In my Time to Take Inventory blog I detailed many of the milestones achieved by Global Capacity in 2011. I also noted that there were other major announcements on the way. Can you say, “Price check on Ethernet?”

One Marketplace Access Exchange now provides customers automated access to customized Ethernet pricing based on customer-specific requirements. These requirements include location data, supplier rates, and design and engineering rules that are unique to that customer. Implementing the customized quote management platform effectively eliminates the manual process of generating quotes.

One Marketplace Access Exchange provides companies with fast, accurate, automated pricing for Ethernet access circuits, vastly improving a company’s response time to customer requests and reducing back-office costs. The company has integrated Ethernet services into its One Marketplace Access Exchange platform. Leveraging the collective market reach of its 32 Ethernet vendor partners (and growing), Global Capacity provides automated Ethernet quotes, on an individual case basis, to enable the efficient and cost effective quoting of Ethernet services.

“We are seeing a real shift in market demand toward Ethernet,” states Julie Dillenbeck, Vice President of Carrier Relations for Global Capacity.  “Entering 2011, Ethernet quotes made up less than 1% of total quote demand run through One Marketplace Access Exchange, but over the course of the year, we have seen Ethernet quotes double in volume, and we expect Ethernet quotes to account for 40% of total quote demand in 2012.”

To learn more about Global Capacity and its One Marketplace Access Exchange, visit http://www.globalcapacity.com/onemarketplace.

To read more about Global Capacity’s Ethernet announcement, go here: http://www.globalcapacity.com/news/12

ColoGuard, a subsidiary of GalaxyVisions, and  provider of colocation services in the New York metropolitan area, announces that its customers now have access to Sidera Networks’  low-latency, scalable and reliable connections at this facility.

Sidera Networks specializes in providing high bandwidth connectivity solutions that enable customers to gain a competitive advantage.  Enterprises that use ColoGuard’s state-of-the-art datacenter can leverage this low-latency connectivity for financial transactions, VoIP and other application

ColoGuard’s clients also have immediate access to Sidera’s Ethernet Services, which enable companies to extend their local-area networks into the metro area and beyond. Sidera’s solution, which is scalable, fully restorable and easily managed, is offered in multiple configurations including dedicated point-to-point, switched point-to-multipoint and multipoint-to-multipoint Layer 2 connectivity.

The entire press release can be viewed at http://jaymiescotto.com/clients/Sidera-ColoGuardPR.htm

Telx announces that Zayo has joined the Telx Ethernet Exchange. By joining the Telx Ethernet Exchange, located in Telx’s downtown Atlanta data center, Zayo can continue to grow its 518 mile metro fiber network. Telx, a leading interconnection and data center provider, offers the Ethernet Exchange as an advanced e-commerce tool connecting publishers, subscribers, providers and consumers with buyers and sellers of advanced network and application based services, providing simple, easy access to advanced IP products and network technologies.

Zayo’s interconnection with Telx will further extend network reach, opening new business opportunities with other wholesale buyers and sellers of Ethernet while ensuring end-to-end cross network quality of service. Zayo’s Ethernet service offering is designed as a carrier-grade transport alternative for traditional TDM, SONET, ATM and Frame Relay networks. Zayo offers protected and unprotected Ethernet with multiple interface options and speeds.

For more information on Zayo’s Ethernet service offerings, visit www.zayo.com.

Join TELEHOUSE America on July 21st at 11 am for the second part of its Peering Webinar Series. Building on the presentation from Peering 101, TELEHOUSE will dive deeper into the technical aspects of Peering.

The webinar will examine the ways of connecting to TELEHOUSE’s Peering Exchange, how to maximize peering and share traffic, and how TELEHOUSE’s equipment can offer new, advanced services beyond the standard Peering Exchange. Featured speakers include Akio Sugeno, VP of Internet Engineering and Operations and Fred Cannone, Director of Sales.

Register now to secure your participation in the second part of TELEHOUSE’s Peering Webinar Series. For more information please email, elizabeth.mustacchio@telehouse.com.

