Construction Underway to Complete the 1300 Route-Mile Phase 1 Component of the 11,548 Route-Mile, Six-Phase Plan Ringing the United States
NEW YORK, New York (May 24th, 2010) – Allied Fiber announces today that the Company has executed definitive agreements with financial partners and several major railroads and right-of-way owners, including Norfolk Southern Railway, to build a new, network-neutral, high-count dark fiber, colocation and wireless tower integrated system. Construction of the first phase linking New York, NY, Chicago, IL and Ashburn, VA is already underway and will cost approximately US$140 million.
Allied Fiber is addressing the need for increasing national broadband demand by providing much needed access to new dark fiber, colocation facilities and fiber-fed wireless towers on a network-neutral, open-access basis throughout the United States. The user community for these physical-layer services ranges from and includes submarine cable systems, large international and domestic wireline and wireless carriers and network operators to small rural carriers, cooperatives and cable television companies.
According to TeleGeography, trans-Atlantic bandwidth demand has grown at a compounded annual growth rate of 47 percent between 2004 and 2009. It is expected to continue growing strongly from 2010 to 2015, with total demand for capacity nearly doubling every two years. Furthermore, In-Stat research indicates that 90,000 Gbps of capacity in the last mile of the backhaul network will be needed by the end of 2013 to support the world’s cellular and WiMAX networks.
“We created this system to address the numerous backhaul and capacity issues that exist in the marketplace today,” states Hunter Newby, CEO of Allied Fiber. “We appreciate all of the insight and support we have received from the industry and look forward to delivering our network-neutral, dark fiber, colocation and wireless tower access services to all that need it.”
Allied Fiber has implemented a new, multi-duct design for intermediate access to the long-haul fiber duct through a parallel short-haul fiber duct all along the route. This enables all points between the major cities, including wireless towers and rural networks, to gain access to the dark fiber. In addition, the Allied Fiber neutral colocation facilities, located approximately every 60 miles along the route, accommodate and encourage a multi-tenant interconnection environment integrated with fiber that does not yet exist in the United States on this scale.
“The name Allied Fiber was chosen to signify a new type of all-access, physical layer network,” continues Rory J. Cutaia, Executive Chairman of Allied Fiber. “This network specifically manages competing systems in a common, carrier-neutral infrastructure offering ownership and management of individual fiber pairs.”
The first phase of the system will provide a combined 648 dark fibers, nineteen 700+ sq ft colocation facilities and 300 tower sites all integrated into one system from one provider, creating a new standard for interconnection. With planned, direct connections to the submarine cable systems linking the Atlantic, Caribbean, Latin American and Pacific cables, Allied Fiber will also provide express routing of traffic through the United States on the latest and most advanced fiber types available. Building new, shortest path, physical duct and fiber routes combined with modern fiber will result in lower latencies as well as higher capacities to be achieved between these points.
Allied Fiber has selected Michels Communications, a division of Michels Corporation, Henkels & McCoy, Inc. and Adesta, LLC to construct and install various portions of the system. The entire Phase One deployment is scheduled to be completed by fourth quarter of 2010.
“All our fiber and colocation construction projects are rapidly progressing, thanks to the teamwork we have with our outstanding contractors and strategic partners who are committed to building a world-class network,” continues Jason Cohen, Allied Fiber President & COO.
The new 432-count, long haul cable coupled with the 216-count, short-haul cable will be a composite of Single-Mode (SMF) and Non-Zero Dispersion Shifted (NZDSF) fibers. By having a high-fiber count and being network-neutral, Allied Fiber is able to offer dark fiber and at lower unit costs.
The Company is currently accepting customer agreements for fiber and colocation in the system, evidencing the strong demand for Allied Fiber’s all-access integrated interconnection facility network.
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Conference Call
Allied Fiber will host a live video conference call for recipients to answer questions on this announcement at 8:00AM Eastern Time on Wednesday, May 26th.
To participate in the video-conference, please email Ilissa Miller at ilissa@jaymiescotto.com. Directions for the conference call, either by video or just audio, will be sent to you directly.
About Allied Fiber
Allied Fiber was created to address America’s need to eliminate obstacles for broadband access, wireless backhaul and lower latency through new, next generation long haul dark fiber and an open access philosophy. The Allied Fiber team is comprised of experts in the fields of communications, network construction and finance. They are dedicated to building and providing access to an abundant supply of dark fiber in areas where it is most needed. The first phase of new duct and fiber construction will be between New York, NY, Ashburn, VA and Chicago, IL. For more information, please visit www.alliedfiber.com.
Media Contact for Allied Fiber: Ilissa Miller Jaymie Scotto & Associates, LLC +1.866.695.3629 pr@jaymiescotto.com
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