Lightower Fiber Networks executives will attend COMPTEL PLUS Spring 2012 Convention & EXPO on April 15-18 2012, in San Francisco, CA. COMPTEL PLUS provides an effective networking environment for discussing new business relationships, as well as for fostering existing ones.

The Lightower Network offers carriers and enterprises unparalleled network density in the Northeast, with over 6,400 route miles of fiber and access to over 2,800 service locations.  The Lightower Network also offers customers a complete suite of state-of-the-art network technologies including Ethernet and wavelength services up to 100 Gbps, as well as industry-leading Ultra-Low Latency solutions.

To meet with a Lightower representative at COMPTEL PLUS, email info@lightower.com. For more information on Lightower, visit www.lightower.com.

Lightower Fiber Networks will showcase its high performance video transport solutions at NABSHOW 2012 on April 14-19 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Lightower offers media customers the most advanced video transport solution with network routes and access to data centers throughout the Northeast. Lightower’s market-leading Video Transport Solutions are purpose-built for numerous video formats including uncompressed high definition video, and offer options for advanced management features and integrated Ethernet networking.  Lightower customizes each video transport solution for each customer, engineers each solution into the Lightower Network, and guarantees performance with service level agreements up to five 9’s.

NABSHOW 2012, organized by the National Association of Broadcasters, will bring together media, content and entertainment professionals from around the world, offering hands-on access to tools and resources that shape the media marketplace.

To meet with a Lightower representative at NABSHOW 2012, please email info@lightower.com or call 888-LT-FIBER. For more information on Lightower and its Video Transport Solutions, visit www.lightower.com.

ViaWest‘s Chief Operating Officer and Co-founder Nancy Phillips has been nominated for the ATHENA Award Hosted by Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce. The ATHENA Award honors the Denver woman who best exemplifies exceptional professional achievement, devotion to community service and generosity in actively assisting other women in their attainment of professional excellence and leadership skills. The award gala will take place on April 26 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Denver, Colorado.

Fully entrenched in the community, Ms. Phillips is dedicated to empowering the next generation of leaders throughout the Colorado region. She holds board positions on the Colorado Technology Association, National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) and Startup Colorado.

For additional information on Phillips and other ViaWest executives, visit www.viawest.com.

Zayo Group President and CEO, Dan Caruso will speak at the COMPTEL PLUS Spring 2012 Convention & EXPO taking place on April 15-18 at the Marriott Marquis in San Francisco.

Dan will speak on the “Navigating the Capital Markets: Calm Seas or Choppy Waters?” panel held on Tuesday, April 17^th at 9:00am. The session will analyze the telecom industry’s current state of lending, as well as discuss the M&A activity within the marketplace. Panelists will also share their predictions for future telecom financial trends.

COMPTEL PLUS Convention & EXPO is a networking event for innovative communications companies and their supplier partners. With over 210 exhibitors and more than 4,300 attendees, the conference provides an opportunity to discuss industry trends and conduct business.

For more information on Zayo, visit www.zayo.com.

As the Channel Partners Conference & Expo kicks off in Las Vegas, ViaWest announces the addition of Infolink Consulting to its Channel Partner Program.  A Premier IBM Cognos and Informatica business partner specializing in business analytics and data integration solutions, Infolink will leverage ViaWest’s comprehensive data center infrastructure services. The synergies between the companies provide benefits for all parties involved. In addition to ViaWest’s infrastructure services, clients will have access to Infolink’s business intelligence (BI) and performance management solutions.

Through ViaWest’s Channel Program, each company involved pools together their strengths and resources that when combined, offer a complete performance solution. Overall experience is improved for clients through a reliable, customized solution package. The ViaWest team will be onsite at Channel Partners Conference & Expo in Booth #106 to discuss their Channel Partner Program.

To schedule a meeting with ViaWest at the Channel Partners Conference or to learn more about its competitive Channel Partner Program, please contact channel.sales@viawest.com.  For more information on ViaWest, please visit www.viawest.com.

With busy schedules, not everyone can attend the great industry events and expos designed to bring executives and professionals together. Fortunately, we’re lucky enough to live in an age with video as a communication medium and can easily catch up on what we have missed.  We’ve listed Allied Fiber’s video interviews from ITEXPO East and TELEHOUSE’s Breakfast Seminar for you below.

At ITEXPO East 2012, Jason Cohen, COO and President of Allied Fiber, is interviewed by TMC about the unique aspects of Allied Fiber’s mission to create the nation’s first long-haul dark fiber network. For the full video interview, please visit http://www.telehouse.com/event_videos.php?v=28

At TELEHOUSE’s Breakfast Seminar, Hunter Newby, CEO of Allied Fiber, presents the USA’s need for a new, national, carrier-neutral dark fiber and colocation system to meet rising mobile and broadband demands. For the full presentation, please visit http://www.tmcnet.com/tmc/videos/default.aspx?vid=6088&title=Interview+with+Allied+Fiber

To learn more about Allied Fiber, please visit: www.alliedfiber.com

Scott Beer, General Counsel of Zayo Group joins Steve Davis, SVP of Public Policy and Government Relations at CenturyLink, and Michael Rhoda, SVP of Government Affairs at Windstream Communications. Our friend Andy Lipman, Partner at Bingham McCutcheon, moderated the keynote panel of day 2. The focus was on the role of the regulator in the local metro carrier marketplace, including industry update and analysis.

