NEF has recently signed an agreement with Switch & Data Facilities Company, Inc. to market their data center space and services. Switch and Data delivers comprehensive Internet exchange, colocation and interconnection solutions in a carrier-neutral marketplace.

NEF is committed to providing you end-to-end solutions for your business connectivity needs. In addition to providing access to dark fiber networks, NEF is also connecting more and more enterprise customers with data center space and services. In fact, approximately 70% of the high capacity networks that NEF has provided in the last 12 months are utilized to connect enterprise customers to data center locations across the United States.

By working with NEF to find a datacenter that’s right for you, we can do the legwork for you. NEF is carrier neutral, and will provide you with the choices available for your network and data needs, as well as provide our expert opinion on the best path. With NEF, you can reduce infrastructure costs, enhance network performance and reliability, and improve operational efficiencies. NEF doesn't just give you options; we give you the best options. Contact us today for more information.

NEF partner, Pinpoint Holdings, a communication and network solutions company based in Nebraska, has recently invested in and become a managing partner of Great Western Communications, LLC.

As investor and managing partner Pinpoint will have access to Great Western’s recently acquired XC Networks of Dallas, Texas. XC Networks operates a long-haul microwave network extending from Houston to Chicago, and from Chicago, through Nebraska to Seattle. Elements of the network also extend to Dallas, Amarillo, Denver, Salt Lake City and Portland. Pinpoint will also control access, day-to-day management, marketing and billing for the Great Western network from its Nebraska offices.

Pinpoint is excited to add Great Western’s complimentary routes to its portfolio. Its current lit services network, arms for products, services and Internet access can now expand into the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Utah and Washington. The larger footprint will also enhance the current telecom infrastructure in Nebraska, where Pinpoint already has a strong presence.

The acquisition complements Pinpoint’s existing properties in the states of Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana, completing a broadband network that spans the United States from Seattle to New Orleans, all running through the state of Nebraska.

About Pinpoint Holdings
Pinpoint Holdings is a Nebraska based company that provides the entire array of communication services with a nationwide, secure broadband network. Services provided by Pinpoint include transport, Voice over Internet Protocol, data center services, Internet, local and long distance telephone services.

NEF designs solutions based on your needs and specifications using a variety of connectivity options. Creating custom dark fiber networks is one of the strategies NEF employs to bring you the best communications network at the most competitive price. Contact NEF today for more information.

A Colorado holding company publicized plans to purchase PPL Telecom in a deal valued at $60 million. Boulder-based Communications Infrastructure Investments was founded by former area telecom executives and financed by five institutional investors.

Communications Infrastructure Investments will purchase PPL Telecom, a subsidiary of the Allentown, Pa.-based energy company PPL Corp, in a deal that also includes the assumption of $10 million in PPL Telecom debt.  A broadband provider with more than 4,000 miles of fiber along the Northeast coast, PPL said last month that it was shopping its telecom unit to focus on its core businesses of energy supply and delivery.

According to Dan Caruso, a co-founder of the Boulder firm and former executive with ICG Communications, Level 3 Communications and Envysion, PPL Telecom fit what Communications Infrastructure Investments was looking for in its first acquisition. This is the first of many endeavors to acquire and support long-term development of fiber-based bandwidth businesses.

The deal is scheduled to close in the third quarter and the plan is for Caruso's firm to operate the 70-employee PPL Telecom, while looking at acquisitions of other telecom companies.
Communications Infrastructure Investments has earmarked $225 million for the holding company through it’s five institutional investors — Denver-based Centennial Ventures, Columbia Capital, M/C Venture Partners, Oak Investment Partners and Battery Ventures.

This acquisition is solid for Boulder County. PPL Telecom had great momentum in the marketplace, and this should result in good jobs in the Colorado area.

FiberCo Announces Professional Services For Research and Higher …Yahoo! News (press release) - Nov 8, 20068 /PRNewswire/ — FiberCo®, a fiber holding company formed by Internet2 to support dark fiber initiatives for US research and higher education, today …

U.S. corporate phone company, Paetec Holding, an outspoken opponent to building your own fiber network, is in the process of purchasing a fiber network. For a long time, Paetec Holding has maintained the position that it was far more efficient to leverage existing LEC network as opposed to building new network.

The pending purchase underscores the value of owning a private optical network. Recent consolidation of the industry’s larger players has made it less desirable for carriers to utilize the existing LEC networks to provide competitive services. Paetec is purchasing McLeodUSA for $492 million in stock in order to take advantage of its high-speed fiber optic network.

Operating in Denver, Detroit, Phoenix, and other U.S. cities, McLeodUSA now increases Paetec's subscribers by almost a third, adding customers in almost all the top U.S. markets. The deal also gives Paetec, currently with no fiber optic networks, the ability to offer high-speed phone and Internet access via McLeodUSA's 20-state network.

McLeodUSA was  founded in 1991 and has declared bankruptcy twice since its IPO in 1996. Paetec is headquartered outside Rochester, N.Y. and was founded in 1998. Paetec had 2.65 million customers at the end of the second quarter, and will add 3.4 million with the McLeodUSA acquisition.

Paetec reported a profit of $5.97 million in the latest quarter, its first in five quarters, and will assume about $65 million of McLeodUSA's debt. The companies expect the transaction to close in the first quarter of 2008.

So if one of the big corporate phone companies has “seen the light” and has taken steps to own their own dark fiber network, don’t you think it’s time you did too? If not, contact NEF today—they can help you procure networks faster and more accurately than ever before using FiberLocator™, one of the telecommunications industry's most comprehensive databases.

According to Barb Goldworm, as the cost of energy rises "green" operations are becoming more significant to the data center community as they hold the opportunity for substantial cost savings.



Barb discusses her graph: "It now costs more just for the energy to power the servers than it does for the servers themselves. And so if you look at the kind of dollars we are talking about, I have an example here of a 1000 square foot datacenter holding 3010 kilowatts racks, power required for that infrastructure is 300 kilowatts, therefore the power required to cool it also 300 kilowatts. What that brings you is an annual cost for cooling of $240,000. If we can reduce that by 50%, that’s $120,000 per year to the bottom line that gets people’s attention. The challenge of course is that that money tends to come out of the facilities budget. And so one of the challenges is how do you get your facilities folks working with your IT folks to get those savings. The way that you do that is through a variety of different opportunities."



And based on projected energy usage through 2011, she adds, "significant savings that can come through power management and efficiency as well as virtualization can address those challenges that we talked about on the energy side."

If you're currently in a data center, use NEF to optimize your network and ensure maximum communications ROI whether you're connecting across town or across the country. Contact NEF to learn more.

Boston's local electric and gas utility has a wholly owned, unregulated telecommunications subsidiary that sells dark fiber.  The network is  roughly 200 route miles within the city and surrounding suburbs.

Not a new story and certainly nothing earth shaking.  Here's where it gets interesting, NSTAR Communications has the rights to use existing electric company rights of way and conduits.  In many cases this dramatically reduces the cost to construct laterals off the backbone by avoiding costly trenching. 

I am of the opinion that NSTAR Communications has the most ubiquitous network in the Boston metro area.  The company started in the mid 1990's and has connected the majority of the key buildings and data centers in the region allowing for reasonably priced connections in most areas.

NSTAR Communications utilizes NEF, and a few other channels, to market their network.  All in all they are a solid company to work with because they pride themselves on service delivery.  It's always nice to know that you have a company committed to delivering network on time working for you.  Given the amount of experience NSTAR Comunications has in constructing network in Boston they tend to know what is involved to get the job done.

If you're thinking about dark fiber in Boston, you should start with NSTAR Communications.

If you would like more information call 877-DKFIBER.

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Dark Fiber has become a popular option for those companies seeking increased bandwidth. Once lit, dark fiber can provide a virtually unlimited amount of bandwidth. Massachusetts-based company EBSCO is one that has chosen to invest in this option.

EBSCO is the provider of the largest collection of premium research databases, which makes its fiber needs very demanding. Rather than joining a separate network or continuing to be connected to multiple ISPs at different points in Boston, the company has decided to build out its own fiber optic network. This can be considered a necessity for a company whose bandwidth requirements increase 30% a year.

By having its own network, EBSCO hopes to decrease latency and improve customer service. In addition, the company has 110 route miles, a rarity for Boston businesses that tend to need shorter lines.

NEF can help you locate robust, scalable and affordable fiber networks and can add measurable value to an organization's search for connectivity. Contact us today to see if dark fiber is right for you.

Unlike a traditional map, FiberLocator sees opportunities. Depending on where you are, you can tell how far away your nearest source of Dark Fiber is. There is also the option of an extensive report so you can know not only where the Dark Fiber is, but how to best go about getting that fiber for your company.

