Telecom Ramblings

According to a release this morning, Akamai (NASDAQ:AKAM, news, filings) has agreed to purchase Verivue in an all cash transaction. The move is clearly intended to help the dominant CDN provider improve its licensed solutions for network operators. [Read more →]

Time for a quick roundup of some of the other news lately, with items from Sidera Networks and CoreSite, Level 3 and Tulane, DuPont Fabros, and Southern Cross. [Read more →]

In its quest to further disrupt the DWDM marketplace with its DTN-X gear, Infinera (NASDAQ:INFN, news, filings) today announced both a key product enhancement and a large new customer.  Investors and customers alike waited impatiently for the company’s 100G entry, but since it started shipping in the second quarter the vendor has been moving quickly. [Read more →]

In a very interesting move, Amsterdam’s EvoSwitch is doing something we haven’t seen often (if at all) from European data center operators. They’re expanding across the Atlantic with the announcement of a big new data center in Northern Virginia this morning. [Read more →]

In an extensive comment he left here recently, Zayo’s Dan Caruso said that “the end of consolidation of fiber-based platforms is near”. Certainly we have seen a lot of it in the past five years and the field is much smaller now. However, it got me thinking about pockets of the industry where there is a lot left to resolve. And the biggest, most obvious pocket of independent small and mid-sized metro and regional fiber operators is in the Northeast [Read more →]

We have two new job listing on the Ramblings’ Jobs board this week from the Midwestern-based fiber builder and operator Unite Private Networks.   UPN is looking to find both a [Read more →]

On Wednesday, AT&T (NYSE:T, news, filings) unveiled a new network expansion and upgrade spending plan that covered a lot of ground. I’m afraid I skimmed it and thought LTE, no surprises there… But as a reader pointed out to me today, it’s actually got a blockbuster fiber-to-the-business component: [Read more →]

More than four years ago, back in the early days of this site, I dabbled with a naval analogy for the world of network operators. The sector has evolved greatly since then through consolidation and such, so I thought I’d revisit it on this post-Election and post-Sandy Friday. The simple question is: if each US network operator was a warship, which type would they be? [Read more →]

In the aftermath of Sandy’s landfall in New Jersey, I tried to make the point that the internet did pretty well overall aside from power failures and equipment that was actually flooded.  Renesys has now chipped in with actual data on their blog detailing how a half dozen of the top internet backbones handled Sandy behind the scenes.   [Read more →]

This article was authored by John C. Tanner, and was originally posted on telecomasia.net.

Microsoft says it will shut down its Windows Live Messenger in 2013 in a move to encourage users to migrate to Skype, which is now capable of importing Messenger contacts. [Read more →]

Time for a quick survey of the datacenter space, with quick looks a news from Cologix, ColoAtl, SunGard, and Interxion: [Read more →]

Another week, another move by Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S, news, filings) to transform itself back into a real alternative to Verizon and AT&T. With ink still wet on the Softbank investment and the clarifying Clearwire ownership move, Sprint found another inorganic step to make yesterday. They are buying a 10% surgical slice of US Cellular. [Read more →]

For many enterprise-focused competitive operators Ethernet-over-Copper technology has been growing in importance, and of course in raw bandwidth potential as well. This week two large alternative carriers announced substantial upgrades to their EoC capabilities that are worth keeping an eye on. [Read more →]

The rough patch at Inteliquent (NASDAQ:IQNT, news, filings) got rougher today with their Q3 report, offering a bit of insight into the recent management upheaval.  Revenues and EBITDA came in light, and earnings took a $9M charge amidships from a voice termination settlement with one of their major voice customers that also shifted the overall relationship.  As a result, full year 2012 guidance was reduced again.  Here’s the birds eye view: [Read more →]

The independent European metro fiber operator euNetworks defied the macroeconomic headwinds and increased its forward momentum as reported in their third quarter results this morning.  Recurring revenues were up 4% sequentially,while EBITDA rose by 32%.  Here’s a quick tabular summary: [Read more →]

Now that the election’s over (finally!), there’s plenty of news from global service providers already this week to look at.  Here’s a set of quick takes on some of the interesting bits: [Read more →]

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI, news, filings) continued its rebound from the loss of MegaUpload’s business in January with a steady third quarter that took revenues back to an all time high.  Their total of $79.7M was a bit above my own guess but slightly below the consensus analyst estimate, although it would have matched that threshold in constant currency terms.  Here’s a quick table: [Read more →]

So yesterday the defunct New Zealand to California cable Pacific Fibre managed to gain a new high profile supporter, of the ‘yeah right’ variety.  Kim Dotcom, the infamous fellow behind Megaupload, wants to reboot the project and have his new ‘Mega’ company fund part of it. [Read more →]

A week ago today, the joint hurricane/nor’easter called Sandy slammed into the NY/NJ/CT/MD/DE/PA region, leaving millions without power and vast tracts of low lying areas near the ocean in varying levels of devastation. Much of the less severe damage to the telecommunications infrastructure has now been repaired, and perhaps now it’s time to note Sandy has taught us.  Here are a few such items from my point of view, I welcome any additions: [Read more →]

As has been their recent practice, TW Telecom (NASDAQ:TWTC, news, filings) posted its earnings after the market closed today, with their conference call scheduled for tomorrow.  Their third quarter was another of the steady steps forward in revenue, EBITDA, and margins we have come to expect every three months, meeting analyst expectations on the financials while adding another 552 on-net buildings to their network.  Here’s a tabular summary: [Read more →]

Both gtlt and CenturyLink (NYSE:CTL, news, filings) today announced  expansions of their network presence with the help of CoreSite (NYSE:COR, news, filings).  GTT is adding ten of the data center REIT’s facilities to their backbone network, while CenturyLink added five.   [Read more →]

Now that Sandy has passed and the cleanup continues, four very different but publicly held alternative network service providers report their Q3 earnings this week/  Cbeyond and probably tw telecom will report after the close today, Cogent tomorrow morning, and Inteliquent on Wednesday morning.  Here’s a quick preview of what to expect from each:  [Read more →]

We have a new job listing on the Ramblings’ Jobs board this week from a frequent contributor, the Midwestern-based fiber builder and operator Unite Private Networks.   UPN is looking for a [Read more →]