Everstream announces new market targets, closes LightBound acquisition
Business-centric fiber-optic network services provider Everstream says it plans to spend more than $250 million to expand its fiber footprint into five new Midwestern U.S. markets this year. The company also has closed the acquisition of the fiber and telecom assets of LightBound from DataBank.
Everstream says it plans to combine organic and acquisition-based growth strategies this year. “Everstream’s goals for 2020 are aggressive,” explained Everstream President and CEO Brett Lindsey. “We actively continue our network build to provide high-capacity, low-latency connectivity to businesses throughout the Midwest. At the same time, we are also strategically pursuing acquisition and partnership opportunities that will help us reach our goals more quickly while densifying the network already in place. Because of the tremendous growth we’re experiencing, 2020 is going to be an exciting year for Everstream and our customers.”
The company says it plans to offer services this year in such new markets as Chicago, St. Louis, Dayton, Fort Wayne, and Louisville. Everstream currently operates a fiber-optic network of 13,000 route miles, which it uses to offer such business fiber services as dedicated internet access, dark fiber, Ethernet, and data center offerings; the company operates 36 data centers across the Midwest. Last year, Everstream built new fiber networks in Columbus, OH (see "Everstream connects Columbus to business fiber network"); Indianapolis, IN; and Milwaukee. It also added fiber to its network in Cleveland.
The move into Indianapolis is aided by the LightBound acquisition. DataBank announced its intent to purchase LightBound last October. It simultaneously announced it would sell LightBound’s fiber assets to Everstream, leaving DataBank with data center facilities that more closely matched the company’s core business. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“As DataBank continues to expand its national footprint of edge data centers in secondary markets with the addition of two world-class facilities in the Indianapolis market, the sale of our LightBound fiber/telecom assets to Everstream is consistent with our focus on providing high quality colocation and cloud solutions to enterprise, cloud and content customers,” stated Raul K. Martynek, CEO of DataBank. “At the same time, the transaction will accelerate Everstream’s ongoing expansion of its fiber footprint throughout the Indianapolis metro area, bringing substantial scale and resources to new and existing customers as our organizations set out to partner closely with each other now and into the future.”
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Stephen Hardy | Editorial Director and Associate Publisher, Lightwave
Stephen Hardy is editorial director and associate publisher of Lightwave and Broadband Technology Report, part of the Lighting & Technology Group at Endeavor Business Media. Stephen is responsible for establishing and executing editorial strategy across the both brands’ websites, email newsletters, events, and other information products. He has covered the fiber-optics space for more than 20 years, and communications and technology for more than 35 years. During his tenure, Lightwave has received awards from Folio: and the American Society of Business Press Editors (ASBPE) for editorial excellence. Prior to joining Lightwave in 1997, Stephen worked for Telecommunications magazine and the Journal of Electronic Defense.
Stephen has moderated panels at numerous events, including the Optica Executive Forum, ECOC, and SCTE Cable-Tec Expo. He also is program director for the Lightwave Innovation Reviews and the Diamond Technology Reviews.
He has written numerous articles in all aspects of optical communications and fiber-optic networks, including fiber to the home (FTTH), PON, optical components, DWDM, fiber cables, packet optical transport, optical transceivers, lasers, fiber optic testing, and more.
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