Lumos Networks has named Josh Wolff as SVP of the service provider’s recently created Lumos Data Center business, reflecting its desire to deepen its data center market share in the burgeoning Southeast market.
Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Wolff will be responsible for the company’s data center efforts across Lumos Networks’ entire fiber network, including DC74, which Lumos acquired in February 2017.
Wolff brings plenty of IT and related data center experience to his new position.
RELATED: Lumos acquires DC74 Data Centers for $28.5M, increases data revenue
Before arriving at Lumos, Wolff served as SVP and director of Northridge/Perficient in Charlotte, focused on business development in markets throughout the Carolinas and DC metro area since 2011.
Between the years 2005-2011, Wolff was the general manager and regional director of Hosted Solutions/Windstream Communications Charlotte Data Center Operation, where he helped launch and was tasked with maximizing sales growth in that market.
“Given Josh’s deep experience in the robust Charlotte data center market, Josh was an optimal candidate to accelerate growth within our recently acquired DC74 Data Center assets,” said Tim Biltz, president and CEO of Lumos Networks, in a release.
Biltz added that Lumos sees growth potential in the Charlotte data center and related managed services segments.
“We believe that our market share of the Charlotte co-location and managed services market is currently less than 5%,” Biltz said.
The Carolinas and the data center market have been two key areas of focus for Lumos Networks.
After acquiring DC74, Lumos increased the number of its owned and operated co-location facilities to 10. DC74 has 12 carriers, including Level 3, Cogent, Zayo and AT&T, interconnecting fiber at its facilities. By having a diversity of fiber players in these three centers, Lumos could potentially attract business customers that have needs in the Charlotte market.
When combined with Lumos’ recent acquisition of Clarity Communications, the DC74 assets increases the telco’s annualized data revenue in the North Carolina market to over $10 million.
But Wolff also has the potential to help Lumos grow its now even deeper presence in the Southeast via Clarity, which gave the telco a 730-mile fiber network with 75 on-net fiber locations located across four states. The majority of Clarity’s operations and fiber miles are located in North Carolina, but it also has a presence in Georgia and South Carolina.