PTGi ICS has joined the Telx Ethernet Exchange to simplify access for its Metro New York customers. This interconnection will leverage the facility-neutral Ethernet Exchange to enable fast and cost-effective access to PTGi’s data services platform. As a long standing customer of Telx, the Ethernet Exchange is an additional way for customers in the New York metro area to reach PTGi’s data services platform as well as thexchange^SM to buy and sell VoIP termination.

Interconnecting at the Telx Ethernet Exchange eliminates the need for a local loop, and provides PTGi with connectivity from 60 Hudson Street, 111 8^th Avenue and Clifton, NJ. PTGi delivers innovative voice and IP solutions that assist communications companies in creating efficient and valuable global interconnections. Through the Telx Ethernet Exchange, PTGi can distribute their product set while offering greater connectivity to customers in the New York Metro area that require secure, flexible and cost-effective Internet and Voice over IP services.

To learn more about PTGi ICS and its voice and data services, visit www.ptgi.com/ics.

By Jaymie Scotto Cutaia

Level 3 Communications says it will buy IP solutions and networking provider Global Crossing. The transaction is valued at $23.04 per share, or approximately $3 billion, including the assumption of approximately $1.1 billion of net debt from Global Crossing. The deal will be an all-stock transaction.

Already folks are speculating on why this deal is huge news.  Acccording to Dean Takahashi on Deals & More, “the deal brings a much-needed consolidation to the broadband market, where the potential for traffic growth is huge but the major players have been hurt by low prices.”

And Gigaom says that the deal will give Level 3 more clout to negotiate with bigger telecommunications players, such as Comcast, even as network ownership consolidates into the hands of fewer players.

But can we boil this down further?

Both L3 and Global Crossing are losing money.  Level3 lost $622 million last year and hasn’t turned a profit since 1998, according to Mr. Takahshi.  And Global Crossing lost $172 million in 2010 and it last turned an annual profit in 2003.

So why now and why an all-stock transaction?  How can a negative and a negative add up to a positive?  What’s the real pay-off here?

Let’s go back to the quote from John Legere, the CEO of Global Crossing, in the official press release, which stated, “The timing of this combination is perfect. The demand for online content – in all its forms – has created unprecedented demand for bandwidth, and our combined platform will enable us to move massive amounts of content around the world, largely on our own facilities, under our control. The need to bring scale to the market is more important than ever before, and that is something that the combined company will have – in spades.”

As Mr. Legere stressed, the deal is all about “on our own facilities, under our control”. This is a direct reference to owning- and therefore controlling the fiber.  The telecom world is quickly dividing into two factions: those who have fiber and those who do not.

This critical infrastructure— and then the power to select whom has access to this infrastructure–   is becoming an apparent, all-out battle.  It stirs up the old net neutrality argument— and how those who have control over the last mile of fiber can thereby dictate the terms, especially for the enterprise market.  So how do we right this ship and get out of the death spiral?  I’ll tell you this: I’m not holding my breath until Global Crossing and Level3 let me have access to their fiber stock.

We need an immediate, carrier and network-neutral, dark fiber provider that is willing to incur the outrageous start-up costs (ideally with government support- if Obama is still interested in his big broadband push) so we can actually lay the much-needed fiber ducts across the expansive USA, to allow folks in the Bible Belt- and the non-NFL cities- to have access to choice and to ‘fiber freedom’.  We need to take the technology that’s blossoming on the east and west coast – and bring it to rural America who could use the fiber and connectivity and access for increasing the wealth of education, starting businesses and saving the family farms.  As a woman who spends her time between the city and the country, and sees the disparity between “those who have” and “those who have not” on a regular basis, it’s time to connect our country.

The 2011 SubTel Forum had a great article called “2011: The Year of the Investment to Neutral, Dark Fiber Network Infrastructure” — and it points out clearly that this is Allied Fiber’s plan— to build the necessary dark fiber infrastructure and give access to all.  And that this fiber plan can be duplicated in metro communities, over and over again, and similar to the Internet, can branch out and reach the hard-to-reach.

This sounds more like the big deal to me.

Does the Fixed Network have a future in Africa?

The leading heads of Africa’s telcos take the temperature of the region’s somewhat crowded telecoms market

How much is too much?

If you’re talking about telecom operators in Ghana, then 200,000 is too much.

