Verizon Completes XO Acquisition

Verizon completed its $1.8 billion purchase of XO Communications’ fiber-optic network business. The deal was first announced in February 2016. Network integration work begins immediately.

"This transaction with XO will bring significant benefits in how we deliver superior services to our customers," said John Stratton, Verizon executive vice president and president of Operations.  "XO’s fiber network will add ever greater capacity and reach to Verizon’s networks, a combination that will lead to enhanced capabilities, better services and faster rollout of next generation communication networks."

Separately, Verizon will simultaneously lease available XO wireless spectrum, with an option to buy XO’s entity that holds its spectrum by year-end 2018.

http://www.verizon.com
http://fios.verizon.com

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XO Intros Cloud-Based Contact Center Service Platform

XO Communications introduced a cloud-based contact center service that helps businesses by providing multiple methods for their customers to engage with a contact center ranging from traditional phone calls to web chats, text messages and social media channels.

The new Contact Center Service, which integrates with leading CRM systems such as Salesforce.com, also enables customers to connect quickly with the most qualified agent who can address their specific needs. It is available over XO's private and dedicated MPLS IP-VPN network.

“A cloud-based solution allows businesses to stay up to date on the latest contact center features, while improving the overall customer experience,” said Jake Heinz, senior vice president of marketing and product at XO Communications. “The increased number of first call resolutions and reduced hold times is valuable to companies that want to improve contact center productivity and will reduce churn.”

http://www.xo.com

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Verizon to Acquire XO's Fiber Business for $1.8 Billion

Verizon Communications has agreed to acquire XO Communications’ fiber-optic network business for approximately $1.8 billion.

Verizon cited several financial benefits from the transaction, including a step-up in the basis of the assets as well as operating and capital expense savings. The net present value of the operational synergies is expected to be in excess of $1.5 billion.

Separately, Verizon will simultaneously lease available XO wireless spectrum, with an option to buy XO’s entity that holds its spectrum by year-end 2018.

Carl C. Icahn, the Chairman and Sole Shareholder of XO Holdings, stated "Although this sale to Verizon does not represent a significant annualized return on our investment, we believe that in today’s environment it does represent the best achievable outcome for the company’s customers, employees and owner.”

http://www.xo.com/verizon-acquires-xo/
http://www.xo.com/why/the-right-network/assets/

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XO Launches Managed Security Service over AWS Direct Connect

XO Communications (XO), in collaboration with BAE Systems and Fortinet, announced a Managed Security Bundle for businesses using the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Direct Connect service.

The new AWS Direct Connect-enabled managed security bundle enables XO customers to procure high-speed connectivity to the AWS Cloud with firewall technology and managed security from a single provider.

XO integrates firewall technology from Fortinet and highly-respected managed security services from BAE Systems into the XO MPLS network for customers accessing AWS Direct Connect that sign up for the managed security bundle.

“Our new managed security bundle for AWS Direct Connect is an integral element of our network-enabled cloud strategy helping businesses to effectively and efficiently leverage both public and private cloud services to maximize their business productivity,” said Jake Heinz, senior vice president of marketing and product at XO Communications.  “In today’s environment where data security is a top priority, businesses can effortlessly leverage services designed for a higher level of security for their AWS Cloud data accessed through the XO network.”

XO expanded its AWS Direct Connect capabilities in 2014 and currently offers secure network connectivity for enterprises at speeds ranging from 50 Mbps to 10 Gbps.

http://www.xo.com/baesystems-fortinet/

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XO Interconnects with Microsoft Azure through Equinix Cloud Exchange

XO Communications (XO) introduced direct links to Microsoft Azure through the Equinix Cloud Exchange.

XO now offers its customers dedicated connections to Azure at bandwidths of 200 Mbps, 500 Mbps and 1 Gbps in Equinix International Business Exchange (IBX) data centers in the Washington, D.C., area and Silicon Valley. Enterprises choosing 1 Gbps connectivity to the Azure platform also have the option of leveraging the XO Bandwidth on Demand service with usage-based billing and bandwidth commit rates ranging from 100-500 Mbps.

