tw telecom (Nasdaq: TWTC) on Thursday was awarded two contracts with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for both Internet connectivity and wavelength services supporting the federal government's Trusted Internet Connectivity (TIC) strategic initiative.
The two elements of tw telecom's contribution to the TIC initiative are worth up to $11.67 million over the next five years.
The service provider will supply Ethernet Internet Services (EIS) and 10G wavelength services for medical and health-related data connectivity to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Indian Health Services (IHS) in Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Albuquerque, N.M.
In the first segment, which is evaluated at $7.49 million over the next five years, tw telecom will deliver EIS for the Washington, D.C., and Atlanta TIC sites.
The second five year contract, which is worth $4.18 million, is for Wide Area Network (WAN) Cloud A network connectivity for 10 Gig wavelength services to the Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Albuquerque, N.M., TIC sites.
These services address two key concerns for HHS: keeping up with anticipated network growth and securing the Operating Divisions (OPDIV) medical data. These requirements are crucial for HHS: The agency's HHS' Medicare program is the nation's largest health insurer, handling more than one billion claims per year.
Securing this contract with HHS is another major win for tw telecom at a time when government agencies are being more conservative about the money they are spending on telecom services. It also proves the company can win big accounts with its expansive set of fiber and Ethernet networks. In addition, the contract ups tw telecom's profile in the government communications market, which has typically been dominated by the big three service providers--AT&T (NYSE: T), CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ).
For more:
- see the release
Special report: Wireline in the second quarter of 2012
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