BT (NYSE: BT) is leveraging Equinix’s (Nasdaq: EQIX) data centers to deliver its cloud-based Radianz Venue targeting financial-trading companies with a set of hosting and low-latency interconnectivity solutions.

Through this agreement, BT will offer Radianz Venue capabilities from Equinix’s data centers. BT’s move adds 10 financial ecosystems to its Radianz footprint across North America, EMEA and Asia Pacific.

BT Radianz Venue will offer three low latency products:

• BT Radianz Venue Access: connectivity to the BT Radianz cloud from 40 non-BT centers, including Equinix and other data center players in the three continents it will initially serve.
• BT Radianz Venue Presence: an extension of the BT Radianz Proximity hosting proposition, BT Radianz Venue Presence that enables BT to manage a client’s server and connectivity infrastructure hosted in a third-party data center. 
• BT Radianz Venue Interconnect: designed to reduce network latency between trading venues within the same city and between global cities.

Tom Regent, president, Global Banking & Financial Markets and Sales & Marketing, BT Global Services, said its relationship with the data center provider will provide capabilities to both Equinix’s and BT’s customers. 

“Customers at Equinix’s global data centers can now benefit from BT’s award-winning managed hosting and proximity services along with access to the BT Radianz Cloud, the world’s largest networked financial community, and the option of interconnectivity to and between worldwide trading venues,” he said in a release announcing the new service. “This agreement further expands the footprint of our BT Radianz Cloud portfolio and continues to build our reputation as a pioneer and a market leader in creating solutions specifically developed for the financial services industry.”

Given the prohibitive cost of building out private networks, the service will likely resonate with financial trading companies that are looking to quickly expand their global scale via a single source. Through this offering, financial trading companies will be able to access BT’s Radianz platform in addition to a wide host of connectivity options.

For more:
- see the release

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Source:Fierce Telecom

Cyan has appointed Mark Floyd as its chief executive officer, in a move the company said will help it take advantage of new international growth opportunities.

Floyd

Having joined the board of directors in 2007 and named the company’s board chairman this January, Floyd is hardly a stranger to Cyan. He will also continue to serve on the Petaluma, Calif.-based company’s board.

Floyd replaces company founder Michael Hatfield, who will remain as the vendor’s president.

In his role as company president, Hatfield will oversee overall solution strategy and driving development, engineering, product management, and marketing.

Although Cyan has a strong domestic U.S. customer base, the vendor has begun to build strong inroads in several international markets.

Floyd said, “Cyan has seen significant growth in the U.S. and has begun to expand in Europe and Latin America,” and that there’s “an even greater opportunity to increase our investment in international markets and accelerate our growth.”

For more:
- see the release

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Source:Fierce Telecom

Are you happy with your pay-TV service? Well, according to a new American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) released by the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, 66 percent of U.S. consumers say they are dissatisfied with their service. Interestingly, the overall pay-TV industry only slightly beat out the one of the kings of consumer frustration–the airline industry, which scored a 65 ACSI. FierceIPTV reports the survey findings. Read more…

Source:Fierce Telecom

Terremark, Verizon’s (NYSE: VZ) cloud and data-center subsidiary, has responded to the need for increased cloud-service capacity by U.S.-based businesses by implementing a node of its Enterprise Cloud at its Denver-based data center.

By introducing a cloud node at the Denver data center, the service provider not only adds another cloud-enabled data center to its growing footprint, but it will also be able to offer area businesses secure cloud computing resources.

Featuring over 70,000 square feet of floor space and redundant subsystems to support its IT infrastructure services, the Denver data center is part of its series of almost 50 data centers located in key global cities.

The company said the facilities offer advanced security, redundant power and monitoring, in addition to advanced colocation and cloud technology for mission-critical applications.

Coming on the heels of its latest move to increase its data center presence in Brazil and earlier in Colombia, the introduction of the cloud node at the Denver data center is part of Terremark’s ongoing data center and cloud service expansion effort.

For more:
- see the release

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Source:Fierce Telecom

A congressional panel is scheduled to meet this morning to discuss broadband loans and grants programs bankrolled by the 2009 federal economic stimulus package.

Top to bottom: Strickling, Adelstein, Zinser to testify.