That was the view of attendees at the Next Generation Telecoms Africa Summit 2011 which was held in Nairobi from 25-27 January 2011.

At this closed door summit, hosted by GDS International, around 100 C-level participants looked at a range of topics, including the future of the fixed network in Africa.

According to Eric Valentine, Head of Networks Vodafone Ghana, the fixed network can be a key differentiator and there is significant economic advantage to converging the mobile and fixed architecture.

“A major stumbling block, however, is that some markets have too many operators. For example, Ghana has around 200,000 operators who are currently active, including MTN, Tigo, Vodafone, Kasapa and Airtel. The benefits of a fixed line network can be diluted by too many operators,” says Valentine.

Similarly, the advent of mobile technology has meant that investment in fixed technology has been greatly reduced. “So what we did was push people into the fibre network to keep the numbers high. But unfortunately this didn’t work so well.”

Vodafone Ghana even considered selling the fixed line part of its business in the West African nation. “Data growth in fixed ADSL will hopefully bring in more revenue and add huge value. What we’re doing now is targeting the high value cabinet areas. We’re retraining people to interact with their customers and dealing with BT to come and train our staff. We also need to be smarter on workforce management and use tolls in OOS and BSS to do this. Call centres need accurate information because the fixed network is very complex with switches as old as 15 years.”

Looking ahead, Valentine says the next step is to shut down all of the legacy exchanges and evolve to IP transport using CPN and new MPLS infrastructure. “We can then look at backhaul on fixed assets and femtocell technology for improved indoor coverage. There has been a huge surge in data through dongles, so we will be upgrading the internet gateways (multi-service access nodes). We think that simplifying and modifying is the way to go.”

Valentine says Vodafone Ghana plans to start by replacing ageing equipment and launching an aggressive sales campaign for broadband services.

“Customer obsession is the key, the digital divide is closing and data is growing so we need to ensure that we’re not isolated with only one option.”

More than 100 of the industry’s top experts gathered at the Next Generation Telecoms Africa Summit 2011 which was held in Nairobi from 25-27 January 2011. A key opportunity for some of the most respected names in the African telecoms industry to network and engage in a clear and focused dialogue, the Summit also featured key speakers Nizar Dalloul, Founder and Chairman/CEO of Essar Telecom; Patrick Puges, VP Emerging Markets Networks and IT, France Telecom/Orange and Glen Lewis, GVP International Telecoms & Networking, IDC.

The next, Next Generation Telecoms Africa Summit will be hosted by GDS International in Cape Town, South Africa from 13-15th September 2011.

For more information, visit www.ngtafricasummit.com/

Regulation in telecoms industry could kick-start economic growth

The telecoms industry could hold the key to unlocking economic growth and stimulating the global economy – if the regulators get it right.

The global economy may be limping towards the shores of recovery, but the United Nations (UN) predicts that new approaches to regulating information and communication technology (ICT) could help to stimulate investment and growth by rolling out new networks and upgrading technology.

According to a report from the UN International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Trends in Telecommunications Reform, demand for services such as mobile telephones and broadband internet have remained buoyant, despite the economic crisis, with mobile subscriptions set to exceed six billion this year. 

“The industry is currently undergoing a generational shift from fixed telephones networks to mobile connections of all types, next generation networking and broadband wireless networks,” says the report.

Previously clear borders among telephones, broadcasting and online services are being eroded, with people able to watch movies on their computers and programming being downloaded on mobile phones.

Hamadoun Toure, the ITU’s Secretary-General, was reported as saying ICT regulators play a key role in fostering ongoing innovation and competition, “enabling operators to adopt the latest, most powerful technologies and ensuring consumers enjoy the very best range of services at the lowest possible prices”.

Toure admits the economic crisis has sounded the alarm for the need for effective regulation, “and the need for dialogue on the role of Government, which is now considering the need for State intervention to ensure, among other elements, the development of a ‘broadband economy’.”

Furthermore, the report argues that regulators and policy-makers can tackle the potential risk for under-investment in tomorrow’s networks through a two-pronged approach that involves Government-backed funding programmes and effective regulatory strategies and policies.

