LAS VEGAS--Global Capacity is giving its retail business and wholesale carrier customers another connectivity option by extending its One Marketplace service throughout the United Kingdom.
Existing and new One Marketplace customers that need access in the UK can connect through multiple points of presence (PoPs) and core network to get connectivity in London and the rest of the UK. Because of the way they have interconnected their PoPs, customers can get connectivity regardless of their interconnection point to One Marketplace.
"As we continue to go international, we have a lot of relationships with carriers around the globe, but we keep their pricing with our price desk and it's opportunistic," said Mary Stanhope, vice president of Product and Marketing for Global Capacity, in an interview with FierceTelecom during the COMPTEL PLUS Spring 2014 Convention & EXPO. "With the UK, we have gone in and automated it to the system so it's available to our wholesale and business customers."
What's driving Global Capacity to expand its UK capabilities is that it is seeing more U.S.-based multinational corporation (MNC) customers building out remote offices in the country.
Today, there are 1,696 U.S.-based companies that have more than 8,700 remote offices throughout the UK that need data connectivity, a segment that continues to grow.
Some of the other challenges that U.S.-based businesses have in expanding internationally is dealing with the local language and billing. By using One Marketplace, an enterprise with a few UK sites can get one contract, one service level agreement (SLA) and managed connectivity.
"Even in the UK with the English sterling pound, those are real problems when it comes to billing," Stanhope said. "If you start expanding internationally, those are some of the challenges they have for what could be one, two or three circuits."
Whether it extends service into international markets by itself or with partners like Equinix (Nasdaq: EQIX), Global Capacity's movement into the UK is part of a broader expansion effort it has planned to reach markets both in the U.S. and internationally.
Besides the UK, Canada is another destination of expansion. "We'll have a similar one like this one in the UK in Canada," Stanhope said, adding that it is taking a similar strategic approach to expanding its PoPs.
"If you look at some of the larger carriers, they have 200 PoPs," she said. "We know we don't need 200 PoPs, but we know we need more than 10 and we're looking at deploying 40 or 70 so we're taking a very strategic look at all the metro regions."
In addition to providing access to U.S. businesses that need international connections, Global Capacity is providing interconnectivity for international wholesale customers that need access into the U.S. market.
International carriers can get connected to One Marketplace via its data center locations such as the 60 Hudson Street facility in New York City or One Wilshire in Los Angeles.
"You can consume network throughout the entire United States and we'll help you figure it out," Stanhope said. "We can actually offer managed services as well in terms of managing that circuit."
It is also extending its LATTIS service tariff database to international carriers that need a means to get information on pricing in specific markets. By maintaining more than 325 tariffs with large service providers, an international provider can more rapidly get accurate pricing for access network solutions.
A recent upgrade to the LATTIS database will make tariff rates for E-LINE and E-LAN from ILECs and operators, including ATT (NYSE: T), Verizon (NYSE: VZ), CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL), FairPoint Communications (Nasdaq: FRP), Cincinnati Bell (NYSE: CBB) and Windstream (Nasdaq: WIN), available to customers.
"We have a lot of people that use LATTIS just in terms of understanding the U.S. market," Stanhope said. "It gives them a framework of what's in Poughkeepsie, New York, for example."
For more:
- see the UK release
- and the LATTIS release
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