Telecom Ramblings

Here’s a quick rundown on some recent news from colo and the cloud:  another peering partner for CoreSite, an anchor customer for ViaWest, a cloud offering from TW Cable, and a new project by some heavy hitters in Manhattan: [Read more →]

The OECD’s Rudolf Van der Berg posted a fascinating article this morning over on the OECD Insights blog summarizing a few tidbits of a recent report on traffic exchange and peering between today’s networks. Did you know that more than 99.5% of traffic exchange agreements are nothing more than a handshake, with no written or formal agreement at all? [Read more →]

For Level 3, this quarter’s numbers to be released on Wednesday morning will mark the fourth quarterly report to include the Global Crossing business, and the good news is that the questions around Level 3’s future are about its enterprise growth, and not about its integration progress. The integration has been going as steadily as anyone could realistically have hoped for.  But the company’s second quarter numbers still didn’t yet show as much of the growth potential that investors really want to see developing, and so now everyone will be looking even closer [Read more →]

Another job was posted on the Ramblings’ Jobs board this weekend from the Cable MSO side of the tracks.  Layoff news over in Europe this week has been thick, with Teliasonera and Alcatel-Lucent detailing cutbacks, but at least in the US metro fiber business things are still hopping.  Cox Business is looking for a [Read more →]

Ok, Friday Poll time.  Softbank’s purchase of 70% of Sprint and yesterday’s followup of Sprint taking a majority stake in Clearwire have been the stories of the week by far.  But how much have things really changed?  Can a Japanese billionaire and Dan Hesse really take on the effective duopoly of Verizon and AT&T?  Vote!  [Read more →]

If there’s any company out there this year in telecom that is fighting harder to get respect and still not getting it, it’s magicJack VocalTec (NASDAQ:CALL, news, filings). The VoIP upstart turned in yet another big quarter, coming in near the top of the guidance they just raised a few weeks ago.  [Read more →]

This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Dr. Yaakov Stein, the Chief Technology Officer of RAD Data Communications.  You can find more of his writings on his Carrier Grade Communications blog.

Everyone in the industry is talking about Software Defined Networks or SDNs, but unfortunately no two people using the term mean precisely the same thing. However, after hearing dozens of academicians and even more networking converts, and after reading hundreds of press releases, I believe that when people mention SDN they are talking about a network based on one or both of two guiding principles [Read more →]

Lots of market expansion news from the international front to look at toda, from Teliasonera, Overture, NTT, ChinaCache, and Colt: [Read more →]

Verizon (NYSE:VZ, news, filings) kicked off the US telecommunications earning season with a solid third quarter. Revenues of $29.0B and adjusted EPS of $0.64 were each right on target, with profit margins at Verizon Wireless powering the way forward. [Read more →]

Well, the traders were apparently both right and oh so wrong about Sprint’s plans for Clearwire. In the wake of the Softbank deal announcement, reports this morning have Sprint moving to take control of Clearwire by simply boosting their ownership stake above 50%. [Read more →]

Well, at least they didn’t wait for the holidays like always seems to be the case. Today TeliaSonera’s rather dismal earnings report was accompanied by news of its plans to lay off 2,000 jobs over the next several years, or 7% of the company’s workforce. At least that’s the [Read more →]

For those who thought Zayo Group (news, filings) was done shopping for the year, the word is ‘nope’. This morning the rapidly expanding fiber phenomenon announced an agreement to buy First Telecom Services for [Read more →]

In case you haven’t noticed, Level 3 Communications (NYSE:LVLT, news, filings) likes Latin America a lot at the moment. Today the long-embattled network operator announced the expansion of the company’s data center in Quito, the capital of Ecuador. The extra space and service capability will help the company [Read more →]

Deutsche Telekom ICCS, the international wholesale arm of the German incumbent, has made a move deeper into the CDN market. Today they unveiled an Application Delivery Network based on EdgeCast’s CDN technology.  The service is aimed at [Read more →]

Some quick-takes on news from the content delivery segment: [Read more →]

Here are a few quick takes from the international front, with items from Liquid Telecom, du, Gulf Bridge International, and AT&T: [Read more →]

Infinera and Interoute this morning announced the rollout of 100 Gigabit Ethernet services across Europe. The bigger pipes will be offered to carriers and enterprises now using multiple 10G services to both increase bandwidth and decrease operational complexity. [Read more →]

One immediate response to yesterday’s blockbuster $20.1B deal between Softbank and Sprint has been speculation that Clearwire might be next. Indeed, Clearwire’s has gotten a gigantic boost lately, gaining 100% since the middle of last week as traders try to forecast the next move. But there are reasons why nothing is likely to be imminent, foremost of which is the simple question [Read more →]

This morning Softbank and Sprint did the deed, announcing a series of definitive agreements in which Softbank will invest $20.1B in Sprint while taking a 70% stake in the company. Current shareholders will own 30% of the new entity, but with some shares being bought in cash for $7.30. The deal will give Sprint’s balance sheet a major boost, giving it a much easier path forward with its current LTE buildout plans and more options when it comes to deciding how to handle [Read more →]

Pacnet has lifted the curtain on the next stage of its existence with a new strategic plan. They’re refocusing their business while streamlining operations, the latter of which will be a painful workforce reduction that will save $30M annually while seeing headcount reduced by as much as [Read more →]

Ok, enough people have asked me my thoughts on this subject that I will chime in. US lawmakers last week released a report recommending that Huawei and ZTE be banned from the market, which was quickly supported by Canada and a few others. I’m rather skeptical of the whole thing for the following reasons: [Read more →]

Another job was posted on the Ramblings’ Jobs board this weekend from a different sector of the economy than usual: the University of Connecticut. [Read more →]

TGIF, here’s some quick takes from Cologix, Cross River, and Integra before the weekend starts: [Read more →]