The FiberLocator report is an amazing tool in getting your company ahead of the telecom curve. Don’t be dependent on a big corporation that doesn’t care about you. Take your telecom and your bandwidth into your own hands with Dark Fiber and the Dark Fiber Locator Report from NEF.

Locate dark fiber for your company’s needs before demand increases; order your fiber locator report today from www.nefiber.com.

Rochester-based fiber-optic network company is building a 200-mile network in Philadelphia, expected to be up and running by mid to late June. The company offers data services and leases fiber to carriers, Internet service providers and organizations that want high-bandwidth connections between multiple locations.

Based in Rochester, NY, Fibertech most often expands into midsize metropolitan areas.  A large following in Southern New Jersey, however, prompted the company to migrate into the Philadelphia region. Fibertech's new 200-mile network connects to the company's existing 40- mile network in the Wilmington area, and reaches from Plymouth Meeting in Pennsylvania to Springside in New Jersey.  Fibertech is adding human resources to support the new areas.

Among Fibertech's strongest base of customers are those in the health care, financial services, and educational fields.

Contact NEF today to learn more about their partners.

With the help of carriers like AboveNet, NEF works with enterprises to navigate the data center and connectivity selection process

There’s no doubt that your network is a key consideration in moving to an off-site data center. You’ll most likely be faced with a number of network providers to choose from ranging in price, reliability, availability of network to your key locations, etc. What may not be apparent, though, is how your data center connectivity choices today can impact your performance, scalability and costs in the future.

A real-world example of a company with changing requirements was a financial institution based in New York. A year ago, they worked with NEF to create a custom private optical network with AboveNet that was competitively priced and met their stated requirements. However, with an evolving stock exchange footprint and the need to open two new offices in the city, their growth, while exciting, created new business challenges for their IT department. Not only did they need connectivity for their new locations, they also needed to connect all their sites to their data center and to HQ.

NEF helped to turn those growing pains into an opportunity. Leveraging AboveNet’s continent-spanning network and abundance of on-net buildings, NEF was able to interconnect the financial company’s multiple locations, including their new sites. Furthermore, because AboveNet has built into nearly all the major data centers within their cities, connecting the company back to their data center was straightforward and cost-effective.

Perhaps most beneficial in this scenario was the flexibility of AboveNet’s network in the data center. Not limited to a one-size-fits-all product, NEF, acting as an AboveNet agent, was able to customize a solution that would meet the current requirements of the financial company and react to the changes that could come along in the future. By sourcing additional network from AboveNet, NEF enabled the financial company to grow as quickly as possible with the peace of mind that their network will scale along with it.

With expertise in data center connectivity solutions, NEF works with many carriers, including AboveNet, to ensure that businesses have the power of choice when connecting to their data center. NEF designs networks for enterprises based on current requirements as well as future considerations and, where applicable, takes full advantage of AboveNet’s flexible suite of services ranging from OC-level circuits to more robust WDM rings to fully custom dark fiber solutions.

If you would like to know more about connecting to a data center or would like to find out which providers are available in a data center, contact NEF today. Our carrier-neutral approach means that we’ll provide you with all your options as we work with you to develop the network that best suits your business.

Seventeen years ago, Cisco Systems co-founder Len Bosack started XKL, a networking specialist that is now in the headlines for making incredible claims about its new enterprise fiber optic switch.

XKL has designed the new switch system around the DXM Transport Terminal, a single rack unit for server racks which is efficient, easy to use and reliable. In addition, the system is expected to pay for itself because of low recurring monthly charges.


The new switch is in line with XKL’s greater goal, which is to create affordable high speed optical networks by adding wavelength division multiplexing, a technique which creates multiple data channels, each with its own wavelength, over a fiber optic link while utilizing dark fiber.

XKL doesn’t intend to stop at just cutting cost. In addition, the company intends to ease the deployment and ongoing management of optical networks. Switching systems traditionally require a higher level of expertise to deploy and manage, but the company insists that its systems can be managed by non-specialists.

Bosack’s background gives him credibility and market leaders are taking notice. But will company’s really drop their existing carriers and go with XKL’s maverick design? This remains to be seen.

NEF provides a number of tools that can help solve your fiber-optic needs, including dark fiber solutions that may be of assistance to enterprise customers.  Information can be found at NEF, FiberLocator and FindaDataCenter.com.

FiberLight is going to build a new, extensive fiber network for Host.net as per a recent agreement signed by the two companies. Host.net is a provider of colocation, network transport and transit services.

As a company that helps others communicate more effectively, improve operating efficiencies and reduce cost, a new fiber network by FiberLight will further its ability to serve highly technical companies with multiple locations and a need for robust, available networks. The metro fiber connections provided by FiberLight will enhance Host.net's reach within South Florida allowing it to deliver enhanced services. Host.net, a leading technology company in South Florida wants to create a 10G network with the lowest possible latency from Miami to West Palm Beach that will connect major data centers, commercial buildings and POPs to the Host.net facility in Boca Raton.

NEF can help you find dark fiber and locate robust, scalable and affordable fiber networks. NEF can also add measurable value to an organization's search for connectivity. Contact us today to see if dark fiber is right for you.

It wasn’t too long ago that social media was considered the medium of choice for high school kids or tech-crazy geeks with WAY too much time on their hands.
 
Welcome to 2009.  Social media not only has real-world value within business-to-business enterprises but also it has emerged as a practical marketing strategy and tool for your telecom company.
 
Your company can use social media tools to bridge the gap between the sales and marketing departments.  Oftentimes, your sales team will have a better pulse reading on the actual end-users or customers’ feedback yet the marketing team is tasked with developing strategies to engage these segments.  This disconnect can make it very difficult for marketing to provide sales with the messaging and tools they need to be successful in the field.
 
Social media tools provide a practical answer to this challenge by soliciting feedback and suggestions from its customers via blogs, tweets or updates through Facebook or LinkedIn.  Marketing now has commentary from its client base and can make more educated and informed decisions about the direction of new initiatives.
 
Another way social media can benefit you is by providing a real-time, two way conversation channel for technical issues, outages, billing problems and more. If there is a scheduled upgrade that will interrupt service, an update on your company’s social media sites will help reach clients who missed more mainstream notifications (voice mail, email, etc).  Or, if there is a technical issue that causes a brief outage, an alert to this downtime can be posted on social outlets plus updated frequently so customers are informed 24×7. 
 
Social media accounts can also be used to monitor customer service issues.  Social media and brand monitoring tools (both free and paid) provide excellent real-time updates about what is being said about your company online.  Once an upset customer has been contacted, the conversation can be taken offline to ensure it is resolved satisfactorily.   As witnessed by both Comcast and Verizon, it is better to listen and respond to “the ugly” rather than ignore any customer ill will or negative sentiment.
 
A really exciting way for you to harness the power of social media is to use it to educate and engage your channel partners.  With the ever-evolving technologies in the telecom space, keeping your network current and armed with the latest materials is a challenge.  You can use blog postings to educate your channel on the latest trends or products your company is promoting.  Sites such as Twitter and Facebook also promote group communications and events with the ability to easily take conversations to a one-to-one level.
 
Finally, whether your goal is reaching end-users, agents or partners, social media provides you with a way to communicate honestly about your company’s ideas, successes and (on occasion) shortcomings.  Your customers will appreciate the level of intimacy in your communications which helps to build trust and loyalty and your partners will feel more connected than ever. 

The increase in network traffic has created a growing need for service and a high consumption of bandwidth capacity. This trend has caused resurgence in older optical companies that until recently have been placed on the back burner.

It seems that these companies, who once made technologies for core networks, are finding that those technologies are now useful for a wider audience. For example, Caspian Networks, who once made core routers, launched a new start-up called Anagran. The new company applies Caspian’s flow-based core technology to edge networks. Another company experiencing rebirth is Calient Networks, who is bringing its micro-electrical mechanical systems from their old home in core networks to central offices and access networks.

However, these blasts for the past are remaining humble. Even if they become successful, they are not looking to take over the market like they might have at one time or another.

Are you interested in learning how dark fiber can help you increase your bandwidth capacity? NEF has the answers for you. We are committed to the highest level of customer service and to finding you the best reliable and affordable network. Contact us today to learn more.

The 8,500 miles of fiber belonging to Citynet Fiber Network (CFN), an Oklahoma-based service provider, will soon be owned and operated by Zayo Group. The umbrella operating company that contains Zayo Bandwidth and the two newly formed business units, Onvoy Voice Services and Zayo Managed Services, will close the acquisition of Citynet’s wholesale division and its miles of fiber, which currently cover 57 Tier, 1, 2 and 3 markets in 10 states, in the first quarter of 2008.

