Integra Telecom Inc. recently inked an Network to Network Interface (NNI) agreement with Arizona’s Saddleback Communications that expands each company’s footprint and extends Carrier Ethernet services to the premises of large enterprise customers to greater Phoenix/Scottsdale/Mesa. The deal is unique in that it is Integra’s first Carrier Ethernet NNI to date and because Saddleback is one of the nine Native American-owned incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) in the nation.

The ILEC operates on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community and provides Ethernet transport services, Internet access, PRI’s and other advanced services to many large companies and multiple corporate headquarters that have located their businesses within the tribal community. Saddleback also wholly owns Re-Invent Telecom LLC, a competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) which wholesales hosted, IP-centric, cloud-based IP telephony services and SIP trunks for use bybusinesses located outside the boundaries of the Community. Both entities are taking advantage of the NNI to bring native Ethernet services to and from their customers’ facilities, says Steve Obee, director of sales and service for Saddleback.

Saddleback’s customers now have a wide variety of Ethernet LAN and WAN connectivity options that they need to do business locally and nationwide, says Obee. 

Integra’s large investment in Ethernet-over-Copper (EoC) in its 11-state market enables its customers to link to EoC endpoints and transport their traffic via private network connections to Saddleback’s network and take advantage of its Metaswitch architecture, says Shane Gregory, director of operations for Saddleback.

“Our CLEC, Re-Invent, is out there actively selling SIP trunks and other applications. So we are very excited to leverage our partnership into Integra’s large physical footprint,” says Gregory. “Our large customers with corporate headquarters can buy 5 or 10 Mbps from Integra and come all the way back here via a privatized connection that is scalable up to 1 Gbps. 

Gregory said he initiated talks about the NNI with Integra in June 2011 because he was personally aware of the high quality of Integra’s network.

“The quality is scary good,” he adds.

Depending on their size, Saddleback’s customers generally want to buy 10 or 50 Mbps connections or connections as granular as 3 to 10 Mbps, says Gregory. The integrated Carrier Ethernet services Saddleback can provide via its partnership with Integra are very cost effective and allow customers to finally merge voice and data into one “really good quality pipe,” he says. The ILEC’s very large corporate enterprise customers want 50, 100 or GigE pipes and they also are being driven by cloud-based services and the proliferation of data centers, says Gregory.

“We have several large entities here that are centralizing their infrastructure at data centers and they’re looking for Ethernet transport up to10 Gig. Now we can provide that to them in several ways, with Integra being one of those ways,” adds Obee.

On the Re-Invent side, the NNI with Integra gives resellers the option to sell to customers the private connections that they want including hosted PBX and SIP services, and cloud-based telephony services on the public Internet, he adds.  

The Ball Is Rolling

Because Saddleback is a smaller ILEC, it was a great opportunity for Integra to “walk before we run as an organization,” says Karen Knight, national wholesale account manager for Integra, which owns and operates a 5,000 mile high-speed, long-haul fiber network and a 3,000 mile metropolitan access network that links to nearly 1,900 buildings. After putting this agreement together, Integra now has its processes and procedures in place for future agreements with larger carriers. The NNI with Saddleback has been up and running since October, she adds.

“We offer a lot of EoC so there is going to be a big demand for these NNI’s, because customers can purchase from 10 to 30 Mbps over copper,” says Knight. “I also firmly believe that some of these second and third tier markets are where we are going to see some of the highest demand in the future because they have been so starved for bandwidth and Ethernet connectivity.”

Integra is currently working with a couple of other large carriers to establish NNI’s both in and outside of Phoenix, she adds.  

Integra Telecom Inc. recently inked an Network to Network Interface (NNI) agreement with Arizona’s Saddleback Communications that expands each company’s footprint and extends Carrier Ethernet services to the premises of large enterprise customers to greater Phoenix/Scottsdale/Mesa. The deal is unique in that it is Integra’s first Carrier Ethernet NNI to date and because Saddleback is one of the nine Native American-owned incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) in the nation.

The ILEC operates on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community and provides Ethernet transport services, Internet access, PRI’s and other advanced services to many large companies and multiple corporate headquarters that have located their businesses within the tribal community. Saddleback also wholly owns Re-Invent Telecom LLC, a competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) which wholesales hosted, IP-centric, cloud-based IP telephony services and SIP trunks for use bybusinesses located outside the boundaries of the Community. Both entities are taking advantage of the NNI to bring native Ethernet services to and from their customers’ facilities, says Steve Obee, director of sales and service for Saddleback.

Saddleback’s customers now have a wide variety of Ethernet LAN and WAN connectivity options that they need to do business locally and nationwide, says Obee. 

Integra’s large investment in Ethernet-over-Copper (EoC) in its 11-state market enables its customers to link to EoC endpoints and transport their traffic via private network connections to Saddleback’s network and take advantage of its Metaswitch architecture, says Shane Gregory, director of operations for Saddleback.

“Our CLEC, Re-Invent, is out there actively selling SIP trunks and other applications. So we are very excited to leverage our partnership into Integra’s large physical footprint,” says Gregory. “Our large customers with corporate headquarters can buy 5 or 10 Mbps from Integra and come all the way back here via a privatized connection that is scalable up to 1 Gbps. 

Gregory said he initiated talks about the NNI with Integra in June 2011 because he was personally aware of the high quality of Integra’s network.

“The quality is scary good,” he adds.

Depending on their size, Saddleback’s customers generally want to buy 10 or 50 Mbps connections or connections as granular as 3 to 10 Mbps, says Gregory. The integrated Carrier Ethernet services Saddleback can provide via its partnership with Integra are very cost effective and allow customers to finally merge voice and data into one “really good quality pipe,” he says. The ILEC’s very large corporate enterprise customers want 50, 100 or GigE pipes and they also are being driven by cloud-based services and the proliferation of data centers, says Gregory.

“We have several large entities here that are centralizing their infrastructure at data centers and they’re looking for Ethernet transport up to10 Gig. Now we can provide that to them in several ways, with Integra being one of those ways,” adds Obee.

On the Re-Invent side, the NNI with Integra gives resellers the option to sell to customers the private connections that they want including hosted PBX and SIP services, and cloud-based telephony services on the public Internet, he adds.  

The Ball Is Rolling

Because Saddleback is a smaller ILEC, it was a great opportunity for Integra to “walk before we run as an organization,” says Karen Knight, national wholesale account manager for Integra, which owns and operates a 5,000 mile high-speed, long-haul fiber network and a 3,000 mile metropolitan access network that links to nearly 1,900 buildings. After putting this agreement together, Integra now has its processes and procedures in place for future agreements with larger carriers. The NNI with Saddleback has been up and running since October, she adds.

“We offer a lot of EoC so there is going to be a big demand for these NNI’s, because customers can purchase from 10 to 30 Mbps over copper,” says Knight. “I also firmly believe that some of these second and third tier markets are where we are going to see some of the highest demand in the future because they have been so starved for bandwidth and Ethernet connectivity.”

Integra is currently working with a couple of other large carriers to establish NNI’s both in and outside of Phoenix, she adds.