“Enterprises need to increase the velocity of their business growth while constraining total IT spending,” said Jake Heinz, senior vice president, marketing and product at XO Communications. “XO enables the evolution of the hybrid IT function whereby the IT organization becomes a trusted cloud services broker for the entire organization. With dedicated network connections to Azure, IT managers are now able to cost-effectively drive productivity by deploying true hybrid cloud architectures.”

http://www.xo.com

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XO Communications Ties Into the Equinix Cloud Exchange

XO Communications will begin providing enterprises with high-speed, dedicated connectivity to multiple cloud service providers through the Equinix Cloud Exchange. The XO connectivity will extend to five Equinix IBX data centers across the United States including Washington, D.C., Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and Silicon Valley.

“As businesses of all sizes migrate more services and applications to the cloud, XO is taking a leadership role in enabling dedicated network access to a wide range of public cloud resources through both direct connections and cloud exchanges. As such, XO is very pleased to be one of the first network service providers to access the new Equinix Cloud Exchange. For enterprises, the evolving hybrid cloud architecture demands the security, visibility, high speed and flexible connectivity that XO will deliver via the Equinix Cloud Exchange,” stated Nicola Jackson, vice president, product and marketing, XO Communications.

http://www.equinix.com/
http://www.xo.com

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XO Expands AWS Direct Connect Capabilities

XO Communications (XO) will begin offering AWS Direct Connect to enterprises at speeds ranging from 50 to 500 Mbps. This expansion of the AWS Direct Connect relationship  is an enhancement to existing direct connections at speeds of 1 and 10 Gbps.  The dedicated connections are provided over an IP-VPN.

"XO is pleased to be providing services that support its customers' connections to AWS Direct Connect," said Nicola Jackson, vice president, product and marketing at XO Communications. "Companies of all sizes are now looking for reliable, more secure access to cloud resources through direct connections to AWS. Toward achieving that for our customers, XO is helping companies maximize their network investments with cost-effective connections to the cloud."  

http://www.xo.com

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XO Deploys Infinera for 100G Nationwide

XO Communications has deployed the Infinera DTN-X packet optical transport networking platform across its nationwide network.

The multi-terabit Infinera DTN-X platform supports 100G services also enables XO to deliver high-performance cloud, data and video applications nationally. The Infinera DTN-X platform features single-card, 500Gbps FlexCoherent super-channels, enabling XO to rapidly deliver more than nine terabits per second of transmission capacity on a single fiber.

"The rapid growth of network traffic from mobile data, Internet video and cloud-based services puts tremendous stress on all areas of the XO network infrastructure," said Steve Nocella, XO Communications’ CTO. "The Infinera Intelligent Transport Network will enable XO to rapidly, and cost effectively grow network capacity for 100G services, and will also allow us to better meet the bandwidth requirements of our customers."

"Across the board, we are seeing accelerated bandwidth growth, driven primarily by new applications and Cloud infrastructure, which in turn is driving demand for scalable multi-terabit solutions," said Dave Welch, Infinera’s President. "The Infinera Intelligent Transport Network helps position XO with an infrastructure designed to accommodate their growth while enabling support for 100 Gbps and other high-performance services for their customers both today and tomorrow."

http://www.infinera.com
http://www.xo.com

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XO Names Christopher Ancell as CEO

XO Communications named Christopher Ancell as its new CEO, replacing Laura W. Thomas, who will remain with the company and assume the role of Chief Financial Officer, a position she previously held.

Ancell most recently served as senior vice president of sales and sales engineering for CoreSite Realty Corporation.  Prior to CoreSite, Ancell spent 12 years in a variety of leadership roles at both CenturyLink and Qwest, including president of CenturyLink's business markets organization and executive vice president of Qwest's business markets organization.

http://www.xo.com

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XO Expands to Canada

XO Communications announced an expansion to Canada.  Its Canadian subsidiary will now offer route-diverse, high-speed network services across all of Canada's six time zones. XO network services are now available throughout Canada, including Dedicated Internet Access, high-speed IP transit, MPLS IP-VPN, VPLS, Ethernet, Private Line and Wavelength services for enterprise and wholesale customers.