Zayo is acting upon a plan to transition into a powerful broadband company by acquiring fiber properties whose potential is yet unfilled. As the sixth purchase for Zayo, Citynet Fiber Services will be integrated with Zayo Bandwidth, one of the three operating units Zayo has implanted since its recent reorganization design was put into place.

Dan Caruso, CEO of Zayo Group has said of the acquisition, “CFN’s network compliments our existing metro and regional networks by increasing our fiber footprint in the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest regions. CFN has an excellent customer service, installation and maintenance reputation and we look forward to combining the best practices and capabilities of both companies.”

For more information about how you can enable more bandwidth at the most competitive prices, check out NEF's range of services, which include both dark fiber and lit services solutions.

Network specialist Ciena Corp. now offers a one-of-a-kind fiber location solution called FiberFinder. The new tool is driven by NEF, a leading telecommunications consulting firm that helps businesses find available fiber resources as well as create the best network connectivity possible.

By using NEF’s FiberLocator, one of the largest U.S. fiber optic network databases around, Ciena’s FiberFinder offers customers a fast solution for finding available fiber that will help them achieve their connectivity needs. This move by the two companies will save time and money for many organizations as well as help design a successful end-to-end fiber network solution.

With network continuity, disaster recovery, enhanced services and connectivity between distant locations being so important, IT departments are challenged with finding resilient and flexible solutions that satisfy all of a company’s needs.

Ciena’s partnership with NEF has allowed the company to create a service that can cost-effectively answer all of these network demands by reducing the location and pricing times often associated with looking for the best fiber connectivity solutions.

NEF and Ciena enable you to have an end-to-end connectivity solution by sourcing the optimal networks and implementing cutting-edge equipment. Contact us to talk about your connectivity needs today.

The first step in finding an alternative local loop provider is to determine what network providers have service to your building.  If an alternative provider is already servicing customers in your location, then you should be able to acquire a local loop for a fraction of the cost of one provided by the LEC.  This is where the detective work comes into play.  You can start by asking neighbors who provides their telecommunications service.

If there are no known alternative local loop providers in your building, the next step is to determine which providers have network within 1000 feet of your location.  This typically will classify your building as “near-net” to a provider.  In many cases, an alternative local loop provider will consider extending their existing network to your location to provide service.  The cost of the build out is then worked into your monthly service charge.   Each network provider has a different business model to determine how much of the burdened cost of the network build is passed along to the customer.  You want to search for a company that is willing to shoulder some of the cost in exchange for additional customers that they will acquire in your building.

The final option to consider is building a private fiber network to connect your locations.  Although a large undertaking and extremely time consuming, it can sometimes provide a short payback period if your bandwidth requirements are large.  If you do not have a capital budget for this type of construction project, there are companies that will build the network and lease it back in the form of a monthly service charge.

A prime example of a custom network build-out can be illustrated by a financial company we recently serviced. They needed connectivity, but the LEC was going to charge $28K per month for lesser bandwidth. We were able to design and deploy a custom build of an OC48 connection for only $15K per month. With NEF’s help, this company was able to get five times the bandwidth for nearly half the cost.

Is there an easier way to find an alternative local loop provider?  Call NEF.  One phone call will get you access to information on 40+ fiber providers and a database of nearly 30,000 lit buildings.  If your location is not currently on-net with a service provider, NEF will map out the closest available networks.

Deciding what connectivity solution is right for you will depend on your individual needs, time frame, budget, bandwidth and security, but you should take the time to find out if a fiber connection to avoid the local loop is possible.

Dave Rusin is the founder and CEO of American Fiber Systems (AFS). Prior to starting AFS, Dave was the President of Frontier Communications, the country's first Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC).

Quickly realizing that phone companies didn't have what it takes to provide exceptional network services, he was inspired to start a company that would do things right.

The right way to do things according to Dave was simple—the service and infrastructure had to be fundamentally different from the ground up. Therefore, own your own network, because that's the only way to deliver on your promises. And always follow the golden rule—treat customers as you want to be treated yourself. And so American Fiber Systems was born: founded in August of 1999, funded in April of 2000, with their first customer on board in November of 2000.

The company was started with no customers and no cable. AFS now has over 1.2 million miles of high-capacity, high-bandwidth metropolitan fiber optic cable in cities across the U.S. They boast many of the most respected names in the Fortune 1000 as customers.

We will have a series of Q&A posts regarding the state of the telecom industry with Dave.

NEF Inc., a leader in dark fiber and lit service solutions, has partnered with American Fiber Systems, Inc., a key provider of private metro optical networks, to create and design optimal communications networks for enterprise clients and telecommunications carrier

360networks, a leader in wholesale VoIP and fiber-optic communications in the western Unites States is expanding its coverage in Iowa by adding 67 new rate centers. These new centers will provide services to underserved cities like Des Moines, Council Bluffs and the surrounding areas. With a total of 913 rate centers that serve more than 33 million, 360networks is certainly moving ahead at full steam.

The company’s VoIP360 solutions offer the utmost reach, dependability and quality service. Running on its wholly owned 17,200 mile fiber-optic backbone, the service is 100 percent IP based. Customers can access 360networks' platform with a single IP connection and feature server. For maximum flexibility, 360networks offers customers an a la carte menu of services such as dedicated IP connectivity, DIDs, CNAM, 911, origination and termination services.

With extensive expertise in the telecom industry, NEF presents connectivity solutions that serve our clients' initial requirements as well as those that anticipate the organization's long-term best interests. At NEF, we seek to understand what your needs and challenges are today as well as how your communications needs might change in the future. Contact us today for custom dark fiber solutions tailored to your specific company profile.

CRG West, a premier colocation and data center management company, is experiencing continued growth at its Wilshire Annex and One Wilshire data centers in Los Angeles. The growth is substantial enough that CRG West has added additional available power and premier data center space to its already sizeable presence in the downtown financial district.

In Los Angeles, CRG West manages nearly 200,000 square feet of data center space with additional land to support the construction of an additional 400,000 square feet.

Customers colocated with CRG West in Los Angeles benefit from access to 300+ networks, state-of-the art cooling and powering systems and CRG West’s Any2  Exchange – California, a neutral packet Internet exchange.

CRG West also offers usage-based power pricing, a cost-effective solution for many market segments including the dynamic and growing cloud computing industry. At CRG West, companies can plan for variable, intensified usage spikes by deploying servers in excess of their current client needs. Additionally, should a company continue to grow, CRG West can grow with it because they have more availability and opportunity for expansion than any other data center management company in the Los Angeles Metro area.

About CRG West
CRG West is a leading developer, manager and operator of world-class data centers. Established in 2001, CRG West provides wholesale data center and retail colocation space, connectivity services, remote hands support and an Internet peering exchange, the Any2 Exchange. Now with eleven data center locations, CRG West manages carrier-neutral data centers in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Northern Virginia, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Washington D.C. CRG West provides data center and peering opportunities to Fortune 500 companies and over 400 of the world’s leading networks, enterprises and universities.

Together, NEF and FindADataCenter.com can get you the connectivity and the space your business needs. Contact NEF today to learn more.

Hosted Solutions, a premier managed services and data center provider has signed a deal with Britax Child Safety, Inc., a leading child seat manufacturer.
Britax is world renowned for developing cars seats that greatly improve child safety. In today’s modern age of the Internet, the company has shown understanding that the Internet is the number one destination for a family researching the important decision of which child seat to buy.

With a large web presence, Britax chose Hosted Solutions as its hosting provider because Hosted Solutions will be able to globally connect the company’s website which now spans North America, Europe and Australia. Hosted Solutions is officially contracted to handle dedicated services, bandwidth, firewall, servers, licenses, backups and full management for all Britax web properties.

Their international presence requires that Britx has uninterrupted service on their website at all times. Hosted Solutions has the resources to make this happen, while also keeping the site secure around the clock.

About Hosted Solutions
Hosted Solutions’ high quality Data Center and Managed Hosting services maintain and protect customers’ mission-critical IT systems and applications, enabling them to reduce operating costs, lower the risk of downtime, focus on core competencies, and achieve their top business objectives. The company operates SAS 70 Type II Certified facilities in Boston MA, Charlotte NC, Raleigh NC, and Cary NC providing best-of-breed data center operations with hardened physical infrastructure, the highest level of security, and a complete managed services portfolio.

