Connectivity by MegaPath

I always enjoy sharing good news, and I'm especially pleased to share the details of today's news. The MegaPath, Covad, and Speakeasy merger has closed, and the creation of a next generation Managed Services Local Exchange Carrier (MSLEC) has begun. Of course this news excites everyone within our newly united company, and we are eager to explain the business of the New MegaPath. First off, I'm glad to confirm the new company will operate under the MegaPath name. Every industry has its pundits, and communications is no different. We heard some humorous name suggestions -- Megavadsy, Speak-o-path, Mega-easy-path -- all good tries, but the company name is definitely MegaPath. More importantly though, I do want to take a moment and confirm the purpose and plans for the New MegaPath. Our collective strength is important for customers and partners.

Craig Young, Chairman and CEO of MegaPath noted, "for too long in the telecommunications industry, customer service and reliability have taken a back seat. With the combination of MegaPath, Covad and Speakeasy, we are bringing to market a leading nationwide IP network to deliver a complete line of end-to-end managed services, including voice, data and security. Small, medium and large enterprises will now benefit from a new service provider that is willing to invest in advanced services, while remaining heavily focused on customer service." Let's take this a step further. MegaPath operates one of the largest end-to-end communications networks in the country. Last week we celebrated a 10 year milestone of offering MPLS services over the MegaPath all-optical MPLS nationwide network. We know from working with customers and partners, in addition to running our MPLS network for 10 years, that the evolution of data transport is creating the perfect storm for smarter network traffic engineering.  The customers, employees, partners, and suppliers who interact with your organization have come to expect that they can do so anytime and anywhere. Ultimately, your business has become your network. And this is where MPLS delivers real value. Because our customers need to balance business and operations issues in their IT budgets, increasingly these needs are bringing them to managed services and network-based solutions.

The New MegaPath benefits from:

• Covad, a leading national provider of IP broadband services;
• MegaPath, one of the largest managed services local exchange carriers (MSLEC) in North America, providing managed IP data, voice, VPN, and security services for SMB and enterprise customers; and,
• Speakeasy, a nationwide small business voice and data provider known for its industry-leading customer service and support

Moving forward, MegaPath will serve the communications market through two divisions: a wholesale operating division, and a direct, business markets division. This combination is powerful because we can provide customers and partners with complete voice, access, private networking, and managed security solutions for business customers of all sizes. Bruce Chatterley, former CEO of Speakeasy, and now President of Business Markets, is quick to point out one thing that will not change is the high level of sales and customer support teams that customers and partners have come to depend on. For our 85,000 business customers and more than 4,500 partners, the new MegaPath is better positioned to meet your needs.

If you are ready to move your voice communications to an outsourced VoIP service, you will want to know about an opportunity -- and a potential headache -- that can be present in this changeover.

The Opportunity: This is a great time to take a fresh look at your communications needs. Instead of simply making a 1:1 exchange of phones, be sure to review:

• The number and location of phones and their calling features
• Your company's overall calling patterns and dial plans
• Replacing an aging PBX that can no longer keep up with your needs

With the advanced IP network, phones and business features offered by MegaPath voice services, your organization will find new ways to communicate effectively and extend new capabilities to employees and customers.

The Potential Headache (and how to avoid it):  Installing the new phones for a VoIP service isn't always a do-it-yourself project. Not all VoIP service providers offer phone installation services, and most small and midsize businesses do not have staff with the necessary technical expertise to install IP phones and set up the associated networking. If your organization is tempted to consider handling the phone installation internally, remember: Who will you call if a problem arises? Will you need to find someone (probably an external consultant) to finish the job? What if a mistake causes downtime?

A managed services provider like MegaPath performs many on-site activities that simplify your transition to a VoIP service. These activities include installing the data circuit and network equipment, and verifying that the proper cabling for the new phones is in place. If any new cabling is needed, the installers handle it. The installers will also review any additional preparation you must complete, such as reconfiguring an existing Power over Ethernet (PoE) switch to work with the MegaPath network.

Finally, when your voice service is transferred to MegaPath, the installers will return to install the IP phones. They will ensure the phones are working properly before they leave, to minimize the impact of changeover on your employees.

What questions or concerns do you have about the activities involved in changing to a managed voice service?

I like to think about the significance of reaching milestones by also thinking about what they will mean to the path ahead. Today MegaPath announced its 10 year anniversary of offering MPLS-based services. This work began when Michael Francois, our VP Network Planning, led the MPLS effort at Epoch Internet (which has long been part of MegaPath) with the guidance and input of experienced network design engineers, planners, and operations leaders. For 10 years now, MegaPath has leveraged its all-optical MPLS nationwide network to deliver communications services to its distributed enterprise users across 19,000 customer sites and 70,000 endpoints. With that much time and experience, I can say with confidence that our team has tackled just about every conceivable network and customer scenario. We’re so pleased to congratulate two of those network experts, Nick Uddin (#4391) and Ramon San Luis (#4716), who helped launch the company’s MPLS service, and are celebrating their 10 year anniversaries for maintaining Cisco CCIE certifications, which recognize individuals around the world for their network engineering skills and mastery of Cisco products and solutions. MegaPath has enjoyed a great relationship with Cisco, and as a Cisco certified Master MSP, we look forward to providing Cisco powered solutions to our customers. Bob Gault, vice president of Cisco’s Service Provider Channels, offered his congratulations to Nick and Ramon for their CCIE achievements, and in recognition of MegaPath’s MPLS milestone. Thanks, Bob, for your kind words.

Cisco and MegaPath Webinar: A Free, Last-Chance Opportunity for You
This Wednesday, August 25, MegaPath and Cisco will co-present "Big Network Dreams on Small Budgets" during a MPLS University session from 10 – 11 a.m. PT. This session will provide new views on putting SMB networks to work, and is open to IT professionals in Small and Mid-Size Business, Cisco SMB partners, MegaPath partners, and those interested in becoming a partner.

To register for this free event, please visit http://www.megapath.com/mplsuniversity/aug25/.

To learn more about MPLS University, go here.

Pushing the Envelope
I have to give credit to my colleague, Beth Tyebjee, who leads products and project management for MegaPath, for effectively pointing out the looking back – looking forward significance I needed to explain our MPLS network investment to customers. She noted,“over the years, we’ve continually added capabilities to our services so customers have the most comprehensive MPLS network available. The MegaPath MPLS Network was engineered to outperform other MPLS networks, and by operating it as a nationwide private network, our MPLS network provides customers with confidence that their business-critical applications are receiving priority over other traffic. We have 10 successful years behind us, and are continuing to push the envelope in providing the highest quality services.”

Has MegaPath won plenty of awards for our MPLS-based services? Of course, and we’re quite proud of them. But for business and IT operations leaders that are dealing with connectivity, application delivery, security, and information sharing issues, they’re looking for sound IP advice. MegaPath can help.