e.spire Customers On-Net in Tier 1 Markets
Thursday March 25, 8:31 am Eastern Time
e.spire Subsidiary ACSI Network Technologies, Inc. Completes Fiber Route and Facility Installations in Atlanta, South Florida, and San Antonio
ANNAPOLIS JUNCTION, Md., March 25 /PRNewswire/ -- e.spire Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: ESPI - news) today announced that it has turned up its 104-mile fiber- optic network in Atlanta and is offering competitive telecommunications services to this multi-billion dollar Tier 1 market. e.spire has also begun serving customers in South Florida, a Tier 1 market encompassing Fort Lauderdale and Miami, and expects to be serving its first customers in another Tier 1 city, San Antonio, in early April. In addition, by the end of the year, e.spire plans to add service in other Tier 1 markets, including New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC/Northern Virginia.
e.spire's small and medium-sized business customers in these markets will have access to state-of-the-art local and long-haul telecommunications networks and e.spire's PLATINUM service, which includes integrated voice, data, and Internet services.
''We will aggressively pursue new PLATINUM on-net customers in these large and relatively untapped markets,'' said e.spire Chairman and CEO Anthony J. Pompliano. ''Small- to medium-sized businesses will now have a choice of integrated telecom services -- local, long distance, and custom calling features bundled with Internet -- over high-speed connections to a global net. We are pleased to add these Tier 1 metropolitan areas to our footprint.''
In December 1998, e.spire's wholly-owned subsidiary, ACSI Network Technologies, completed installation of one of the largest fiber networks in the Atlanta market, including 104 fiber route miles around the city and extending from downtown to Alpharetta, GA. As part of the project, ACSI Network Technologies built a 13,000 square foot technical facility that houses e.spire's voice and data switching equipment including a Lucent 5ESS 2000 digital voice switch, a Newbridge MainStreetXpress 36170 ATM switch and carrier-grade Cisco routers.
ACSI Network Technologies also completed construction of a network in South Florida, including 15 miles serving downtown Fort Lauderdale. In San Antonio, the downtown network and accompanying switch facility have been installed and a 40-mile extension is expected to be operational this spring. Both the San Antonio and Fort Lauderdale facilities are equipped with the identical Lucent, Newbridge, and Cisco electronics as deployed in Atlanta. The switch in Fort Lauderdale also serves customers in the Miami metropolitan area.
e.spire, through ACSI Network Technologies, is also currently completing local fiber networks in New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC/Northern Virginia. Included in these projects is a 194-mile long-haul fiber route between New York and Northern Virginia that will connect 182 miles of local fiber in New York, 12 miles in Philadelphia, 124 miles in Baltimore and 140 in Washington, DC/Northern Virginia. This will be one of the most extensive local and long-haul networks with high-speed, multi-protocol access in the northeast corridor.
As e.spire's fiber footprint extends, connecting major cities and surrounding suburbs along the eastern seaboard and across the south, the company will be better positioned as a facilities-based provider to win new on-net customers and offer existing customers more robust products and services.
e.spire Communications, Inc. is a leading provider of integrated communications solutions, including dedicated access, local dial tone, long distance, advanced data, Internet and networking solutions, in markets throughout the United States. For more information on e.spire, contact www.espire.net on the Internet.
SOURCE: e.spire Communications, Inc. |