"Our Canadian expansion is an example of the progressive organic growth we've experienced since implementing our initial network hub in Toronto and the growing demand from our customers for end-to-end network service capabilities throughout Canada," said Don MacNeil, chief marketing officer for XO Communications. "Our further expansion across Canada will enable XO Communications to continue to provide high-capacity network services to enterprise and wholesale customers, whether they need connectivity within Canada or high-speed access to markets in the U.S."

http://www.xo.com

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XO Launches Three Cloud Services

XO Communications is launching three new cloud services that leverage its Tier III data centers and its nationwide network: XO Enterprise Cloud, XO Cloud Drive, and XO Cloud Vault.

XO Enterprise Cloud -- provides enterprise-grade cloud computing services delivered over a private and secure network environment. Multiple network connectivity options are offered to access the Enterprise Cloud.  The service offers multiple computing resource allocation options, such as Shared, Reserved and Dedicated.  The XO Enterprise Cloud architecture is designed to provide higher levels of performance and isolation for customers with mission-critical and unique security requirements.  XO Enterprise Cloud server and storage infrastructure is built using best-in-class products from HP, VMware, and EMC and offers three tiers of high performance  storage, including Solid State Drives. XO is also using networked Fortinet security appliances.  The XO Enterprise Cloud platform is deployed in Tier III data centers located in Northern Virginia and Southern California with SSAE 16 Type 2 compliance.  The service can support 1 Gbps dedicated bandwidth per virtual machine, as well as scale-up capabilities that can reach 32 vCPUs and 512 GB RAM per server.

XO Cloud Drive -- store, share, synchronize and collaborate on business content and files in the cloud.  The cloud-based platform provides uniform access to files across the following platforms, including iOS, Android, Mobile Web, Windows, Mac and Linux.

XO Cloud Vault -- automates and simplifies backup services for businesses with multiple locations or complex, distributed IT environments. Customers can replicate data from the XO Enterprise Cloud platform as well as from premise-based servers and desktops. An intelligent backup design provides compression, encryption and copy of only those documents, emails and databases that have changed since the most recent backup across the following platforms: Windows, Linux, Mac, Solaris and FreeBSD.

"IT organizations are continually pressured to support an increasing number of mission-critical applications with fewer resources, causing businesses to seek out virtual solutions as a way to effectively and efficiently expand core operations without spending unnecessary capital," said Jake Heinz, vice president of marketing at XO Communications. "In response to this industry need, XO Communications has expanded our services for dedicated cloud resources. This deeper commitment to the Infrastructure-as-a-Service market puts XO Communications in the best position to serve mid- and large-sized businesses for their computing, data and network requirements."

http://www.xo.com

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XO Picks Ciena for Digital Video Transport Service

XO Communications has selected Ciena’s Digital Video Transport solution to deliver native digital video transport services to media and entertainment customers across the XO nationwide network.

The service, which is underpinned by XO Communications’ coast-to-coast 100 Gbps network, will allow XO Communications to transport high-definition (HD) video content for its customers without affecting original quality. The service will multiplex different video signals alongside Ethernet services from remote studios, stadiums and other dispersed locations into a centralized studio or video production location.

Ciena’s Digital Video Transport solution includes the 565 Advanced Services Platform, a compact and cost-optimized metro WDM platform that enables a variety of data, storage and video services to be aggregated onto an optical wavelength-based network or service. Ciena's solution also includes video diagnostic tools that greatly simplify testing and troubleshooting for motion picture and television pre- and post-production, and live broadcast television content contribution.

As part of Ciena’s Optical Transport portfolio, the Digital Video Transport solution will be deployed in conjunction with other Ciena platforms in the XO network, including the 6500 Packet-Optical Platform with WaveLogic technology.

XO Communications utilizes Ciena platforms across its network to provide Ethernet, storage and managed services applications with low latency, as well as 100G managed wavelength services to its large enterprise and wholesale service provider customers.

http://www.ciena.com

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XO's Intelligent WAN Combines MPLS IP-VPN, Security and App Monitoring

XO Communications launched a new Intelligent WAN service that combines MPLS IP-VPN, network security and applications performance monitoring in one unified solution.