Keep your applications running fast and keep your costs low. Contact NEF to learn how we can help you find a robust and reliable network that fits your needs. Whether it is a dark fiber network or lit service solutions, we’ll help you find the best price on the right connectivity options for your business.

As Google's assortment of software for computer users now includes Skype, eBay's multi-billion dollar VoIP acquisition, as an option alongside Google Talk, what effect will this have on the dark fiber your company plans to utilize? Plenty of Google and non-Google software can be found in the Google Pack, and the company has recently slipped Skype into the optional software section.

Google, portrayed as a potential eBay/Paypal competitor, added Google Base and Google Checkout over the course of 2006. Google Base is a database for users to add virtually anything, including items they wish to sell. Google checkout is a payment processing system. Skype offers some functionality beyond Google Talk, Google's IM and voice chat services. However, Google Talk connects only with other users of the Google Talk software. On the other hand, Skype provides users the ability to connect to and receive calls from landline phones. The addition of Skype to Google Pack likely occurred as a result of the deal between eBay and Google in August. Google will provide click to call advertising in Skype and Google Talk, making it advantageous for Google to promote Skype to Google users. Couple that with recent banter from Google's CEO Eric Schmidt about providing free mobile phones to people and having advertising support the service. Make those phones Skype-capable, equip the phones with WiFi, and people will be able to use them anyplace they find a wireless access point.

Of course, the biggest recent move by Google of concern to businesses looking to lease dark fiber lies in all the dark fiber Google has purchased, they could be approaching a point where they could offer VoIP through a wireless network they control.

The Mountain View Company’s purchases of unused “dark fiber” have been reported in several places. IP Media Monitor suggests Google's fiber aspirations will let it have "unprecedented flexibility to push massive amounts of voice, video and data content very close to end users." Owning the type of network Google has planned would place it at the same level as AT&T, Sprint Nextel, and MCI. Those firms operate "commercial dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) optical networks." Google will have the potential to flip a switch and become an instant big-time communications company.

Google wouldn't have to roll its solution out to the whole country. Google could pick and choose from major metropolitan areas, probably those highest in the media market food chain. After all, Google is an advertising company, and to monetize its investment, it seems ads and associated technologies like pay-per-call will figure into the equation. A few hundred mobile datacenters dropped at peering points across the US would give Google's free VoIP phone-using customers plenty of latency-free connections to make their calls and view local ads on their handsets.

It's a matter of when, not if. Don’t let the big corporations out-sprint you to the market; find the dark fiber your business needs now, before it’s too late. Start your search with your fiber locator report at www.nefiber.com.

An interesting acquisition to report:

NetScout Systems Inc. will purchase Network General Corp., an application and network management software and hardware provider, for approximately $205 million. NetScout develops network software, and said the acquisition will likely be completed by early November.

The combined entity will be headquartered in Westford, MA—the current NetScout location—and the Network General workforce will become NetScout employees

About NetScout Systems, Inc.
Founded in 1984, NetScout Systems, Inc. designs, develops, markets, and supports network performance monitoring systems. The company's nGenius brand hardware and software monitors and provides information on the flow of information and data traffic across networks and optimizes processes. Customers include governments and the financial services, technology, healthcare, retail, telecommunications, manufacturing industries.  The company employs about 360 people.

About Network General
Network General™ provides IT management solutions to integrate and simplify troubleshooting and management across IT domains. The Network General portfolio consists of innovative software solutions and intelligent appliances that monitor and manage all elements of IT infrastructure performance including network devices, applications, and servers, while simultaneously delivering a correlated view of the health of the business service.

Are you looking for the right optical fiber network provider or dark fiber equipment to optimize your company’s connectivity? Contact NEF today for more information.

The “Do-it-yourself” method of sourcing networks doesn’t always work – especially with big bandwidth requirements. Wholesale services have huge benefits and seem appealing to just about every company needing high capacity services – but in order to take advantage of wholesale rates, how does a company get from their office location to the PoP? Together NEF and WBS Connect, a leading wholesale bandwidth provider, offer the know-how, service options and flexibility needed to seamlessly increase bandwidth, end-to-end.

The upside of wholesale IP. Wholesale telecom companies are a great resource for dark fiber, colocation facilities and more for customers seeking the best network given heavy bandwidth requirements. Customers benefit from getting access to wholesale IP much like getting a membership to Costco for their food – because they can buy telecom services and locations in bulk, allowing for customized packages that are more affordable, flexible and easy to manage.

Wholesale bandwidth providers can also offer better colocation, disaster recovery, transport and reliability as well as increased redundancy and power. Because wholesale companies traditionally have a large portfolio of options, customers can pick and choose those services and providers that best suit them. Another upside to wholesale is that they can create a single bill that covers the expense of each individual carrier or service, making tracking and paying for services much easier than if they were spread over multiple bills.

So close but yet so far. There are many reasons to take advantage of wholesale IP if you can get it. But getting to the wholesale provider’s point-of-presence can put that big bandwidth and preferred pricing painfully out of reach. Often times wholesale prices don’t include local access. Companies have to figure out how to connect to the wholesale provider’s PoP – and many aren’t familiar with providers other than the LEC. That’s where NEF can help – to get you from your front door to where the wholesale pricing awaits. As a carrier-neutral telecom consultant specializing in high cap services, NEF knows both metro and long haul connectivity options and can present the optimal set of services to get you where you need to go. Through partnerships with wholesale IP providers like WBS Connect, NEF can help you select providers and services that get you to the wholesale superhighways and meet your bandwidth needs – from end-to-end.

We work with WBS Connect because they’re one of the best in the business at wholesale IP, and we feel confident in their suite of wholesale services. Curious if wholesale IP is a good option for your company? Talk with NEF. We’re a carrier-neutral resource that can help you define requirements, price out options – and even negotiate the best rates. And the best part is – it’s free.

Customers need bandwidth at an increasing rate, and the ILECs aren’t always keeping pace. That’s where enterprises are taking matters into their own hands with the help of companies like NEF.

Whether a simple switch in providers or a fork-lift upgrade, the economic downturn has created the need for IT directors to review network connectivity with a neutral third party such as NEF. Now, more than ever, companies should be in search of more bandwidth for less money.  With the help of NEF, customers can have increased bandwidth and reliability along with the lowest latency available – all with better SLAs.

NEF recently empowered a large, well-known web-based company to let go of the end of their bandwidth rope, outfitting the company with a 10 Gb circuit for the same price they previously shelled out to the ILEC for 1Gb. Similarly, NEF has been helping businesses swap legacy SONET rings with 1 Gb circuit and diverse 10 Gb Wavelengths, allowing the company to utilize economies of scale for each new incremental addition to the network from the original construction costs.

Enterprise businesses can now easily and affordably replace their DS3s and 100Mg solutions and upgrade to a Gb, which is exactly what a NYC to L.A. law firm recently implemented with NEF’s help.  The office-to-office, point-to-point solution gave the law firm double the amount of bandwidth at a 30% cost reduction.

“Customers should know that in this economy, carriers—those going strong and those struggling–are racing to become more aggressive on prices and commitment levels,” said Mike Murphy, CEO, NEF, Inc.  “Many carriers are providing discounts at lower bandwidth commitment, so it makes sense for businesses to price shop while they can.”

While large enterprises can get bandwidth upgrades for less – smaller organizations can also benefit from considering a change. More and more SMB customers are gravitating toward popular and cost effective Ethernet transport services.   Suzy Frisch, author of a recent business article titled “The Future of Bandwidth,” explains that Ethernet transport service has become the de facto alternative to DS3s and obsolete T1s, significantly increasing network speed and costing 25 percent less.

Don’t cling to the fraying ILEC rope.  You’ve got options.  Talk with NEF today to review your current connectivity situation and receive a carrier-neutral assessment of your network options.

Dan Hesse has been named president and CEO of Sprint Nextel Corporation, replacing Gary Forsee, who submitted his resignation in October. Previously, Hesse was the chairman, president and CEO of Embarq Corporation, Sprint’s land-line venture.

According to their press release:
"Dan Hesse is the right person to lead our company," said board member Irvine Hockaday Jr., who chaired the CEO search committee. "He is a proven leader with deep wireless experience as a chief executive and an established track record of generating strong operating performance.”

Though it may be the third largest wireless company in the nation, competitors AT&T Wireless and Verizon Wireless continue to leave Sprint in their dust as it continues to receive bad marks for customer service and earnings keep falling.

According to Sprint’s non-executive chairman James Hance, "Dan's mandate is to hone our strategy, improve our ability to serve our customers and execute in the marketplace. I am convinced that under Dan's leadership we will deliver sustainable results and build shareholder value."