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology will met at 10 a.m. ET, to review broadband stimulus efforts from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA; Pub.L. 111-5).

A Republican-drafted subcommittee staff memo indicates that discussions at the hearing will likely include whether U.S. taxpayers “are getting their money’s worth” from the $7.2 billion in broadband grants and loans authorized in the stimulus package.

“Despite claims of ARRA projects being ’shovel ready,’ recipients of 233 National Telecommunications and Information Administration awards worth $4 billion have spent just $1.6 billion of it so far. Less than a dozen of the projects have been completed,” the memo reads.

Among senior administration officials scheduled to testify before the Republican-led subcommittee: Assistant Commerce Secretary Larry Strickling, administrator at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA); Jonathan Adelstein, administrator of the Agriculture Department’s Rural Utilities Service; and Commerce Department Inspector General Todd Zinser. 

For more:
- see the subcommittee Republican staff memo (PDF)

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Source:Fierce Telecom

Consolidated Communications (Nasdaq: CNSL) plans to generate new funds to wrap up its pending acquisition of fellow independent ILEC SureWest (Nasdaq: SURW).

The Mattoon, Ill.-based service provider, as reported in the Sacramento Business Journal, plans to sell $350 million in senior notes that will mature in 2020 to partially fund the deal.

SureWest agreed to be purchased by Consolidated for $340.9 million in cash and stock, in February. When the purchase is complete, the combined company will have operations that stretch across six states.

Although both service providers were raised in separate markets with little overlap as traditional independent telcos, their overall strategy in recent years has been to transform themelves into broadband and IP-centric services providers, offering consumers and businesses an array of IPTV and Ethernet services.

For more:
- The Sacramento Business Journal has this article

Related articles:
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Source:Fierce Telecom

AT&T’s (NYSE: T) recent launch of its Digital Life home control and monitoring service illustrates the telco’s need to generate new wireline and wireless revenue streams.  

As noted by FierceWireless, AT&T kicked off the launch of Digital Life in grand fashion at this year’s CTIA show in New Orleans, showcasing the capabilities in a Garden-District home.

In the home, the network sensors are connected via short-range wireless technologies such as WiFi, Z-Wave or a wireline-based HomePNA or HomePlug connection, while any information collected at the home is sent to the broader Internet via either an AT&T 3G wireless connection or over the user’s existing broadband connection supplied by AT&T or any other service provider. 

This is not AT&T’s first foray into the home-control market segment. In 2006, Cingular, the former name of AT&T’s wireless division, launched a similar service as an add-on to its existing wireless plans for $9.95 that, after not getting any real traction, was shut down.  

One noticeable omission about the service is pricing. Verizon (NYSE: VZ) and Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA), which have launched similar products, have priced their respective home control packages from $29.95 to $59.99, depending on the type of service package a consumer or SMB chooses to buy.

While the new service is clearly focused on the wireless segment, Digital Life could impact on the telco’s wireline side.

For one, AT&T could use the still nascent home control service as another bundled element to upsell existing DSL and its growing base of U-verse subscribers.

During the first quarter of 2012, AT&T added 718,000 new U-verse high speed subscribers to reach a total of 5.9 million, offsetting losses from DSL. About three-fourths of AT&T U-verse TV subscribers use a triple- or quad-play option, driving up ARPU for U-verse triple-play customers to $169 a month.

Outside of traditional consumer customers, the small to medium business could also be a target for this service. Interestingly, a big portion of new U-verse broadband subscribers consists of SMBs adopting the service that they purchase as part of a bundle that also includes wireless service.

The advantage that AT&T has with using its existing consumer or SMB customer base is the brand recognition and long-term relationships the telco has with these segments. Those customers that don’t have a security system from a traditional company like ADT, a clear competitor here, might be tempted to purchase it from a company that it works with daily for its communications needs.

Jeff Heynen, directing analyst for broadband access and video at Infonetics, believes that these kinds of services are another way that broadband providers can create greater loyalty.

“The potential customer loyalty and incremental revenue attached to home automation services, particularly home security and home energy management, are too enticing for any operator to pass up,” said Heynen.

Taking it one step further, Analysys Mason agreed that the home automation market is set for major growth. According to the analyst group’s latest M2M forecasts, security and surveillance solutions in North America will generate $1.2 billion in connectivity-related revenue (wholesale revenue) for carriers by 2021. 

