Internet infrastructure provider Conxion
Corp. and Europe’s Versatel
Telecom International N.V. Monday struck a joint long-term data deal.
The strategic relationship calls for Conxion to acquire Versatel Internet subsidiary SpeedPort. Conxion also intends to
pick-up European network services from the Amsterdam-based
telecommunications firm.
On the flip side of the deal Versatel plans to contract for global Internet
transit services from Conxion for three years.
The agreement marks the first leg of Conxion’s journey into international
markets and to expand its managed hosting, connectivity and technical
support services worldwide.
SpeedPort is a leading European provider of Internet systems and network
management solutions for companies with mission critical Internet
operations. SpeedPort targets European and U.S. corporations, Internet
service providers and e-commerce enterprises with its brand of managed
connectivity and collocation services.
Antonio Salerno, Conxion chairman and chief executive officer, said
Versatel is an important fiber provider in Europe with data centers located
in Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the U.K.
“This acquisition is a key element of our plan to be one of the four or
five players with a global Internet backbone who can offer world-class
hosting and network services,” Salerno said.
Conxion plans to integrate SpeedPort’s five European network and data
centers into its nationwide U.S. backbone to create a transatlantic wide
area network. When the two firms have blended systems by the end of the
year, Conxion will have the added data center capacity to handle 10,000 new
European servers.
Salerno said the deal means Conxion is capable of lighting dark fiber on
demand across the Atlantic and within Europe.
“This agreement provides us an integrated pan-European network along with
SpeedPort’s data centers and talented staff and management who really know
the terrain for European hosting,” Salerno said. “We will accelerate the
European market’s move away from collocation services by quickly launching
Conxion brand managed hosting services.”
Raj Raithatha, Versatel chief financial officer, said the long-term
partnership with Conxion would permit both companies to grow as they
mutually expand services internationally.
“Our agreement with Conxion gives Versatel a strategic partnership with a
Tier 1 U.S. IP network and provides us with a major new fiber customer for
our international network,” Raithatha said.
Conxion’s Salerno said its first task would be to host bandwidth-intense
download sites for its independent software distributing clients, which
include Microsoft Corp., Symantec Corp.
and Oracle Corp.,
which are anxious to distribute software over the Net to
European clients.
“Now we will be able to host applications with a low-latency response for
our application service provider customers who want to deliver services
over the Internet to European companies.” Salerno said. “Having a European
presence also will open doors to new customers who need access to a global
network for managed web hosting services as a step up from standard
collocation services.”
The agreement with Versatel grants Conxion the rights to OC-48 capacity in
Europe, with more capacity available next year. In April 1999, Conxion
struck an agreement with Williams
Communications Group Inc. to construct its OC-192 U.S.
fiber backbone.
Salerno said there are only a handful of n
etworks that could rival its
transport capacity. Conxion’s Net resources include a fully redundant,
global, pure IP network interlaced through 20 strategically located data
centers in the U.S. and Europe.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.