Hesse served as Sprint's local telecommunications division CEO prior to the formation of Embarq last year. Before that, he spent 23 years at AT&T Inc., which included three years in charge of AT&T Wireless Services.  Additionally, Hesse will be a member of Sprint’s board of directors.

Tired of relying on the traditional phone companies for your connectivity needs? NEF can help you locate your best dark fiber network.

WBS Connect, a Colorado-based global technology services company, has expanded its worldwide footprint to include such cities as Hong Kong, London, New York and Los Angeles through a collaboration with Tata Communications,

Tata Communications, a leading provider of worldwide communications uses a global 10G backbone, which WBS Connect plans to take advantage of during the first two quarters of 2009. Thanks to this collaboration, WBS Connect will now be connected to one of the large Tier 1 global backbones in the world which boasts more than 85 IP pops location in 27 countries.

Tata Communications is a member of the $62.5 billion Tata Group. Tata Communications’ range of services include transmission, IP, converged voice, mobility, managed network connectivity, hosting and storage, managed security, managed collaboration and business transformation for global enterprises and service providers, as well as Internet, retail broadband and content services for Indian consumers.

About WBS Connect
WBS Connect is a privately-held provider of global technology services. The company was founded in 2003 by managing partners Scott Charter and Mike Hollander. It leverages multi-gigabit commitments with IP transit carriers to offer high bandwidth Internet connections and data networking services worldwide. WBS Connect also offers data center colocation, expert managed network services, high definition video conferencing, and cloud computing services. They have a presence in over 300 carrier-neutral data centers across the world, and have access to over 70,000 network nodes.

Contact NEF today to learn how you can connect with WBS and Tata Communications.

A lesser known Xtera Communications is not going to be a small name anymore. The optical subcomponent supplier, which was started in 1998, announced that it is acquiring Meriton Networks. Xtera hopes that this acquisition will bring them one step closer to becoming a leading provider of end-to-end IP, Ethernet and optical solutions to Tier 1 and Tier 2 service providers.

When Xtera CEO Jon Hopper joined the company his goal was to solidify its financial footings at a time when the optical sector was out of favor. He began to focus on gear for long-haul carrier applications in a strategic drive for long term growth.

In tune with this mission, Meriton will provide Xtera with advanced technologies, more customers and greater geographic coverage while also extending their optical portfolio into the metro networking space.

Other acquisitions have also been made that have helped the company move in the direction desired by Hopper. These include the purchase of Azea Networks and AscenVision as well as the renaming of the professional services group Traxe Global Services, which is now a subsidiary of Xtera.

The move to focus on gear for long-haul carrier applications can be considered a smart move by Xtera given that sales of optical network hardware are up for the forth consecutive year, nearing $13.9 billion worldwide in 2007, according to Infonetics Research.

Keep your applications running fast and keep your costs low. Contact NEF to learn how we can help you find a robust and reliable network that fits your needs. Because we understand what kind of network you really need, we’ll be sure to add value to your search for connectivity. Whether it is a dark fiber network or lit service solutions, we’ll get you the best price on the right connectivity options for your business.

Domestic interconnection and colocation data center operator, Telx, announced the addition of advanced networking solutions provider, CoreXchange, to its global service provider offerings in Dallas, TX. 

The move gives CoreXchange a network point of presence (PoP) at the Telx facility and provides Telx customers with complete access to CoreXchange’s Network Access Exchange (NAE) via a fully managed, single connection.  The NAE delivers redundant connectivity to six Tier-1 Internet backbones, including AT&T, Global Crossing, and Level 3.

According to TMNnet, the agreement states "either Telx or CoreXchange can be the single point contact to customers that require a total IT solution comprising of colocation space, interconnections with a wide variety of carrier and business networks, and low latency Internet connectivity.  Additionally, CoreXchange’s fully meshed topology creates a network in which each network PoP is connected independently to every other PoP.  Company officials said that this enables automatic traffic re-routing in case of a network outage in any point in the network."
 
Rose Klimovich, Vice President of product development and product management at Telx, said, "by working with CoreXchange in Dallas, Telx can now offer its customers greater bandwidth and a more complete network solution that includes flexible space, interconnection choices, and low latency connectivity."

CoreXchange volleyed back the positive nature of the new relationship with the statement, "by building a relationship with Telx in Dallas, the company can continue to offer industry-leading connectivity along with cost-effective and flexible colocation space."

For more information, visit www.NEFiber.com.

Fibertech Networks, a leading provider of strategic research and consulting services, received top honors at this year’s ATLANTIC-ACM’s 2008 Retail Metro Report Card. This is the third consecutive year Fibertech received some of the highest operations marks in the entire industry.

Fibertech was in competition with other telecommunication carriers in the sales representative, provisioning, network, customer service, billing and large business and enterprise data quality and price categories.

These high marks recognize Fibertech’s commitment to customers as well as its employees’ dedication and attention to detail.

The annual survey conducted by ATLANTIC-ACM is based on the results of more than 3,000 individual ratings on a company’s local network services and the operations behind those services. The Metro Report Card is widely recognized as the broadest benchmarking tool in business telecommunications.

About Fibertech Networks
Headquartered in Rochester, N.Y., Fibertech Networks is a leader in providing fiber-optic based network services throughout mid-size cities in the Eastern and Central regions of the United States. The company has built metro-area networks strategically connecting local Telco central offices, carrier hotels, data centers, office parks and other high traffic locations.

Founded in 2000 and privately held, Fibertech investors are led by Nautic Partners of Providence, R.I., and Banc of America Capital Investors of Charlotte, N.C.

NEF designs solutions based on your needs and specifications using a variety of connectivity options. Creating custom dark fiber networks is one of the strategies NEF employs to bring you the best communications network at the most competitive price. Contact NEF today for more information.

Telx, a leading interconnection company, has acquired an additional 6,000 square feet of colocation space in San Francisco.  The new space is Telx’s fourth expansion in six months, during which time they’ve increased their total colocation space by 46,000 square feet.

The San Francisco Bay Area, a key network hub, is one of the tightest colocation markets in the nation because so many companies place their servers there. In fact, after New York, San Francisco is the second largest market for colocation in the United States.

Telx’s additional colocation space is sure to be welcomed in San Francisco where many companies are forced to look further out of the bay area to cities like San Jose because of the lack of available space.

Telx has just completed a strong second quarter keeping them in line to achieve an increase in revenue of more than 40 percent in 2008. Their expansions this year are a testament to this strong growth curve.

About Telx
Telx is a world-class leader in providing interconnectivity solutions through its network-neutral and network- rich, colocation facilities. With over a dozen facilities in North America, Telx offers cost effective networking solutions for customers to seamlessly access diverse global networks and exchange information in a secure and reliable environment. Over 600 leading telecommunications carriers, ISPs, content providers and enterprises rely on Telx's world-class team to support their mission-critical global infrastructure and to create a global connectivity marketplace to dramatically expand their business growth. Telx is a privately held company headquartered in New York City with facilities in New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Miami, Phoenix, Charlotte, and Weehawken, N.J.

Get the speed you need with the reliability you want. NEF can connect you with the fastest, more robust networks around. Contact us to learn more about low latency networks.

October 1, 2009—Framingham, Mass.—  Even in a tough economy, businesses are increasingly in need of connectivity for data traffic and new bandwidth-intensive applications. Framingham-based telecom company New England Fiber, Inc. (NEF), is answering the demand for bigger, more robust communications networks and announced today that it has hired telecom relationship-building specialist Mike Spieldenner as the new Vice President of Business Development. NEF is a leading resource for high capacity networks, dark fiber, colocation and procurement services and consulting.

Spieldenner brings over 20 years of experience in the telecom industry with senior management roles in operations, engineering, and business development for companies such as RCN, Yipes Enterprise Services, Teligent, Ram Mobile Data and Skytel.  His recent consulting projects included designing, deploying and selling a new fiber optic network in New York City.  Spieldenner was able to successfully spearhead this initiative and help the company close $3 million in revenue within two months of launch.  His familiarity and expertise extends to the realm of data centers where he recently sourced a new data center site for a Fortune 500 by researching all of the potential facilities, studying the existing fiber infrastructure and negotiating directly with the real estate firms.

NEF will leverage Spieldenner’s breadth of data network experience and knowledge to help the company achieve milestones such as developing new carrier and enterprise business relationships, negotiating contracts with service providers, delivering the highest possible levels of customer support and expanding professional services via FiberLocator.

“After my years of working in both sales and delivery roles, I am excited to join the team at NEF.  Their goals of providing top-notch customer service and utilizing industry leading tools to deliver creative solutions based on real business needs are well-aligned with my personal sales philosophy,” stated Spieldenner.  “If the goals they have laid out before me are any indication, I am looking forward to a very productive and busy tenure with them.”

