Network Roundup 10/3: AboveNet, Integra, MegaPath, Level 3

CompTel is this week.  Let’s quickly catch up before the flood of announcements begins.

abvt added a customer in the B2B cloud segment, announcing a contract with Savtira. AboveNet will be providing high bandwidth connectivity in New York, Chicago, London, and Amsterdam – the last of which AboveNet has only recently expanded to. Sativra offers cloud-based e-commerce software, and is also building what it calls an ‘entertainment distribution network’ that rather sounds like a CDN – will have to keep an eye on that one.

Out west, Integra Telecom says it has put more than $11M into its collocation footprint, both in terms of infrastructure and network upgrades. That includes nine new locations and an IP softswitch in Reno. Integra has been investing in its network as well lately, with a $50M fiber buildout that has been boosting their on-net footprint and increasing their addressable market to include a wider range of enterprises.

MegaPath has rebranded its wholesale arm, replacing Covad Wholesale with MegaPath Wholesale. It’s been a year now since MegaPath, Covad, and Speakeasy tied their three-way knot, time enough to get much of the integration done. The company has been working to expand its Ethernet-over-Copper footprint as well.

And overshadowed last week by the regulatory approvals for its purchase of Global Crossing, Level 3 Communications (NYSE:LVLT, news, filings) introduced a new enterprise WAN offering. It’s not so much a new product as a better packaging for their existing portfolio. The SmartWAN service bundles dedicated internet access, MPLS VPN, Ethernet, plus managed and professional services. That reflects the changing needs of enterprises toward a more complex array of connectivity options and layers, within their own company, with their customers, and nowadays with their cloud services.

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Categories: CLEC · Internet Backbones