The role of the telecoms industry in global economic growth is no doubt one of the issues that will be on the agenda at the Next Generation Telecoms MENA Summit 2011, which takes place from 31 October to 2 November at The Meydan Hotel, Jumeirah, Dubai. This closed-door summit, hosted by GDS International, features some of the leading voices in the MENA telecoms sector.

Along with telecoms regulation, other key topics for discussion include maximising mobile broadband profitability, the telco cloud opportunity and mobile payments.

Next Generation Telecoms MENA Summit 2011 is an exclusive C-level event reserved for 100 participants that includes expert workshops, facilitated roundtables, peer-to-peer networks and co-ordinated meetings.

For more information, visit www.ngtsummitmena.com

AboveNet announced today they are expanding their network capabilities through Neutral Tandem’s Ethernet Exchange network at their 75 Broad Street location in New York, NY. With this agreement, Neutral Tandem can provide their customers with immediate access to AboveNet’s Ethernet connectivity services and extensive fiber optic footprint in the top metro markets.

Neutral Tandem’s Ethernet service offers an efficient and simplified method of interconnecting on a one-to-many basis and Ethernet service providers can now virtually connect to multiple access providers in over 100 PoPs around the world through a single connection to the Neutral Tandem Ethernet Exchange network.

Read the full release here. For more information on Neutral Tandem’s Ethernet Exchange Network visit www.neutraltandem.com. Follow Neutral Tandem on Twitter- @NeutralTandem

JS&A is excited to announce the 2011 Telecom Exchange event to take place on June 29th at the Cipriani Wall Street in NYC. The Telecom Exchange is a networking event designed to navigate telecom operators through the many colocation and connectivity options in and around the New York Tri-State area and the rest of the world. Our purpose is to create the neutral playing field while showcasing all colocation providers, data center facilities, and local and international network providers with a network presence in the NY area. We believe this event, which focuses on key, carrier-neutral colocation space in the Northeast and the network connectivity options available within these spaces, will do great things for the industry at large.

Each attendee will receive the Telecom Exchange Directory, a map of the NYC metro area with the available colocations and carrier hotels’ locations highlighted when they arrive onsite. Inside the Directory, we will include a complete list of the participating networks available within each space. The Directory will have a floor diagram to showcase the various networks and facilities that are exhibiting to further streamline business opportunities for participants. Additionally, all attendees will have access to the DealCenter, an online meeting planning system, to view other attendees, sort by services and PoP locations, and plan on-on-one meetings, to take place on-site at Telecom Exchange.

So please join us for this inaugural event as we will efficiently help you navigate the many connectivity options throughout the NYC-area. Current exhibitors include: Allied Fiber, China Unicom, Electronic Environments, FiberMedia, Galaxy Visions, Hibernia Atlantic, KDDI America, Metro Network Services, NJ Fiber Exchange, NTT Communications, TELEHOUSE America, Telx, TelPlexus Vello Systems and Wilshire Communications.

To exhibit at Telecom Exchange or to get your company name listed in the print and on-line Telecom Exchange Directory, click here. All exhibitors receive 2 free passes, a $350 value, plus table space and signage.

To find out how to become a Telecom Exchange sponsor, click here or email info@thetelecomexchange.com for more information.

PacketExchange, the next generation Ethernet and IP network service provider announces that its Chief Technology Officer, Grant Kirkwood, will represent the company at the upcoming Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exposition (OFC) and the National Fiber Optic Engineers Conference (NFOEC). OFC/NFOEC is the world’s largest conference and exposition for optical communications and networking professionals, and takes place March 6 through 10 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Grant will share PacketExchange’s customer perspective of Ethernet Exchanges as a participant in Session 3 of the event’s Optical Business Forum session, “Carrier Ethernet Exchanges.” The session takes place on the event’s Exhibit Floor, Tuesday, March 8^th from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. PST, and will focus on the rapidly growing market for Carrier Ethernet Exchanges.

You can join us in the conversation by letting us know what is important to you, the Journey or the Destination.  To vote, go to:  http://www.packetexchange.net/cpns/is-it-the-journey-or-the-destination/index.html.

For more information about PacketExchange or to receive a copy of Mr. Kirkwood’s presentation, please email pr@jaymiescotto.com or visit www.packetexchange.net.