President of NEF Mike Murphy added, “Adding Mike Spieldenner to our management team really brings depth to our impressive line-up of talented telecom professionals.  We believe our company is only as good our teammates so we are committed to hiring the best and brightest…and, of course, Mike is no exception.”

About NEF
NEF, Inc., is one of the nation’s top telecommunications brokerage and consulting firms, offering a combined 60 years of industry experience and a proven methodology for providing its customers with the best networks, information and pricing available. NEF can provide a broad spectrum of products from dark fiber solutions to high bandwidth, fully managed optical services. Through their many partners and carrier relationships, NEF designs custom connectivity solutions and provides access to over 75 fiber providers throughout the US and EU, 85,000 lit buildings and 1200+ data centers.  For more information, visit www.NEFiber.com.

AboveNet, Inc., a leading provider of fiber optic connectivity, shone in the wake of Hurricane Ike. By abiding by the principle, “expect the unexpected”, it was ready and able to respond to customer outages with effective, proven trouble-resolution techniques.

AboveNet is known for putting its customers needs above everything else, which was clear to its Texas customers. The company understands that its customers trust it to protect their vital communication and to efficiently and quickly move massive amounts of data, both in normal times and difficult times.

During the storm, long established plans and processes were implemented to ensure a quick return to normal operations. Part of these plans included constant contact with local operation personnel and their Network Maintenance Center counterparts. Additionally, AboveNet employees were in the streets as soon as the storm passed, to assess damages that might cause an interruption to their network.

What’s the secret to staying so connected with their customers? AboveNet personnel are taught to put themselves in their customers’ shoes to better understand their situation and needs. By standing in their customers’ shoes and creating ‘what if’ scenarios, they are better able to adapt to changing conditions, in this case, hurricanes.

About AboveNet, Inc.
AboveNet provides fiber optical connectivity solutions for business and carriers. Its private optical network delivers key network and IP services in and among 14 top U.S. metro markets and London. AboveNet's network is widely used in demanding markets such as financial services, media, health care, retail and government. 

With extensive expertise in the telecom industry, NEF presents connectivity solutions that serve our clients' initial requirements as well as those that anticipate the organization's long-term best interests. At NEF we seek to understand what your needs and challenges are today and how your communications needs might change in the future. Contact us today for a custom dark fiber solutions tailored to your specific company profile

Dave Rusin, President and CEO of American Fiber Systems talks about his company at this summer's Voice Peering Forum.

Raleigh, North Carolina – (The Hosting News) – February 27, 2009 – Data center and managed services provider, Hosted Solutions' founder and chief executive officer, Rich Lee, was recently named "Business Leader of the Year" by Business Leader magazine's 2009 Triangle Hall of Fame Awards.
Mr. Lee offered, "It's a great honor to be recognized. There are some incredibly talented leaders in this state, representing very impressive businesses. To be named as 'Business Leader of the Year' from such an esteemed group is wonderful. The fact that this award was determined by votes from my peers, customers, partners and others in the community makes it even more special."

The award follows a very strong year for Hosted Solutions. In April, the company was acquired by Boston-based private equity firm ABRY Partners for $144 million. The company has had great momentum since then with significant growth in both customers and employees. New customers included Belk, Atlanta Falcons, UNC Charlotte and Britax Child Safety, who joined a prestigious list of existing blue chip customers like Krispy Kreme, Carolina Panthers, McClatchey Broadcasting, Capitol Broadcasting and Lowe's Motor Speedway. In addition, the employee base doubled since Q4 of 2007.

The Business Leader of the Year awards are given annually to top performing business executives in North Carolina. This year, for the first time, the awards were determined by a public vote. More than 7,000 people visited the Triangle Business Leader website to vote for winners over the last month.
Mr. Lee added, "Our business continues to prosper even in a tough market because we're offering our customers intelligent IT infrastructure and expertise that allows them to conserve capital, drive growth and improve productivity. IT is tremendous expense for most companies. We can help to alleviate some of that and allow companies to operate more efficiently. For some customers, we serve as their IT department – they outsource all aspects of IT to us. For others, we're an extension of their IT department – providing managed hosting, virtual dedicated hosting or professional services. Customers love it because they can use us as their business ramps up or down, allowing them to remain competitive in a dynamic market. Last year was a great year for us and 2009 is shaping up to be even better."

Hosted Solutions' quality Data Center and Managed Hosting services maintain and protect customers' mission-critical IT systems and applications, enabling them to reduce operating costs, lower the risk of downtime, focus on core competencies, and achieve their top business objectives. The company operates SAS 70 Type II Certified facilities in Boston MA, Charlotte NC, Raleigh NC, and Cary NC providing best-of-breed data center operations with hardened physical infrastructure, the highest level of security, and a complete managed services portfolio. Hosted Solutions was acquired by Boston-based private equity firm ABRY Partners in April 2008 for $144 million.

For more information, visit NEF at www.NEFiber.com.

RCN, the cable operator turned triple-play provider, will acquire Neon Communications for approximately $260 million in cash—expanding their reach and presence in the Northeast.

Neon, a provider of wholesale and business retail telecom services throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, will give RCN a 4,800-route-mile fiber network with 22 collocation facilities and more than 200 points of presence between Maine and Virginia. RCN’s network will now span more than 14,000 route miles and reach more than 1,000 buildings with the acquisition of Neon.

RCN expects the move to double the revenue from its business services unit, exceeding $160 million in revenue for this year’s first quarter, as Neon has a mix of about 120 carrier and enterprise customers. After the deal closes in the fourth quarter, synergies are expected to generate about $10 million.

The two companies combined will create one of the best regional CLECs on the East Coast and in Chicago according to RCN.

A public company after the 2004 merger with Globix, Neon reported more than $173 million in total assets and more than $38 million in liabilities at the end of March. Claiming nearly $19 million in revenue for the first quarter (up 15% from a year earlier), they had a $761,000 net loss (a 66% improvement from a year earlier). With more than $23 million in cash and equivalents and essentially no long-term debt, Neon had accumulated a deficit of nearly $91 million.

Neon sold the hosting business once run by the Globix side of the house to pay down its debt late last year for $20 million. Focusing solely on regional network transport services, the company changed its name from Globix to Neon in February of this year.

A variety of Sonet- and Ethernet-based transport services comprise ninety percent of Neon’s revenue. Another 6% comes from dark fiber sales, and the remaining 4% come from collocation services.

Locate dark fiber for your companies needs before demand increases; order your FiberLocator™ report today from NEF.

Broadview Networks Inc has filed to increase up to $287.5 million in an IPO.

After buying voice and data provider ATX in 2006 and InfoHighway Communications Corp earlier this year, Broadview Networks has paved the way for new strategies on Wall Street.

Led by President and CEO Michael Robinson, Broadview appears confident despite an unpredictable market. The ups and downs of Wall Street haven’t been too hard on some of Broadview’s CLEC rivals, giving Broadview the green light to explore opportunities on Wall Street.

For example, Cbeyond Communications Inc., one of the industry’s brightest stars was recently selling stock for $41.50, not far off from to its 52-week high of $44.71.

Broadview’s growing sales is yet another reason they have their eye on an IPO—the company has almost doubled in revenue. However, there are still some risks Broadview faces as a public company.

By Sept. 30, Broadview’s net losses totaled $45.6 million. That’s quite an increase when compared to the $17.7 million in 2004; $38.9 million in 2005; and $41.5 million in 2006, as indicated to the SEC.

Also if Broadview’s ILEC suppliers keep getting regulatory relief, there is a chance that Broadview will have to pay more to interconnect. If this happens, Broadview will have to pass on increased costs to customers and in order to keep building their network, they will go deeper into debt.

One of the biggest threats to Broadview is forbearance. For example, Broadview relies on Verizon lines in three regions—Boston, New York/New Jersey and Philadelphia. Verizon recently has asked the FCC for unbundling relief in those regions.

Another big concern for Broadview is copper loop retirement. CLECs use those loops to deliver DSL, Ethernet and other services to customers; as a result the Bells are trying to incorporate digital loop carriers and fiber-optic cables. As of now, the FCC hasn’t set up a system to determine when RBOCs can retire their copper loops.

Despite these risks, there are strengths for Broadview to make for a successful IPO. Since there is a huge growth opportunity in small and medium-sized communications, Broadview can meet this demand.

NEF specializes in creating custom dark fiber networks in order to bring businesses the best communications network.  NEF has also developed industry-leading database tools such as FiberLocator™ -used to locate and build custom fiber networks, from the fiber in the ground to the off-site data center to meet the storage and redundancy needs of any business network.

