Telecom Ramblings

The data center marketplace remains a dynamic place, with lots of resources being poured into the infrastructure that powers today’s internet and cloud applications.  One provider that has been on the rise lately is Element Critical, which bought Skybox in Houston last year and is expanding rapidly in Texas, Virginia, Chicago, and California.  With us today to talk about Element Critical’s plans in Texas and beyond is COO Shane Menking.  Shane joined Element Critical last year, moving over from Data Foundry after its sale to Switch.  We actually had Shane here for a spotlight way back in 2010. [Read more →]

This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Sebastien Prieur, RAN/Mobile Solution Manager – EXFO

Operators are currently undertaking a massive investment in upgrading the infrastructure of both wireline and wireless networks. The need to upgrade and change is fueled by the billions of devices belonging to the IoT ecosystem and the new demands they will place on 5G fronthaul networks as operators begin rolling out 5G. Significant capacity will need to be added to support this unprecedented network evolution and expansion. To enable this evolution, new spectrum [Read more →]

A customer win, two footprint expansions, and a bit of M&A: [Read more →]

Three newly announced buildout projects in 4 markets across two continents: [Read more →]

A bit of M&A, an organic expansion, a technology trial, and a technology adoption: [Read more →]

Happy Easter to all.  Before the new week gets started here’s some catch-up from the end of last week we didn’t get to at the time: one M&A move, an organic transatlantic expansion, and a product upgrade: [Read more →]

This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Daniel Bar-Lev, VP Strategic Programs, MEF

The need for speed and a better experience

Business automation between service providers—as well as with customers—is increasingly attracting development budgets in the telecom industry. Business automation improves both customer experience and loyalty (e.g., simplicity of order, service delivery times) as well as staff [Read more →]

Three infrastructure expansion items and one M&A to keep up with: [Read more →]

Three vendor wins of note and some FTTH: [Read more →]

Zayo has kicked off a new effort at the enterprise marketplace in advance of Channel Partners out in Las Vegas. They have launched ‘Zayo Enterprise Solutions’, which bundles the relevant products and resources in such a way as to better meet the needs of enterprises. It’s an area that Zayo has historically not had that much success with as compared to its wholesale business. [Read more →]

A few interesting items from the start of this week, including three vendor items and some IX news: [Read more →]

Of all the newer infrastructure builders and operators in the market today, perhaps the hardest one to classify by traditional standards is MOX Networks.  As a subsidiary of NantWorks, the brainchild of healthcare visionary Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, MOX came on the scene several years ago to build new conduit and fiber infrastructure both in the metro and the long-haul where others had not been able.  With us today to take a deeper look into Mox’s origins, motivations, and approach to infrastructure, as well as its buildout plans going forward, is COO Allen Meeks. [Read more →]

This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Georges Aoude, co-Founder of Derq 

As the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January sparked a new wave of autonomous vehicles (AVs) coming to the automotive market in the next few years, much focus as of late has been on the technology of these vehicles themselves. However, the technology embedded in road infrastructure is also beginning to see more conversation between service providers and municipalities. [Read more →]

There will soon be another subsea cable crossing the Pacific. Yesterday Google announced plans to build Topaz, a transpacific system connecting Japan with North America. But there is one significant difference that adds diversity to global infrastructure. [Read more →]

Two inorganic moves, a recapitalization, and an FTTH project: [Read more →]

Lightpath has lined up an alternative route south to Ashburn, Virginia and the DC metro area. The northeastern metro fiber operator has announced the addition of a 300-mile route between the New York metro area and northern Virginia that passes to the west of the usual I-95 corridor. [Read more →]

Five interesting moves in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. [Read more →]

This morning a bit of M&A landed that touches on a whole lot of networks out there, at least indirectly. LightRiver has itself a new owner. Grain Management has announced the acquisition of the company’s Technologies and Software divisions. [Read more →]

A bit of blockchain, two FTTH expansions, and a subsea cable. [Read more →]

No infrastructure is more critical to a data center than the power that keeps it online, and when the grid fails those backup generators must be ready instantly. As all our infrastructure becomes more complex and automation drives everything, those power systems must keep pace with the times. Today we talk with Mike Pincus, Director of Sales Operations at Kohler, a data center power industry leader, to learn about the innovative new approach to commissioning he developed. [Read more →]

There was a bit of interesting M&A this week in the UC and managed services space. Atlanta-based Lingo has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Bullseye Telecom, marking another phase of the company’s expansion since it split off of Birch back in 2018. [Read more →]

This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Vic Bozzo, CRO of SONOC

Platform providers, OTT players and a whole range of communications service providers simply need faster and integrated access to global numbers. The speed that they can access number inventory and seamlessly deliver to customers has emerged as a competitive advantage. Today, Direct Inward Dialling (DID) management is accelerating service delivery and supporting the growth of communication service providers (CPaaS) and unified communications (UC) platforms worldwide. [Read more →]

Five items worth keeping tabs on from this week: [Read more →]