LighTrade and Winstar Enter Into A Multi-Year Broadband Connectivity Agreement
WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- LighTrade Inc., the leading operator of carrier- and trader-neutral bandwidth pooling points, and Winstar Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: WCII), a leading broadband services company, announced today that Winstar has entered into a long-term agreement to utilize LighTrade bandwidth pooling points. Through this agreement, Winstar will serve as a major provider of local broadband access for other LighTrade customers, thereby adding the premium of true end-to-end network connectivity to the marketplace for long-haul bandwidth trading. By accessing LighTrade's nationwide pooling points, Winstar will also benefit from more seamless and efficient connections between its own network and those of other carriers.
LighTrade's physical bandwidth delivery mechanism eliminates a historic gating factor in telecommunications -- the time it takes to transfer bandwidth between networks. LighTrade's centralized pooling points switch bandwidth among carriers and service providers in minutes rather than months, creating a dynamic and highly reliable network layer solution to the connectivity problem.
LighTrade's pooling points also enable the burgeoning marketplace for the trading of excess long-haul bandwidth among nationwide bandwidth providers. As a major provider of local broadband capacity to LighTrade's other customers, Winstar will enable desktop-to-desktop capabilities to the bandwidth marketplace, which traditionally has been limited to pop-to-pop transactions. With this added end-to-end broadband reach, participants in long-haul bandwidth marketplaces will benefit from the ability to extend their network reach beyond the POP.
This relationship highlights the value of Winstar's end-to-end broadband network infrastructure, which includes a nationwide fiber backbone connecting the top 60 U.S. markets, metropolitan fiber rings in 50 cities and direct broadband fixed wireless and fiber connections to thousands of buildings covering more than 100,000 businesses. Winstar intends to utilize LighTrade pooling points as a platform to provide LighTrade customers with short term, real-time, on-demand broadband network connectivity, particularly in the local marketplace, where bandwidth remains a true scarcity.
LighTrade currently has eight pooling points in service in Seattle, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Atlanta, Miami, Dallas, Chicago, and San Jose and expects to have an additional seven by the end of the second quarter of 2001. Winstar will interconnect to multiple ports at these LighTrade pooling points and others as they come on line in major markets throughout the country.
"LighTrade is a unique connectivity solution that helps broadband service providers optimize the value of their fiber assets," said Ted Pierson, chief executive officer of LighTrade. "Winstar's decision to connect its rapidly expanding broadband network with LighTrade's ability to switch bandwidth in real time indicates a unique and forward thinking view towards initiatives which will generate additional revenue from Winstar's extensive fiber and fixed wireless broadband network assets. LighTrade will enhance the overall performance of Winstar's broadband network by enabling it to efficiently deploy and manage its telecommunications capacity. In turn, Winstar's metropolitan connectivity will benefit LighTrade's customers looking for first/last mile solutions. We are delighted to have Winstar as a customer of LighTrade."
"As we near the completion of our core infrastructure, we are constantly looking at ways to generate additional on-net revenue from our broadband network," said William J. Rouhana, Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of Winstar. "Our relationship with LighTrade will provide us with a more efficient infrastructure for connections to other carriers. It will also be a key enabler for us to selectively deploy excess bandwidth in our long-haul fiber network, and take greater advantage of our unmatched local broadband capabilities."
Entities that utilize LighTrade's neutral pooling points have the benefit of:
* A powerful platform for the development and delivery of new bandwidth
products and services of any duration;
* Access to multiple bandwidth service providers with a single
connection;
* Instantaneous switching among service providers at key network junction
points;
* Continual Quality of Service measurements; and
* Confidentiality and reliability.
Connecting to LighTrade offers the carrier and trading communities increased flexibility and new methods of assuring quality as well as an additional sales channel that will increase utilization of fiber assets and drive revenue growth. Long haul carriers can better manage the risk associated with fiber deployment and maximize utilization in a market characterized by increasing capacity and decreasing prices, and CLECs and large ISPs and ASPs can more efficiently meet their long haul capacity needs.
About Winstar
Winstar is a leading broadband services company. The company is rapidly building one of the world's most widely available, end-to-end broadband networks. Winstar makes this network important and useful to businesses by providing a comprehensive set of high-quality, digital-age broadband services. These services include high-speed Internet and data, Web hosting and design, phone services, Web-based applications, e-commerce, professional services and Office.com(R), A Service From Winstar, the top-ranked online business service for small and medium-sized businesses. For more information, visit winstar.com .
About LighTrade
LighTrade, Inc. is deploying carrier-neutral pooling points in major metropolitan areas in the United States and abroad. LighTrade will provide real-time interconnection and QoS (Quality of Service) monitoring services for the delivery of telecommunications capacity sold through any means- counterparty-to-counterparty, market makers, on-line trading platforms, matching services and brokerages. LighTrade's mission is to offer a dynamic, network layer solution to the current inefficiencies in the transfer of bandwidth between bandwidth service providers. For more information on LighTrade visit the company's website at lightrade.com . |