AGL Networks has completed the company's fiber expansion into i/o Data Center's 530,000 square foot Pheonix One data center campus.  Read more from the press release below.  For more information, contact NEF today.

"We are thrilled to offer dark fiber service to both the Scottsdale ONE and Phoenix ONE i/o Data Centers™ facilities," said Jim Gillis, president, AGL Networks.  "The need for dark fiber network solutions is growing in today™s current economic climate. Providing our clients with lower operating cost with enhanced network security and redundancy is essential.

"We're pleased with AGL Networks™ decision to extend their dark fiber network into our Phoenix ONE data center," said Matt Calhoun, chief technology officer, i/o Data Centers. "This additional capacity will offer our existing and future clients greater diversity, flexibility and lower cost connectivity options.  We are glad to have AGL supplement our world class network story."

i/o Data Centers provides next-generation data center and colocation services which are considered best in class for hosting and maintaining mission critical data center operations.  i/o Data Centers™ broad range of outsourced data center services are used by several of the largest Web properties and enterprises world-wide.  The company's newest data center, Phoenix ONE, is a state-of-the-art, high powered facility which serves as both an enterprise data center complex and Phoenix carrier hotel.  All i/o Data Centers™ sites offer carrier neutral colocation services which allow customers the flexibility and cost savings of direct, no-charge cross connects to the AGL network.

The benefits of leasing capacity from AGL Networks include the ease and ability to increase bandwidth on demand, complete route diversity from other providers, enhance network security with an all underground network, provide flexibility in applications that utilize dark fiber and reduce overall telecommunication costs.

This addition brings AGL Networks on-net building list to over 70 sites.  In Phoenix, AGL's™ fiber footprint encompasses 255 route miles.

About AGL Networks
AGL Networks, a wholly owned subsidiary of AGL Resources, owns, constructs and operates dark fiber optic networks and provides last mile connectivity between telecommunications service providers and business customers in the United States with large metro fiber footprints in Atlanta and Phoenix and specific turnkey fiber solutions in Kansas City, St Louis, Richmond and Nashville. For more information, visit www.aglnetworks.com.

About AGL Resources
AGL Resources, an Atlanta-based energy services company, serves more than 2.3 million customers in six states. The company also owns Houston-based Sequent Energy Management, an asset manager serving natural gas wholesale customers throughout North America. As a 70 percent owner in the outhStar partnership, AGL Resources markets natural gas to consumers in Georgia under the Georgia Natural Gas brand. The company also owns and operates Jefferson Island Storage & Hub, a high-deliverability natural gas storage facility near the Henry Hub in Louisiana. For more information, visit www.aglresources.com.

About i/o Data Centers
Arizona-based i/o Data Centers is a completely integrated data center services firm that designs, builds and operates world class raised-floor data centers, including data center space, conditioned uninterruptible power, network-neutral telecommunications access and internet bandwidth. The company delivers high performance data center cabinets, cages and suites to enterprises and web properties of all sizes.  Visit i/o Data Centers to learn more about dedicated data center suites, cages and cabinets on the web at www.iodatacenters.com.

When a company decides to improve its network, experts agree that it makes more sense for bandwidth-intensive business operations to utilize fiber optic networks rather than subscribe to a service from a local phone company. Companies like Ford Motor Co., Bank of America, Bausch & Lomb and Gannett Co. have all decided to acquire their own fiber optic networks because the benefits of investing in them far outweigh the advantages of renting them.

During the 1990’s excessive amounts of fiber optical lines were laid underground but were not put into use. Laying fiber optical lines required phone companies, electric companies and municipalities to dig up city streets. As an obvious hindrance to the public, these companies packed the open conduits with as much fiber as possible, so that there would be less of a need to do it again in the future. Because of oversupply, prices declined, and now owning your own dark fiber network can cost less than subscribing to an outside service.

Some industries, such as investment banking, built their own fiber networks even when costs were high because they needed them for stock trading. But falling prices and newer, cheaper optical equipment means that many midsize companies can afford to take out long-term leases on dark fiber and buy the equipment to run their own network. Cost-conscious fields such as education and health care are finding fiber optic networks provide them the best value for a scalable network to meet their bandwidth needs.

The traditional view of owning your own optical fiber lines has been that it is too expensive and requires specially-trained optics engineers to build and run the networks. On the contrary, a short-distance optical network has become much more affordable and is easy to handle for anyone who is familiar IP networking gear. In addition, there are many outsourced consulting firms that can help identify networks, negotiate rates and design the infrastructure.

Depending on your bandwidth requirements, you may be able to save money by owning your optical fiber lines. The decision to utilize a dark fiber network or lease a service from a carrier often comes down to price. If you spend between $7,000 and $10,000 per month on telecommunication services, owning a fiber network could save at least 30 percent on your total network costs.

Contact NEF today and to find out if dark fiber can provide a better, faster, cheaper network connection to meet your bandwidth needs.

More and more data centers are realizing the need for connectivity options for their customers. As companies struggle to find an affordable way to connect to their off-site data storage and processing solutions, data centers are starting to offer solutions which go beyond just saving their customers money.

Having a network planning resource as value-added service allows data centers to help customers find, design and procure the optimal connectivity solution as well as choose the right optical networking equipment for their needs. Companies needing heightened network security, redundancy and scalability can find what they're looking for in deploying and maintaining their own network. And by controlling their own network, they can usually save considerably compared to going through the local phone company.

If you're currently in a data center, use NEF to optimize your network and ensure maximum communications ROI whether you're connecting across town or
across the country.

Hosted Solutions, a premier data center and managed services provider, recently announced that it received the Triangle Business Journal’s Fast 50 Award for the fifth consecutive year after ranking among the region’s fastest growing businesses. 

As one of NEF’s partners, Hosted Solutions ranked 15th on the Fast 50 Award List, which recognizes the fastest growing companies of 2007 in the Raleigh-Durham Triangle in North Carolina.  Companies are ranked based on their revenues and percentage of growth over a three-year period. Hosted Solutions has five SAS 70 Type II Certified data centers along the East Coast and is headquartered in Raleigh, NC.

Hosted Solutions growth can be attributed to their hard work, commitment and ability to attract and retain customers with their personalized attention and reliability.  Additionally, Hosted Solutions full suite of services helped to bring in revenue to put the company in the 15th position.  Services include collocation, fully-managed servers, dedicated servers, business continuity services, managed storage, enterprise backup, managed firewall, intrusion and vulnerability detection, load balancing,  high availability clustering, and comprehensive 24/7 monitoring and management of critical network infrastructures.

About Hosted Solutions
Hosted Solutions’ high quality Data Center and Managed Hosting services maintain and protect customers’ mission-critical IT systems and applications, enabling them to reduce operating costs, lower the risk of downtime, focus on core competencies, and achieve their top business objectives. The company operates SAS 70 Type II Certified facilities in Boston MA, Charlotte NC, Raleigh NC, and Cary NC providing best-of-breed data center operations with hardened physical infrastructure, the highest level of security, and a complete managed services portfolio.  For more information please visit hostedsolutions.com.

NEF designs solutions based on your needs and specifications using a variety of connectivity options. Creating custom dark fiber networks is one of the strategies NEF employs to bring you the best communications network at the most competitive price. Contact NEF today for more information.

The Missouri Public Service Commission is going to let Embarq Corp. set its own telephone rates for the cities of Buckner, Odessa, Oak Grove, Pleasant Hill and Salem.

Embarq was granted competitive classification which allows it to control rates rather than the PSC. To get this classification, at least two other nonaffiliated entities must offer local telecommunication service – a wireless provider and a wireline company that offers local voice service using facilities it owns fully or partially.

This is going to be a great help to Embarq who is playing by one set of rules in a market where other companies are competing with a different set of rules.
Would you like to increase your bandwidth and grow your network? NEF can give you an unbiased assessment of your network. We can assess whether you can save on your monthly charges by avoiding the local loop or utilizing dark fiber. Contact us today to get the power of choice.

Patient care isn’t the only thing “hi-tech” at New England Baptist Hospital. Nationally recognized as a leader in orthopedic care for years, New England Baptist now has a cutting edge communications network to go along with industry-leading medical care. With the help of Boston-based NEF, Inc., a telecommunications consulting company specializing in custom networks, New England Baptist is moving forward with its care and operations faster than ever.

New England Baptist, like many advanced health care organizations, is facing challenges on a variety of fronts. Patients have higher expectations for care and procedural efficiency; physicians need better, faster systems to maximize their time and specialties; finally, disaster recovery initiatives and HIPAA compliance require off-site back-up of voluminous and highly sensitive information.