The new XO Intelligent WAN service is aimed at cloud-centric connectivity requiring end-to-end visibility of the performance of applications across the network.  Three key capabilities include:

Intelligent Networking: Connect offices, data centers and branch locations while unifying employees, suppliers, and customers with seamless access to applications and services leveraging the intelligent networking capabilities of XO MPLS IP-VPN. This private, application-aware network service enables IT and network staff to prioritize applications and network traffic and build a more scalable network infrastructure that can easily add new locations and services with the intelligent routing capabilities of MPLS.

Integrated Network Security: Monitor network threats and provide secure access to the network with round-the-clock surveillance and unified threat management capabilities of the XO Intelligent WAN’s integrated Hosted Security. With network security hosted in the XO cloud and fully integrated with the enterprise WAN, organizations can more cost-effectively provide network security for each location as well as implement uniform security policies across the network with robust firewall, web and content filtering, and secure remote access capabilities.

End-to-End Visibility of Application Performance: Get real-time application performance insights that help IT and network staff monitor application performance and end user experience with the XO

"Increasingly, the executive suite is seeing the network as creating business value and being central to achieving business objectives. The XO Intelligent WAN can help IT and network staff plan better for tomorrow’s business environment by providing greater agility for exploiting market opportunities, delivering on customer-centric principles, and conquering the two biggest barriers to cloud services adoption: security and application performance," stated Don MacNeil, Chief Marketing Officer, XO Communications.

http://www.xo.com/about/news/Pages/554.aspx

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Level 3 and XO Adopt Bit-Mile Model for Traffic Peering

Level 3 Communications and XO Communications announced a long-term, settlement-free, Internet traffic exchange agreement based on a bit-mile balance approach, which measures both the volume of traffic exchanged and the distance over which that traffic is carried by each network.

The companies said their new peering agreement is equitable and settlement-free because both networks carry approximately the same bit-miles of data.  Both carriers see a balanced cost burden across each network. The peering agreement also contains provisions to add capacity and establish new interconnection locations between the two networks to stay ahead of growing traffic demand.

"Level 3's primary focus is on providing quality service for Internet consumers," said Jack Waters, Level 3's chief technology officer. "We look forward to working with our peering partners to drive broader adoption of this bit-mile model to ensure fair and equitable interconnection. We are also working with providers of traffic-flow monitoring systems to make the measurement process straightforward and consistent across the industry."

"XO Communications supports equitable settlement-free peering to ensure fair and unconstrained interconnection," said Randy Nicklas, senior vice president and chief technology officer, at XO Communications. "This agreement will ensure a balanced backbone cost burden between our two networks as we continue to grow while providing high-quality service for our respective customers."

http://www.xo.com
http://www.level3.com

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XO Expects Recovery from Sandy to Take a Week

XO Communications reported on Thursday morning (November 1) that full restoration of network services post Hurricane Sandy should be complete within a week due to ongoing commercial power issues.  In a damage report, the company noted the following activity:

111 8th Avenue, New York – Power has been restored via generator and all systems are operational. Fuel is being delivered twice daily and it is estimated that commercial power will be restored in 3-4 days. XO continues to monitor fuel and generator levels at this site.  On Thursday, the air conditioning system was turned off due to a fuel pumping problem.  Temperatures inside the data center quickly exceeded 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.78 C ).  Cooling infrastructure  was restored at around 7pm EST. ConEdison is estimating 3-4 days before full power is restored to the building.

75 N Broad Street, New York – Although this Central Office (“CO”) was impacted by significant flooding it is now operational, running on generator power. XO continues to monitor fuel and generator levels at this site.

60 Hudson, New York & 165 Halsey, New Jersey – These XO sites and all other XO sites in New York City, except as described above, are operating and are fully accessible; all power via generator has been restored in these sites. XO continues to monitor fuel and generator levels at this site. It is estimated that commercial power will be restored in 3-4 days.

974 Marcon (Philadelphia) – Running on generator power. All equipment at the site is operational. XO continues to monitor fuel and generator levels at this site. ETR for commercial power is Sunday.

