 3 have picked up three new independent cable operators for the cloud VoIP solutions they have teamed up on over the last few years. Blue Ridge Communications in Pennsylvania, Shrewsbury Electric and Cable Operations in Massachusetts, and WEHCO Video from the Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi, and Oklahoma. In each case, all the cable operators’ residential and business subscribers are being migrated to cloud voice, making voice an app delivered over the broadband connection. Alianza is on offense this year, and we had CEO Brian Beutler here for an Industry Spotlight a few months back.
Unite Private Networks has added another fiber client out in Nebraska. The engineering firm Olsson Associates has tapped them for a point-to-point solution hooking up several locations to a data center with 1Gbps connections as they overhaul their data infrastructure and move it offsite. Nebraska has certainly been UPN’s favorite fishing hole lately.
And some lucky parishes in Louisiana are getting their Gigabit fix. EATEL is now offering 1Gbps FTTH connections in Ascension and Livingston, challenging the local cable incumbent Cox Communications to a high speed duel. Smaller, regional operators are starting to step up in markets where the big guys aren’t paying sufficient attention.
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Categories: Cable · Channel · FTTH · Metro fiber · VoIP
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Anyone have news on Birch. It appears there have been some changes in leadership.
1. Chris Aversano has been removed from the Birch Leadership page. He had been EVP & COO for over 10 years.
2. Paul Masters is now leading Partner Sales, versus Enterprise Sales.
3. Brad Smith now leads Partner Development, versus Partner Sales.
4. Dean Young is now leading Direct Sales, versus Jeff Winnett
5. Tom Stachowiak has been promoted to SVP & CTO. This is the only change which Birch has announced.