PHOENIX-Global Crossing executives on Monday emphasized voice over IP, hosted applications, and aggressive expansion of its worldwide network in describing the communications wholesaler's plans following its acquisition of Frontier Communications.
At the Comptel competitive service-provider show, Anthony Cassara, president of Global Crossing's carrier services, said the merger expands Global Crossing's reach to customers by combining Frontier's extensive U.S. network with Global Crossing's international pipes.
"We can get anyone from any place to any place," Cassara said.
Global Crossing sells capacity on its network to competitive regional and local service providers, and has opened up opportunities for new and smaller carriers to offer international connectivity.
The company's plans include rapid expansion of its Global Centers, where Global Crossing provides hosting and assistance for service providers that want to offer applications such as e-mail, backup and recovery, storage, and unified messaging to enterprises. There are six of the centers today, all in the U.S., and Global Crossing plans to have 20 to 30 operating within a year in locations including Tokyo, Mexico City, and several European cities.
Casarra also said Global Crossing is making major investments in voice over IP (VOIP). According to company officials, the company will activate its first VOIP service to customers in January and expand the technology to five cities per quarter next year. The company aims to carry all its voice traffic on IP within three years.
"We're committed to this as an infrastructure technology," Cassara said. The change from circuit switching to VOIP on the network backbone will at first be transparent to customers but will soon result in greatly reduced rates, he said.
Global Crossing also will continue developing its international backbones. Barry Porter, senior vice president of corporate development, said the company will augment its current Atlantic Crossing with a second pipe that will expand its total trans-Atlantic capacity to 2.5 terabits per second.
In addition to gaining access to many local markets through the Frontier acquisition, Global Crossing will aggressively expand its local reach in the U.S. and abroad in the coming months. A deal with competitive local provider Telergy will let the company offer access to enterprises in New York, and partnerships and development will give Global Crossing local connections in at least 10 other locations in the next 12 to 15 months, officials said.
Local connectivity allows enterprises to buy access worldwide from just one provider, Cassara said.
Global Crossing Ltd. is in Beverly Hills, Calif., and can be reached at www.globalcrossing.com.
This story from Infoworld.com Copyright © 1999 InfoWorld Media Group, Inc.
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