The common thread between all 3 of the panelists is that their companies have all been very active in recent M&A activity, when regulatory analysis heats up.

Andy asked Scott, when you are doing your due diligence, what role does regulatory activity have? Scott said “regulatory does not wag the dog at Zayo. We had to dig down a bit deeper in our recent 360 acquisition, but our previous acquisitions, which have been wholesale in nature, we did not have too many issues.”

Michael continued that “in competitive markets, we need to let them be competitive.” There has been a number of deals in the past few years where the state has loaded up on regulations that got in the way of the deal. His wish is to not let regulatory processes get in the way of doing business.

Steve added that he doesn’t think the FCC is going to change though he wants parody with the cable guys. He would like to be treated the same as the cable guys, in places where CenturyLink has regulations for the same products and cables have none.

Scott concluded that the locked in provisions ratchet up the initial volume commitments- which makes it difficult for new providers to compete.

Andy then asked how did Zayo participate in the Obama Broadband Initiative? Scott stated that Zayo received 4 awards in the past few years, varying in size and direct services. “Our experience so far has been very positive, allowing us a cost-effective way in getting to an area where we wouldn’t have previously gone.”

Michael shared that they sat out on round 1 and got into round 2, focusing on getting fiber deeper into our rural areas for our consumer base. Cost is high in these areas and without federal grants, these places wouldn’t have access they now enjoy.

Kicking off Metro Connect USA 2012 today, Hunter Newby, CEO of Allied Fiber, moderated the Keynote Panel this morning. Top panelists included Bjarni Thorvardarson, CEO of Hibernia Atlantic, Mike Sicoli, CEO of Sidera Networks, Timothy Horan, Managing Director, Communications Services at Oppenheimer & Co., and Paul Hobby, Managing Principal of Genesis Park, LP. The panel focused on financial and strategic predictions for the M&A landscape in 2012.

Hunter began by asking Bjarni what is driving recent M&A activity? Bjarni stated that he’s seeing it move from metro to long-haul activity. Now with recent consolidation, Hibernia is seeing carriers wanting to build their own global networks.

Paul added that it’s a riddle why we keep consolidating and yet the Metro Connect event keeps growing (notably with a growing number of financial investors).

Hunter then asked that even with the hangover from the telecom bubble, is there a fiber glut? So taking a poll of the audience, he asked who is building fiber. Half the room raised their hands. Hunter stated that clearly there is no glut as we are necessarily building. Hunter concluded that the one thing he would like to change about our industry is awareness.

Here are some key slides that were also shared:

Allied Fiber’s Hunter Newby Talks Challenges Faced by Metro Players

Metro Connect Panel: Practical Challenges Facing Network Build-Outs

Allied Fiber’s, CEO, Hunter Newby was among a distinguished group of industry thought leaders that discussed the challenges faced by metro players, specifically those fiber providers that are charged with filling the increasing demand through strategic build-outs. Other panelists include John Finke (Hickorytech), John Phillips (Team Fishel) and Sean Baillie (Windstream).   

Some of the key challenges discussed by the panel include:

• Speed to market
• Complacency among construction – getting construction completed in a reasonable amount of time
• Fiber gets old
• Existing fiber is fragmented and disconnected – fiber is everywhere – access to that fiber is a challenge
• Not all markets are created equal with regard to existing fiber, ease of construction, i.e., regulatory / physical landscape etc.

All of these challenges suggest that those players with an insider’s knowledge of the local market will be the most successful.

“It’s who you know!”

Dan Caruso, President of Zayo Group, is joined by Bill LaPerch, CEO of AboveNet and John Purcell, CEO of FiberTech on the first panel of Capacity’s Metro Connect USA 2012. The CEO Interviews were focused on discussing successful business strategies to create profitable and scalable metro providers. These bandwidth infrastructure providers all share the same storyline that their companies are all profitable and growing.

After hearing details on their key market focus (particularly enterprise and media) and current business strategies, Moderator Dr. Judy Reed-Smith, CEO of Atlantic ACM, asked them to discuss their future plans and trends they see.

Dan stated that the industry trend is toward a natural evolution towards consolidation. He cites Zayo’s recent acquisition of 360 as an example. He also joked that anyone in the audience who wants an exit
strategy and has assets to sell, to come see him.

Dan also stated that “when we win a customer deal, we expand our networks.” Zayo focuses on emerging cities and locations and sees a lot of opportunity in expanding their services and products to these new PoPs.

Dr. Reed-Smith closed by asking what is it that you would change about the industry. Bill stated “nothing”. We positioned ourselves well, we have a class A team. He’s proud of where his company is and where AboveNet is going.

John said Bill is right, that the fundamentals are in place for continued growth. He cited less regulatory influence and a stronger economy as issues he would like us together to change. John noted it’s not like some issues in healthcare and manufacturing where jobs are being lost. But truth is we are dependent on the economy.

Dan closed that he would increase the rate of bandwidth implementation,
and jokingly he added that he would restrict competitors’ budget. He said it’s shocking how telecom meltdown is still impacting on investors.  Although we operate our businesses more responsibly now, we need to articulate these changes, notably sustainable revenue, to investors.