MegaPath Wholesale extends Ethernet reach via Telx, sheds Covad Wholesale name

Orlando, Fla.--With its former Covad namesake now a memory, the new rebranded MegaPath Wholesale is taking advantage of its recent plans to build out a nationwide Ethernet over Copper (EoC) network to extend its service to even more possible carrier customers by establishing a connection in Telx's Ethernet exchange.

Telx Ethernet exchanges

Telx Ethernet exchange map

The competitive carrier's first interconnection point, which is being announced during this week's COMPTEL trade show in Orlando, will be at Telx's New York City data center at 111 8th Ave. In addition to Telx, MegaPath has similar agreements with CENX and Equinix (Nasdaq: EQIX).

Service providers that need to extend their Ethernet service reach will be able to purchase MegaPath Wholesale's Ethernet over Copper services in speeds that scale from as low as 3 Mbps up to 20 Mbps.

Tadashi Egami, VP of Wholesale Marketing for MegaPath Wholesale said the agreement it has with Telx and other exchanges is to make its EoC offering more appealing to international carriers.

"Our philosophy is always to provide our partners options in how to work with us, whether through a direct interconnection agreement and the other burgeoning relationship which is the exchange," he said. "The opportunity there is from international carriers who are looking for a foothold in the U.S. and by working (with) nationwide carriers like us they can fill out the footprint by going into the exchange to fill out their footprint versus having to establish relationships with other carriers."

Following its launch in Los Angeles to serve 14 additional markets, the agreement with Telx builds upon MegaPath's ambitious plan to build a nationwide EoC network that will provide service out of 680 COs (central offices). As of today, the CLEC's EoC service is available in 200 COs nationwide.

The agreement provides some obvious benefits for MegaPath and Telx alike.

Through its agreement with Telx, MegaPath will be able to extend their service to an even larger pool of potential customers, including international providers that want to extend their footprint into the U.S. Just the same, Telx adds another growing carrier's service to its roster that it can offer potential customers that are interested in leveraging the still-nascent Ethernet exchange service.

In related news, MegaPath Wholesale has rebranded its wholesale division, Covad Wholesale, which it purchased in September 2010 along with Speakeasy to MegaPath Wholesale.

Despite the name change, Egami said the new MegaPath Wholesale won't have any effect on existing customers.

Under this common brand, MegaPath Wholesale will continue to offer the same network, operations and partner-facing support tools it offered to carrier customers under the old Covad Wholesale name.

"Speakeasy had no wholesale unit at all and MegaPath had a very fledgling wholesale business so if you look at the revenues on the wholesale side when you combine the three companies, 90 percent was Covad anyway," Egami said. "It was a more of a how do we integrate the MegaPath unit into the Covad way of doing business so we continue to operate as two separate business units to keep the two different partner bases in mind."

For more:
- see the Telx release
- and the MegaPath rebranding release

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