Exponential-e extends Metro Ethernet Network from UK to New York

Sept. 12, 2003

12 September 2003 London Lightwave Europe -- Gigabit Ethernet provider, Exponential-e is extending its wholly-owned London metro Ethernet network to New York, addressing the needs of corporate users who have offices or clients in the US and want the benefits of end-to-end Ethernet services.

- "First Provider" to take dedicated Ethernet network to NYC

12 September 2003 London -- Gigabit Ethernet provider, Exponential-e is extending its wholly-owned London metro Ethernet network to New York, addressing the needs of corporate users who have offices or clients in the US and want the benefits of end-to-end Ethernet services.

The connection, along with the PoP in Hudson Street - just on the edge of the Big Apple's financial district - will be ready for service in October. By delivering this connection, Exponential-e says it has become the first UK provider to extend its network to the US to deliver desktop to desktop Ethernet services.

The company is using the Tyco sea cable and has layered Ethernet directly onto its fibre so that quality of service is maintained along the route. Exponential-e state the new service delivers speeds of 60ms for a round trip from London to New York, almost cutting existing speeds in half (SDH are approximately 100ms).

The reason for choosing the Tyco cable over more widely used ones, such as TAT-14 and Yellow, is that it gives those companies who already have an SDH transatlantic connection the ability to try Exponential-e while building resilience into any existing connection.

Exponential-e has partnered with a number of service providers in New York for the local tail, all of whom have their own metro Ethernet networks in the city. Exponential-e believes that in most cases a customer's premises will be networked, resulting in no additional costs for putting fibre into the building and helping to keep prices as low as possible.

Even where a local tail is required, with a number of providers to choose from, the customer will never be too far away from the core network, ensuring any dig will only be a short distance.

Both retail and wholesale services will be launched over the coming weeks, but initially there are three retail offerings: PowerAccess USA - a dedicated transatlantic connection from desktop to desktop; PowerServe USA - Internet Access; and PowerConnect - UK PoP to US PoP connection.

Exponential-e's Lee Wade, commented: "Over the last few months Corporates have become aware of the benefits that Ethernet in the WAN can deliver, including its flexibility, high speeds and low prices. Since many of our customers have offices or clients in New York, we know there is the demand.

"These companies have typically been paying over GBP200,000 for a 34Mbit/s connection, where we can offer them the same capacity for around GBP60,000. Extending to New York was therefore the next logical step."

"We are realistic however. We are still a young company and appreciate that corporates are unlikely to move all their transatlantic traffic to us immediately. By choosing the Tyco cable, we are enabling corporates to build resilience into their networks while trying our Ethernet service."