September 16, 2004 Oak Brook, IL -- Merit Network Inc., a non-profit corporation whose mission is to make its network a showcase for high-performance advanced networking for research and education, has selected facilities-based service provider Looking Glass Networks Inc. to provide dark fiber supporting Internet connectivity in the Chicago metropolitan area.
This is the latest of many similar projects Looking Glass has with educational institutions to provide dark fiber and other services across its metro markets nationwide.
Using Looking Glass' DarkGLASS services in Chicago, Merit plans to expand this solution into a bigger project involving other universities. Looking Glass' ownership of a diverse fiber network and quick provisioning intervals allowed the company to deliver this service on time and within the customer's budget.
"Merit is very pleased with the interaction and coordination of Looking Glass with the numerous parties involved in this project," reports Brian Cashman, manager of backbone network engineering, Merit. "This dark fiber solution met both our immediate and long term requirements for Internet connectivity while allowing us to realize a significant cost savings. The project went very smoothly, and Looking Glass exceeded our expectations by delivering its dark fiber services in just two weeks from order launch. Merit looks forward to a continued relationship with Looking Glass and the benefits of using the company's flexible networks to provide high bandwidth connections for research and education."