Cogent lights 700th building with optical Internet service

13 May 2003 Washington D.C. Lightwave-- Optical Internet service provider Cogent Communications announced that it has connected the 700th building to its facilities-based network. The building located at 919 3rd Avenue is the 130th building lit by the company in Manhattan, where the average size of a Cogent lit building is 678,869 square feet.

Schulte Roth & Zabel, LLP, a law firm with offices in New York and London, is a tenant of 919 3rd Avenue. "Ample bandwidth and network reliability are absolute necessities not only for us, but for our clients as well," said Sam Blumenstyk, manager of technology operations, Schulte Roth & Zabel, LLP. "The fact that this is Cogent's 700th building served underscores the ISP's momentum in the market, which is not surprising, given the professionalism shown in the installation and configuration process that we experienced in getting our office connected."

Cogent serves 30% of the top 50 law firms in the US, according to the company. "Many law firm customers have come to realize the importance of having high bandwidth, whether it is for internet browsing, electronic mail, legal research or online training" remarked Bruce Wagner, Cogent's vice president of sales. "Several firms such as Schulte can now plan to add bandwidth intensive elements such as video conferencing, client extranet sites, and other creative ways to enhance their services. These are effective tools that can help provide prospects with a higher level of comfort when looking for top-notch representation."

Cogent lit its first network and began testing traffic in November 2000. Today, the ISP is in over 30 markets and has almost 6,000 customers throughout the United States and Toronto. The ISP continues to add buildings to its network at a pace of 1.5 per day.

"Unlike the thousands of ISPs in existence today, Cogent's network does not touch or ride on top of legacy telco's [telecommunications companies'] voice-based networks. By not having to rely on telco networks, Cogent eliminates the high cost of renting network capacity and is able to provide a higher quality of service at a far lower price point," said Dave Schaeffer, chief executive officer of Cogent Communications. "A Cogent powered building is much more attractive to potential tenants and has even enabled owners in some cases to charge higher rental rates in Cogent powered buildings," he added.

Cogent Communications focuses on delivering ultra-high speed Internet access and transport services to businesses in the multi-tenant marketplace and to service providers located in major metropolitan areas across the United States and Canada. The company's product set includes either 100 Mbits/sec or 1,000 Mbits/sec dedicated, non-oversubscribed bandwidth at $1,000 and $10,000 per month respectively. These connections are delivered over Cogent's backbone network.

The network consists of a dedicated nationwide multiple OC-192 fiber backbone, multiple intra-city OC-48 fiber rings, and optically-interfaced high-speed routers. Cogent has been recognized as the first IP+Optical Cisco powered network. In April 2002, Cogent acquired the majority of the U.S. operations of PSINet including their three data centers located in NY, LA, and Herndon, VA. As a result of the acquisition, Cogent is now offering service in over 30 metropolitan markets with bandwidth ranging from T1 to 1,000 Mbits/sec as well as colocation services in the data center locations.