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- Exchange pacts give Charter Business stronger link to wholesale Ethernet market
- Charter expands web of network interconnections
Exchange pacts give Charter Business stronger link to wholesale Ethernet market
In wholesale services, connections are key – and now Charter Business is forging a stronger link with wholesale partners through a pair of agreements with two major Ethernet exchanges.
Charter Business has recently inked agreements with CENX and Equinix Inc., which operate neutral Ethernet carrier exchanges facilities. These facilities allow Ethernet providers a central point to interconnect and exchange data traffic between their respective networks, thereby extending their collective ability to reach clients in far-flung markets.
By linking into CENX and Equinix facilities, Charter Business can extend wholesale services to any of the exchanges’ carrier members, including small and mid-range providers. Initially, Charter Business will connect with Equinix via its Atlanta carrier hotel. With CENX, the relationship will start at its facility in Los Angeles.
Through both facilities, Charter Business will be able to offer wholesale connections ranging from 10 Mbps up to 1 Gbps across its network, which reaches 25 states with 56,000 fiber route miles and 3,800-plus fiber-connected buildings as well as nearly 4,000 multi-tenant buildings less than 1,000 feet from Charter’s dense Metro Optical Fiber networks. In some individual cases, Charter Business will be able to extend the connection to up to 10 Gbps.
“We directly interconnect to big carriers like XO, Level 3 and Global Crossing and dedicate a 1 Gbps port for that traffic,” explained Scott Fairchild, Charter Business’ senior manager of product management. “But for smaller carriers we can connect through the carrier exchanges.”
Often, even larger carriers prefer to interconnect through these exchanges, so access to the CENX and Equinix facilities gives Charter Business the ability to offer either director exchange connections, he added.
“It makes it easier for them to interconnect with us,” Fairchild said. “They have more options for interconnections, because now we are in the largest interconnection centers.”
In addition to domestic providers, the CENX and Equinix exchanges give Charter Business a new opportunity to sell wholesale capacity to overseas service providers, many of which are looking for better ways to serve clients with offices in U.S. markets.
Recently, through CENX Charter started working with competitive service provider Transtelco, which offers fiber optic connection services in Northern Mexico and the Southwestern United States. Transtelco has US and Mexico Wholesale and Enterprise Customers who need fiber connections in the United States – connections Charter Business can now provide.
“They have fiber connection needs within our footprint,” said Kelly Splitt, Charter Business’ Sales Manager for Carrier sales. “We are excited about the ability to provide Carriers such as Transtelco access to our large and growing footprint of fiber lit buildings.
Charter Business will spend several million dollars this year to extend the required redundant fiber connections to the carrier hotel facilities. It also will install aggregation routers, which supply the physical port connections with exchange customers.
In the future, Charter Business’ exchange reach could extend to include connections to other CENX and Equinix facilities as well as to other Ethernet exchanges.
Such investments are part of Charter Business drive to expand its wholesale Ethernet service reach and capitalize on the growing U.S. market, which is projected to reach $1.5 billion in revenue by 2014. With more connection options, Charter Business can better tap into that revenue stream.
Charter Business’ new Ethernet Exchange partnership opportunities, along with its comprehensive portfolio of wholesale carrier services, will be on display in Booth 100 at the Comptel Plus Spring 2011 Convention and Expo March 20-23 at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas.
Charter expands web of network interconnections
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