Philadelphia, PA Fiber Event – XO has determined that there is a fiber cut in the Philadelphia area that is impacting customers. XO dispatched a crew and has determined the area of the cut. XO is waiting on commercial power to be restored prior to repairing damaged fiber. Unfortunately the fiber cut is in a rural area and commercial power may be a lower priority for the power company than other areas.

Cleveland, OH – Recently declared at State of Emergency because of the extent of storm damage. XO will continue to focus on restoration efforts in this area as determined by State of Emergency conditions

http://www.xo.com/information/Pages/Hurricane-Sandy.aspx

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XO's Coast-to-Coast 100G Links Equinix Data Centers

XO Communications is deploying nodes of its new, national 100G optical backbone in Equinix International Business Exchange (IBX) data centers across the United States.

XO Communications and its partners, Nokia Siemens Networks and Ciena, deployed the 100G service inside Equinix, leveraging Equinix’s Solution Validation Center.

The 100G connection already links Equinix data centers in Silicon Valley and Washington DC.

XO said 100G availability from Equinix’s data centers provides customers with:

• High-capacity access to public, hybrid, private cloud providers
  
• The ability to optimize their network for increased performance and lower latency
  
• High-speed content distribution to improve end user experience
  
• Access to Carrier Business Ethernet services across metros and regions

http://www.xo.com

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XO Deploys Ciena in 100G Metro and Regional Network Upgrade

XO Communications will deploy Ciena’s Packet-Optical Transport technology to provide optical transport and business Ethernet services via its metro and regional networks, nationwide. Financial terms were not disclosed.

XO is deploying Ciena’s 6500 Packet Optical Platform with WaveLogic coherent technology. The platform offers OTN switching capabilities supporting OTN, SONET, Ethernet and Fibre Channel, as well as managed wavelength services — at speeds of 1G to 10G, 40G and 100G. XO will use multiple chassis sizes depending on the metro or regional requirements.

XO said its newly-enhanced network will support speeds of 100G, delivering Ethernet, storage and managed services applications with low latency.  XO will also work with Ciena to offer 100G managed wavelength services to its large enterprise and wholesale service provider customers.

http://www.ciena.com

• Last month, XO confirmed that it is using Nokia Siemens Networks' hiT7300 DWDM optical transmission platform  to deploy 100 Gbps across its long-haul fiber network on a nationwide basis.

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XO First to Implement 100G on Nationwide Long-haul Network

XO Communications has become the first service provider in the U.S. to deploy 100 Gbps across its long-haul fiber network on a nationwide basis.

XO is using Nokia Siemens Networks' hiT7300 DWDM optical transmission platform, which is capable of carrying 96 100G wavelengths simultaneously for a maximum capacity of 9.6 terabits per second per fiber. Coherent technology enables transmission over existing fiber. The system can scale to 400G and beyond. In addition, Nokia Siemens Networks said that by offering DCM-free transmission, its solution enables lower latency (less delay) in data transmission. It supports colorless, directionless ROADM functionality.

XO said the increased capacity gives it the flexibility to more efficiently manage the increasing data traffic across its network from enterprise and wholesale customers’ Internet, video, mobile data and cloud-based enterprise applications. The carrier plans to offer 100 Gbps optical network services to cable companies, mobile wireless service providers, and domestic and international telecommunications companies.

"While other telecommunications companies have deployed or tested 100G optical systems across portions of their networks, XO Communications is the first service provider to deploy 100G technology on an operational basis coast-to-coast across its nationwide fiber network,” said Randy Nicklas, senior vice president and chief technology officer for XO Communications. “By making this leap to 100G, XO Communications is taking a leadership role in utilization of optical networking and offering customers the network infrastructure and services needed in order to deliver today’s cloud computing, mobile wireless and Internet video delivery platforms and services."

"We are happy to play a key role in enabling XO Communications to reach this important industry milestone," said Jim Benson, head of Optical Networks for the Americas at Nokia Siemens Networks. “With the use of our high performance 100G coherent technology, XO Communications has built an automated, high capacity, state of the art network that will allow it to provide end customers with very low latency service connections coast-to-coast."

http://www.xo.com
http://www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com

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