RCN Business is making its presence known in New York City's Empire State Building (ESB) by formally launching its suite of voice, data and video services with diverse points of entry in the landmark site.
Business tenants will be able to get access to all of RCN Business' product set, including high-speed Internet, Dedicated Internet Access (DIA), Hosted Voice, PRI/SIP Trunks, Video (HDTV) and Ethernet E-Line and E-LAN.
Ethernet is a large part of the portfolio. For tenants looking for an alternative Ethernet provider, they will find comfort in the fact that RCN Business' services have received the Metro Ethernet Forum's (MEF) Carrier Ethernet 2.0 (CE 2.0) certification earlier this year.
While it did not specify any customers that have signed up for service at ESB, Bruce Abbott, General Manager for RCN Business' NYC Market, told FierceTelecom that it does have a number of businesses that are set to use its service.
"The key factor that worked out for us is that the fact is that we have the only diverse path out of all of the providers in the building, which we think will make us very attractive to all the tenants in the building," Abbott said.
Abbott added that it's a brand new connection and "all of the other providers go out the same point of entry and we have established a new point of entry that will be the only diverse path out as opposed to everyone else."
Although working with the managers of the ESB was easy, the main challenge it faced was that it could not access an existing utility shaft.
"Our challenge was when we went to do the actual construction, from the tenth floor up there was a shaft way that was already in use that ConEd would not, or would not allow, any other providers to use," Abbott said. "What we had to do was core drill every single floor with our fiber and our coax, but in the end it worked very well."
The service provider said it will serve a mix of both large and small businesses. This client mix will be served by its new fiber and traditional hybrid fiber coax facilities.
"We ultimately think it will be a mix and we're hoping to secure the large dollars with the fiber circuits and the enterprise customers, but we did not want to ignore the opportunity to serve the smaller CPA firm or whoever is still in the building so we opted to put both services in the building and make them available," Abbott said.
Having this connection into the ESB will make RCN Business more competitive with traditional telcos like Verizon (NYSE: VZ) and even cable providers like Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) that have a strong business service presence in New York City.
For more:
- see the release
On the hot seat: RCN Business' Roeder on Ethernet, dark fiber and wireless backhaul opportunities
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Updated article on Sept. 5 with quotes from Bruce Abbott, General Manager for RCN Business' NYC Market.