tw telecom: in it to win it

CEN Feature (Sep 9 2010)

1. 

   Number 3 on Vertical Systems Group’s current leaderboard of companies with the most Carrier Ethernet retail port installations, tw telecom does not lump itself in with the other competitive carriers on the list.

    

   “We compete with the big guys--AT&T and Verizon [numbers 1 and 2 respectively], said Michael Rouleau, senior vice president of business development and strategy for tw telecom. “On a national basis, it comes down to a choice between one of them or us.”

    

   One reason customers choose tw telecom is because the company is more innovative and nimble, which means “we can bring things to market quickly,” he added. 

    

   tw telecom has been among the top three on our Business Ethernet Leaderboard for a number of years, said Rosemary Cochran, principal and co-founder, Vertical Systems Group. In addition to focusing solely on enterprise customers, this Ethernet provider has carved out a market niche addressing the requirements of mid- to larger size organizations that have sophisticated networking or a mix of services, but may not get as much attention from the incumbents and are not easily served by the cable companies. tw telecom also deploys different access technologies as necessary to reach all  customer sites, she added.

    

   The company’s core strategy of putting fiber in the ground to serve buildings in 75 cities nationwide has kept it focused on connecting enterprise customers. With more than 300 of its own collocation and third-party data centers connected to its network today, tw telecom’s fiber network serves 11,000 end user customer buildings, which include big tall shiny buildings and single tenant campuses, said Rouleau.

    

   “We focus on bringing our fiber to where the bandwidth originates and terminates,” he noted. Vertical markets that are particularly keen on tw telecom include healthcare and financial, he added. 

    

   The company’s ability to innovate has given tw telecom “first mover” advantages, said Rouleau. For example, in 2000 tw telecom was early to market with business Ethernet services on its switch-based, SONET, DWDM infrastructure, which enabled tw telecom to deliver services where customers needed them across a broad footprint. In 2003, the company launched a nationwide VPLS system, “several years before the incumbents,” he added. This in turn won the company the attention of financial services customers looking for Layer 2, VPLS-based Ethernet solutions instead of private line service.

    

   “When you bring that level of innovation, you acquire and hold onto customers for a long time,” said Rouleau.

    

   Today, tw telecom offers customers fractional 10 Gb/s Ethernet service and five classes of service across both its Ethernet and MPLS networks. This is unique in that it allows customers to have the bandwidth they need and a single class of service strategy regardless of what type of network service they want – Ethernet, MPLS, etc.

    

   “We build across a common backbone and have a common class of service,” said Rouleau, adding that the company’s common back office capability also provides customers with the same experience whether they are in Los Angeles or Atlanta.

    

   While tw telecom’s network allows it to reach half of U.S. businesses, it purchases services from other providers or uses new off-net solutions from vendors such as Overture Networks to bring Ethernet to the rest, said Rouleau. In addition to extending its reach, the company’s near term focus is convergence – leveraging Ethernet to collapse and deliver voice, data, Internet and videoconferencing on the same Ethernet backbone, he explained.

   Bookmark or Share this article

Login to comment.