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Technology Stocks : METROMEDIA FIBER NETWORK (MFNX) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: peat who wrote (837)	2/15/2000 2:28:00 PM
From: KLH	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1983

Love it...bought more on this big dip today. Give me more! Karl

To: peat who wrote (837)	2/28/2000 11:51:00 AM
From: Beltropolis Boy	Respond to of 1983

>went to their web site where you can get the whole report for $5995.00 thanks for sharing! <vbg> crikey, that's one expensive muffin. and more than i freaking invested in MFNX, one of my more "speculative" plays. well, at least the following blurb is free ... cheers, -chris. ----- Optical opulence: Rollouts continue in tandem with investments LIANE H. LABARBA 02/21/2000 Telephony The flexibility of optical networking has led to significant investments by service providers in an effort to meet growing client needs. And vendors are stepping in to help meet escalating demand. Service provider Metromedia Fiber Network and its subsidiary AboveNet Communications detailed plans last week to pump $1.4 billion into its broadband infrastructure expansion. With the expansion, MFN will light approximately 29,000 miles of long-haul fiber in North America and Europe, linking the company's current metropolitan assets. MFN expects to reach approximately 67 cities with the expansion and 14 AboveNet Internet service exchange facilities. "If a customer needs more bandwidth, we don't have time to wait for provisioning delays from the telcos," said Dave Rand, chief technical officer for MFN. "The only way is to actually own [the infrastructure] ourselves." MFN traded fiber with many companies to ensure a diverse set of routes, Rand said. "Fiber cuts can definitely happen so the diversity was really key." By adding long-haul routes, MFN hopes to more tightly integrate and grow the AboveNet subsidiary, which provides Internet connectivity and co-location services. The change also will put MFN in competition with providers such as Qwest Communications and Williams Communications, said Kevin Mitchell, service provider networks analyst for Infonetics Research. "MFN has carved a niche out by servicing the metropolitan area, which they need to use to their advantage, and with AboveNet's co-location strengths, long-haul was the logical next step," Mitchell said. "This is why the two companies came together," Rand said. "It brings costs down significantly and allows unlimited growth potential that customers really need." To equip the long-haul buildout, MFN signed a $250 million deal with Nortel Networks for its OPTera Long-Haul product. Separately, Nortel detailed plans last week to invest $260 million in optical equipment, manufacturing, research and development (see story on page 34). MFN already uses Nortel's OPTera Metro equipment in its metropolitan networks, but that wasn't why MFN chose Nortel again, Rand said. "With the long haul, we wanted to make the most use out of our fibers, and OPTera [Long-Haul] enables that," he said, noting that it also will mesh well with the metropolitan rings. "By using both the OPTera Metro and Long-Haul [equipment], MFN will be able to offer end-to-end optical service," said Brian McFadden, vice president and general manager of OPTera Solutions for Nortel. The OPTera platform interoperates with other vendors' products, allowing multivendor networking, McFadden said. "It is beneficial to have a single network management system though," he said. With that, service providers such as MFN, will not be as concerned about hand-offs, McFadden added. "It will all be done on a seamless network." In addition to the deal with MFN, Nortel also landed a deal with GTE. As part of that agreement, Nortel's OPTera Metro product will be the primary equipment for GTE's metropolitan equipment.