Besides being mainly a cellular service that allows users to access the cloud-based service from any device, the service does not require the user to be an AT&T subscriber, and it plans on being a nationwide service. Similar services from competitors are only available in select markets.

But with these new capabilities come new responsibilities and challenges for the telco. What happens if the house alarm does not go off or the consumer can’t open their front door properly? AT&T will have to have a team that’s equipped to take those calls and make on-site or remote repairs, something that’s been traditionally done by the wireline technicians who have interaction with homeowners and businesses. 

Perhaps that’s why the telco is going to initially trial the service in two markets this summer–Atlanta and Dallas. It can use the experience it gains in those two markets as a blueprint to learn how it would operate the service on a broader scale. 

AT&T is not the only service provider offering a home control service. Besides fellow ILEC Verizon and cable operator Comcast, now Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC), has stepped up to the plate with a home control/monitoring service suite.

Regardless of the challenges they may face, the fact remains that service providers like AT&T need to find new revenue sources like home control that are outside of their traditional telco comfort zone to make their customer base stickier.– Sean

Source:Fierce Telecom

Lightower is giving its carrier and business customers in Providence, R.I., more options with the addition of 21 miles of new fiber routes that will serve the Pawtucket and Seekonk communities.

Complementing the new fiber build is an expansion of its Rhode Island colocation facility in Providence–at 235 Promenade Street–known as “The Foundry.”

At The Foundry, Lightower offers connectivity to all of its fiber-based Ethernet and transport services. As a carrier-neutral facility, enterprises and wholesale customers can also get access to a wide assortment of CAPs, ILECs, ICPs and IXCs.

Coming on the heels of its recent move to add 100 new fiber miles in Central and Northern New Jersey, this latest network build illustrates that network expansion via organic efforts and acquisitions has been an ongoing trend for the competitive provider.

But these efforts are not based on a build it and they will come mentality. Rob Shanahan, President and CEO of Lightower, said that it will “invest where we see this kind of demand” from wholesale carrier and business customers in key markets like Providence, R.I.

For more:
- see this Telecom News Now post

Special Report: In detail: Tracking the 100G path

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Source:Fierce Telecom

Like the traditional telecom industry, there is no shortage of cable and satellite CEOs receiving multimillion-dollar compensation packages. However, in 2011 a number of key cable and satellite executives saw their compensation decline. Brian Roberts, CEO of Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) saw his compensation decline 13 percent, while Michael D. White, the CEO of DirecTV (Nasdaq: DTV), took home less than $6 million in 2011. This week, FierceTelecom’s sister publication FierceCable takes a look at executive pay in the cable and satellite industry segments. Read more…

Source:Fierce Telecom

Zayo has added a new route between Seattle and Chicago, giving its financial, content and wholesale customers a new option for low latency services.

Already providing a number of network services between Seattle and Chicago, the new service, which will be available in the third quarter of 2012, claims to improve latency by 5 percent to 15 percent by leveraging various optical technologies and network construction methods.

Caruso

In addition to reducing the network distance by about 100 miles, Zayo will engineer the 100G system as an express route with add/drop points being limited to about four locations. This new low latency service will complement its existing fiber service that currently provides add/drop points in various markets between Chicago and Seattle.

Dan Caruso, President and CEO of Zayo, said that providing low latency between these two cities is important. “Traffic from Asia terminates in Seattle, and many of the nation’s largest data centers are located in Northern Oregon and Central Washington.”

While the initial target will likely be financial trading customers that want to reduce latency for real-time trading applications, Zayo said that it is examining how it can also address Dark Fiber customers on this route. But like all of its initiatives, the competitive provider will only move forward with its plans to overbuild the route only if it sees “sufficient demand for Dark Fiber service.”

Besides this route, Zayo’s pending acquisition of AboveNet will provide Zayo with an expanded set of low latency routes in both North America and London, a major European financial hub. When it completes this deal, it will be able to address low latency capabilities to address customer from Seattle to New York and Washington DC with stops in Chicago and Philadelphia. In addition, traffic that originates in Asian and European cable landing stations to North American cities will also see a potential decrease in latency.

For more:
- see the news release

Special Report: Wholesale provider leaders to watch in 2012

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Source:Fierce Telecom