Telecom Ramblings

One of the last year’s biggest deals in the data center sector was DataBank’s purchase of zColo from Zayo.  The purchase tripled the company’s data center footprint and doubled its market coverage, instantly giving it not just a nationwide US footprint but a starter set in Europe as well.  As part of Digital Colony’s portfolio, the company looks well positioned to invest further going forward as well.  With us today to talk about the zColo deal and integration, other expansion efforts, and the effects of the pandemic on the sector is CEO Raul Martynek.  This is a return visit by Raul, who stopped by for an Industry Spotlight two years ago. [Read more →]

The independent transatlantic cable operator Aqua Comms has officially changed hands. Yesterday, Digital 9 Infrastructure PLC closed the deal they had been working on to acquire the company and overnight became a big player in the subsea marketplace.

This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Muthukumaravel S., Senior Director at Prodapt Solutions

Digital Service Providers (DSPs) today are challenged with broadband service qualification as it is cumbersome and time-consuming. The ineffective service qualification process causes 30-40% of the new customers to experience unserviceability, and 20-30% of the existing subscribers face [Read more →]

Two new edge data centers, some new connectivity, and a film vertical contract: [Read more →]

This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Bruce McClelland, CEO, Ribbon Communications

Communications networks traditionally experience traffic level spikes at peak times throughout the year, such as the holidays or Mother’s Day. But the global pandemic upended everything, and operators are now forced [Read more →]

The Pacific Ocean might soon have two more submarine cables underneath the waves. On its infrastructure blog yesterday, Facebook announced plans for two systems connecting the US directly with Singapore, with two sets of partners. The cables will add both diversity and capacity to the overall subsea infrastructure between North America and southeast Asia.

A few network items to catch up on from late last week: [Read more →]

Few companies have had a more eventful couple of years internally as Windstream has, even in this unique pandemic environment.  But with restructuring now in the past, the company looks ready to roll on multiple fronts.  With us today to talk about Windstream Enterprise’s approach to this new chapter in its story is CMO Mike Flannery.  Mike’s journey to his current role started out with a ride through Global Crossing’s trip through the telecom nuclear winter, followed by a stint at Level 3 and then another at EarthLink prior to its acquisition by Windstream four years ago. [Read more →]

We hear about the influence of hyperscale players on fiber network buildouts, but all too often those actual players stay out of the spotlight, at least when it comes to any specifics. Today, however, Facebook has stepped further out into the light to detail some infrastructure plans they are working on out in Indiana on their tech blog. [Read more →]

This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Jaymie Scotto Cutaia, founder and CEO of Jaymie Scotto & Associates (JSA), a public relations and marketing firm for the telecom and data center industry.

As the anniversary of the pandemic is upon us, it’s time to take stock of where we are and what comes next. We’ve witnessed too many businesses fail as lockdowns, curfews, protests, and delayed relief continue. In many cases, there’s just not a lot of runway left for us to ‘get it wrong’ - to guess - on ways to get business done efficiently while chaos continues around us. [Read more →]

A series of partnerships and technology deployments from Europe and the US to catch up on from this week: [Read more →]

The Irish-based subsea cable provider Aqua Comms has upgraded its  transatlantic cable systems with some help from Ciena. The move increases the company's total potential capacity, but also brings to bear AI and software intelligence capabilities [Read more →]

This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Robert Bianco, Vice President of Business Development, HYLAN 

As we pass the one-year mark of the coronavirus pandemic, there are hopeful signs of light at the end of the tunnel on both the public health and economic fronts. [Read more →]

Two interesting financial moves, a new data center tenant, and some more IX capacity in India. [Read more →]

Texas has been one of the more dynamic network infrastructure markets over the last few years and has drawn increasing attention from both national and local operators.  The major DASH cities (Dallas/Ft. Worth, Austin, San Antonio and Houston) form their own regional market and LOGIX Fiber Networks has long been a specialist in serving it.  With us today is newly minted LOGIX CEO Craig Collins, who took the helm at the end of August 2020 and previously held key executive roles at Transit Wireless, Intermedia, XO, and TWC. [Read more →]

This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Vikram Takru, CEO of KloudGin

Safety is a top priority, but with a large mobile workforce and due to the nature of the work, the telecom industry faces increased risk. Working with electrical power, electromagnetic fields and optical fiber bring unique hazards to telecom technicians and engineers. Crews also [Read more →]

A few interesting items to catch up on from around the sector: [Read more →]

The eastern coast of the US is one step closer to a wet alternative to the I-95 corridor. Confluence Networks has sold an equity interest in the company to the infrastructure construction company MasTec Inc., raising the funds for a new submarine cable system along the eastern seaboard. [Read more →]

This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Todd Cushing, President, 1623 Farnam

Nebraska is the third-ranked corn producer in the United States and Omaha, its largest city, is 160 miles from the geographic center of the United States. The city is most famously known to be the cradle of a large insurance company and the home to a $250 billion multinational conglomerate holding company that sports its own oracle.  Basic elementary school facts. [Read more →]

We had a bit of interesting consolidation hit the news in the edge data center space today. DartPoints has announced an agreement to acquire Immedion, giving it a data center presence and boots on the ground in seven new edge markets. [Read more →]

I missed this last week, but apparently there will soon be some M&A in the north Atlantic. According to Capacity, Triple Point Investment management is launching a new company, Digital 9 Infrastructure, which plans to acquire Aqua Comms in a deal with Aqua Comms' current shareholders. [Read more →]

Four interesting items emerged from the vendor community to start this week that are worth catching up on. [Read more →]

The network edge is the focus of great swathes of the industry today, and the more we look at it the wider the variety of approaches we see.  Different applications require different levels of proximity to the users, and the technology to make them happen isn’t always a miniaturization of the hyperscale world.  One company taking on the edge as far out as the equipment closet or the remote worker office is Veea.  With us today to talk about Veea’s approach to the ‘Device Edge’ is Kurt Michel, SVP of Marketing at Veea. [Read more →]