American Fiber Systems CEO Dave Rusin to Serve on Prestigious Industry Panel of Experts

Leading Optical Broadband Network Company Veteran Will Offer Perspective on the Evolution of Metro and Local Access Providers

(ROCHESTER, NY) January, 24, 2008 – American Fiber Systems (AFS) – provider of metropolitan fiber optical networking infrastructure, dark fiber and transport services to carriers and large enterprises – will be among an elite group of industry leaders spotlighted at Metro Connect USA 2008, Capacity magazine’s 7th annual metro connectivity and local access conference, January 29th and 30th, in Miami.

Dave Rusin, Founder and CEO of AFS, will be a featured keynote panelist at the industry conference. Always outspoken, Rusin is a telecommunications thought leader and has received cheers and jeers for his sometimes controversial views on the industry. He is one of only five veterans of the telecom industry invited to participate on this exclusive panel of experts slated to discuss the changing role of the metro and local access provider.

Rusin will share his insight on the implications of M&A activity for metro and local access provider business models, as well as how AFS is successfully meeting the needs of a changing customer base, in particular, Tier 2 wireless providers, content companies and ISPs. Additionally, Rusin will speak to the role customers play in shaping a carrier’s service offerings, as well as what customers need to know when selecting a carrier.

“What customers are not being told when buying communications services today is that due to industry consolidation, their underlying choice for a carrier that owns a local fiber optic network is diminishing. The new world of Internet Protocol (IP) communications requires a customer have at least two fiber optic facilities-based carriers present to handle their traffic for diverse reliability,” stated Rusin. “It is incumbent upon customers to go beyond the brochure or website to determine if a prospective carrier offering services actually owns local fiber optic infrastructure or if they are renting or reselling from Ma Bell. If a customer’s prospective carrier does not own local fiber infrastructure, they may be dealing with a second or third tier carrier.”

Metro Connect USA 2008 will bring together C-level executives from a number of enterprise companies and telecommunications providers. The conference offers high quality panel discussions and presentations specific to the evolving landscape of data networking. Topics include key market segments driving capacity demand, alternative local access solutions and new opportunities in Tier 2 markets.

Prior to founding AFS in 1999, Rusin was president of Frontier Communications, the country’s first CLEC. Based on that experience, he determined that phone companies aren’t appropriately positioned to provide exceptional network services. Accordingly, he was inspired to start a company that would do things the right way. Rusin’s proven recipe for success, what he calls “doing things the right way,” is for a company to own its own network, as it is the only way to ensure promised delivery and to treat each and every customer the way you want to be treated yourself.

This “back-to-basics” approach has catapulted AFS to secure more than 1,200,000 miles of high-capacity, high-bandwidth metropolitan fiber optic cable in cities across the U.S., and to count a number of the most respected names on the Fortune 1000 as customers. AFS experienced 40% growth in 2007 and is poised for similar growth in 2008.

About American Fiber Systems
American Fiber Systems (AFS, http://www.americanfibersystems.com/) provides metropolitan fiber optical networking infrastructure, dark fiber and transport services to carriers and large enterprises. AFS enables its customers to easily and reliably connect to a city’s most important points of communications presence, including ILEC central offices and wire centers; CLEC PoPs; Internet Service Provider (ISP) and data center locations; Inter-exchange “carrier-hotels”; wireless providers and cable company head ends; and Fortune 1000 companies. AFS has deployed more than 1,200,000 miles of high-capacity, high-bandwidth metropolitan fiber optic cable since 2000 in several cities, including Atlanta, Ga.; Boise, Idaho; Cleveland, Ohio; Kansas City, Kans./Mo.; Las Vegas, Nev.; Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn.; Nashville, Tenn.; Reno, Nev.; and Salt Lake City, Utah. AFS has more than 500 capacity enabled on-net buildings and supports an addressable market teledensity of more than $9 billion in annualized telecommunications services. AFS is a privately held venture-backed company.

Sixty-one district schools and school facilities in Colorado Springs, Colo., have just undergone a $2.86 million fiber optic infrastructure upgrade. With the help of Adesta, a systems integrator and project management company, the district’s new connections will provide it with reliable, dedicated, high-capacity connections to all their facilities, while also leveraging existing, city-owned backbone infrastructure.

The new network is being seen as an efficient and cost effective way to connect students and faculty who are otherwise physically separated. This will allow for distance learning, video conferencing, high-speed Internet access, telephone voice services, and data services.

The school district was adamant about moving its education into the 21st century. With the help of Adesta and its new network, it seems to have achieved that goal.

Tired of relying on the traditional phone companies for your connectivity needs? NEF can help you locate your best dark fiber network.

The average outage time for a T1 connection within the U.S. is 8 hours.  You can see how your business would be affected by using this Impact of Network Downtime Calculator.

Indeed, loss of trade is the most significant cost of network failure.  A recent article on 4Networking.biz, however, added that management time, staff morale, and customer relationships also suffer.  With management working around the clock, putting all efforts towards IT recovery, they must turn away from their daily responsibilities and tasks.  In turn, when the staff is not able to complete their deliverables, and with no one to answer to, company culture and morale take a hit.  

Worst of all, a company's reputation is a stake.  Customers not receiving deliveries, products, and information are more willing to turn away than wait it out.

Analysts have shown approximately 1% of overall yearly revenue is lost from one simple outage.

For more information, contact www.NEFiber.com today.

Web hosting firm HostVentures has signed on metro optical solution firm, FiberLight, to support them with Ethernet services in the Baltimore and Washington DC markets.

HostVentures wants to extend its affordable, high availability Internet infrastructure solutions network. As a leading provider of network infrastructure solutions and strategic network design services, FiberLight is just the company to help HostVentures better manage bandwidth and enhance network performance at key aggregation points in a way that is cost efficient, scalable and easy to administer.

FiberLight Ethernet service is a dedicated solution for interconnecting traffic aggregation points and enterprise locations within the Dallas, San Antonio, Houston, Atlanta, South Florida, Washington DC, Baltimore, and Tampa metropolitan areas. Based on standard Ethernet interfaces and protocols, the metro Ethernet service is cost effective and comes with a 5 9’s reliability SLA. The solution is fully redundant and provides service providers with a reliable network that can be adjusted quickly to accommodate service speeds up to a 10 Gigabits per second.

With the FiberLight’s Metro Ethernet in place and HostVentures previous Internet infrastructure pains gone, the web hosting firm is bound to experience a more positive and further reach into the greater Baltimore and Washington DC markets.  With the addition of FiberLight, HostVentures’ customers will be able to seamlessly connect to outside networks as well as add additional bandwidth when necessary.

About FiberLight, LLC
FiberLight, LLC is an Atlanta-based company with fourteen years of experience in creating networks for some of the most demanding customers in the Telecommunications industry. Since its inception in 1993 as American Communications Services Inc. (ACSI), they have installed over 400,000 duct and fiber miles with over 5,300 access points, as well as hundreds of laterals off their backbone. As a leading provider of network infrastructure solutions and strategic network design services, FiberLight designs, constructs and maintains an extensive Fiber Optic Infrastructure for a diverse customer base including local and long distance telecommunications carriers, Internet Service Providers, municipalities, utilities, Fortune 500 companies, school systems, local, city, and Federal Government entities. FiberLight fully owns a robust dark fiber network throughout eight primary metro markets – Atlanta, GA; Baltimore, MD; Dallas/Ft.Worth, TX; Houston, TX; San Antonio, TX; Tampa, FL; South Florida; and Washington, DC .

Get the speed you need with the reliability you want. NEF can connect you with the fastest, more robust networks around. Contact us to learn more about low latency networks.

Shareband, a UK-based broadband service provider, launched its first U.S. service in Seattle. Its first customer, a medical clinic in Everett, Wash., was connected in March, but it was not until recently that billing for services began.

The company, which uses off-the-shelf routers and its own software to bond broadband lines of various types from various providers, including DSL, cable modem and T-1, announced its plans to move into the U.S. late last year.

Shareband intends to expand throughout the U.S. but has focused early growth in the Northwest because it deployed its first network servers out of Seattle and because the closer end users are to those network servers, the less latency they’ll experience.

Shareband has also signed with partners Workdesk Solutions and InnocaCrew Technology Solutions. Formal partnerships with others, such as Net-Venture, a Tacoma, Wash., ISP, are pending.

NEF can help you locate robust, scalable and affordable dark fiber networks and can add measurable value to an organization's search for connectivity. Contact us today to see if dark fiber is right for you.