Jim Wagner

Competitive local exchange carrier McLeodUSA is making an investment in the future with its Wednesday’s announcement to deploy a 31,000-mile, next-generation fiber optics network throughout the U.S. The two-year plan calls for the installation of a mesh-switching platform on the proposed 25-state backbone, considered the successor to the SONET-style ring architecture used by most of […]

New Edge Networks Inc., is stepping into the business services arena with Wednesday’s acquisition of West-Net Inc. It’s a change of pace for the digital subscriber line reseller, which caters to DSL provisioning to small and rural cities throughout the U.S. The company is using the buyout to leverage West-Net’s experience in wide area networks […]

Edgix Corp. is taking its broadband-based server technology and joining with Inktomi Corp. in an agreement to collaborate on technology and marketing developments, it was announced Wednesday. The deal promises to give Internet service providers already using Inktomi’s caching solution more room on networks that are being increasingly filled with bandwidth-hogging content like video and […]

Sometimes honesty truly is the best policy. An open letter Tuesday by Level 3 Communications, Inc., Chief Executive Officer James Crowe to stockholders resulted in a two-point surge in morning trading on Nasdaq’s listing. Initial response, in the form of Level 3’s stock value, met with favorable results the morning of the open letter’s release. […]

Motorola signed a multi-million dollar deal with Sprint PCS Tuesday to provide third-generation wireless equipment. Sprint officials declined to comment on the financial terms of the contract, which will give Sprint users access to equipment that can download information on the Internet at rates of 144kbps. It will mark Sprint’s network upgrade to take advantage […]

Williams Communications Group Inc., a year ahead in its U.S. inter-city network deployment, quickly penned an agreement Monday with colo.com for data center space in cities throughout the U.S. The agreement marks the first of several planned deals between the backbone provider and facilities-based colocation companies. By the end of 2000 the company expects to […]

It looks like the first round in High-Speed War II has begun, with StarBand Communication’s pricey two-way satellite Internet option going public Monday. StarBand, a joint venture between Gilat-To-Home Inc., Microsoft Corp., EchoStar Communications Group and ING Furman Selz Investments Inc., beat out companies like Hughes Networks and Iridium with its always-on high-speed Internet access. […]

The Federal Trade Commission and officials from Time Warner-America Online, Inc., may have brought the merger process one step closer to completion, it was reported Monday, with proposed open-access concessions. But whether the concessions, reported by the Wall Street Journal in its electronic edition Monday, will appease the FTC’s five-member approval board is another story. […]

Sprint Corp. addressed its financial future Friday in the face of dwindling stock value and lowered expectations in its FON Group. Company officials announced their intentions to move away from the long distance market and re-focus the group’s energies on the rapidly-expanding Internet data services industry. The move, however, comes at the cost to its […]

Third quarter losses of $1.4 billion prompted the PSINet Inc., board of directors to fire its president, chief operating officer and fellow board member, Harold Wills, Thursday. Taking Wills’ place, PSINet board chairman William Schrader named James Cragg president of North American operations and Harry Hobbs as international operations president. PSINet is also discontinuing its […]

As AT&T Broadband conducts the first of its cable feasibility tests in Boulder, Colo., Wednesday, open access advocates are calling for the government to quickly enforce a national framework for competing Internet service providers. Calling the $20 million trials in Colorado a smokescreen, critics take umbrage to the stranglehold cable network owners have on broadband […]

EarthLink Inc., the nation’s second-largest Internet service provider, announced Tuesday a net loss of $41.3 million, or 33 cents a share, in the third quarter. The third quarter results underscore the ISPs desire to satisfy customer demand for broadband Internet and the riches guaranteed to those who can provide said service. Low consumer awareness of […]