Crosstown Fiber aims to bring dark fiber to Chicago
Crosstown Fiber LLC has debuted with plans to provide dark fiber to the market around Chicago. The company plans to leverage a redundant underground ring network of approximately 400 route miles “across all corners of Chicago” to enable connectivity over what it asserts are unique routes between data centers and other facilities. Crosstown Fiber expects to make the initial three ring-backbone available by the end of this year.
The network initially will connect school systems in the area, but Crosstown Fiber also has its eyes on large corporations, hyperscalers and other data center operators, small cell wireless carriers, content providers, and government agencies. The company plans to offer customers access to a large number of service providers as well as customer control of the network, high security, optional redundancy capability, and lower costs than other communications alternatives.
Crosstown Fiber Founder, President, and CEO Michael Underdown. Underdown has nearly 30 years of experience in the telecommunications infrastructure industry, primarily in the Chicago market. He was most recently COO of Comdesco Group, Inc., a construction management and consulting firm focused on fiber networks and data centers.
“I’m extremely excited to launch this new venture and bring a new level of connectivity to the Chicago market,” said Underdown. “Our unique, underground network is the ideal fit for customers who need multiple, diverse fiber routes to maintain business uptime, with high capacity and availability to scale with their unique and evolving needs. We bring the optimal solutions to our customers by leveraging our deep expertise and working with partners who provide uncompromised products and services.”
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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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