And In Other News: XO, Level 3, euNetworks, Conterra, Infinera, SEACOM

The Windstream/PAETEC deal sort of pushed other news aside this morning, however other things did happen today that are definitely worthy of note:

XO Holdings (news, filings) won a five year contract with the breast cancer organization known as Susan G. Komen for the Cure.  XO will provide a UC package of voice, internet access, and private data networking for the organization’s major offices based on the Avaya platform and its MPLS and managed IP-PBX offerings.  Meanwhile, most eyes remain on Icahn’s intended purchase of the last piece of the company he doesn’t own already, the close of which is mere weeks away unless a judge intervenes.  Today’s deal for PAETEC may affect views of the valuation Icahn and his BOD have assigned to the company, but I’m still working through just how.

Over in the UK, Level 3 Communications (NYSE:LVLT, news, filings) announced that it has brought the London Stock Exchange on-net.  Their new PoP at the exchange’s data center in the City of London will offer connectivity to the financial institutions colocated there.  I had thought Level 3 was already in most London sites like this, but apparently not yet.  The company recently turned in good growth for the second quarter, and has been pushing hard in the financial sector for a number of years backed by its extensive fiber network and the low latency options it provides them.

Speaking of low latency, euNetworks (news) also took action in Europe today in the financial vertical.  The company has further optimized its link between London and Frankfurt, cutting off some more fractions of a millisecond.  One-way latency is now 4.29ms, and the route from Slough west of London is now 4.56ms.  Hard numbers are always nice.  Every nanosecond counts these days.   euNetworks just last week announced its second acquisition in the last three months with the purchase of Teragate AG, further strengthening its presence in Germany following the Lambdanet deal in May.

On the wireless backhaul front, Conterra Broadband raised $94M last week, announcing the completion of new senior secured credit facilities with a group of five banks giving them $79M now and expansion room of another $15M.  They will be used primarily to fund additional network deployments to support growth for their hybrid wireless backhaul systems.  With the continuing rollout of LTE, it seems likely that Conterra is just making sure it has sufficient capital reserves to grow with the market.

And finally, Infinera took its 5x100Gbps gear and tested it with SEACOM way over in Africa.  The successful trial sent 5 100Gbps coherent optical signals over 1732km there and back on SEACOM’s brand new 930km terrestrial dark fiber route between the coast and Johannesburg.  Infinera’s 500Gbps PICs are due later this year, and they can’t get here soon enough.  That being said, I rather doubt that SEACOM needs 100Gbps technology just yet – not that they aren’t doing a great job of staying in the news from way over there.

If you haven't already, please take our Reader Survey! Just 3 questions to help us better understand who is reading Telecom Ramblings so we can serve you better!

Categories: CLEC · Financials · Low Latency · Telecom Equipment