Sigma Networks announced the Sigma Networks Metropolitan Area Interconnect Network (MAIN), what the company claims to be the first independent, multi-service broadband fiber optic "link" between the Internet's backbone, data centers, Internet traffic aggregation points, and last mile broadband service providers.
The company's Washington, D.C. network is operational, and network services in the San Francisco Bay Area will go online in the second quarter of 2001. In addition, Sigma Networks announced agreements with companies including AOL (NYSE:AOL), Cable & Wireless (Nasdaq:CWPUF), Enron (NYSE:ENE), Telia Internet, Inc., Covad (Nasdaq:COVD), PSINet (Nasdaq:PSIX), Universal Access, Inc. (Nasdaq:UAXS), 360 Networks (Nasdaq:TSIX) and Broadwing (NYSE:BRW). Sigma Network MAINs will be located in major Internet interconnection exchanges such as Equinix (EQIX).
On February 23, 2001 Sigma Networks announced a $435 million first round of financing, led by Frontenac Company, with participation from Oak Investment Partners, Benchmark Capital, Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV), Capital Research, Salomon Smith Barney, Charter Growth Capital, Epoch Partners, Cisco Systems, Comdisco, and Sand Hill Partners.
Sigma Networks gives its service provider customers the widest range of broadband network choice -- anywhere, anyway and anytime -- via a single connection. Sigma Networks' MAIN provides the greatest number of interconnection points via the largest number of bandwidth suppliers. Unlike current options, service providers can choose from the widest variety of transmission technologies (circuits, packets, and wavelengths). And Sigma Networks allows for the fastest provisioning time. Bandwidth can be purchased and provisioned in days rather than months.
Sigma Networks provides its customers with control in ordering, provisioning, managing, and supporting their network services via its MAINPoint Operational Support System. Through a web-based interface, customers can order network services, obtain online order status, monitor the performance of the network, receive billing information, generate management reports, and file and monitor the resolution of technical support requests.
Sigma Networks' MAIN is designed to deliver broadband services at speeds of 50Mbps to 10Gbps. It is a fully switched network, providing full interconnectivity within a metropolitan area so that a single connection to the MAIN in a metro provides a service provider with connectivity to any other network or hosting facility on the MAIN. It is a metropolitan network that supports a multi-service broadband capability, including time-division-multiplexed circuits, Gigabit Ethernet packets, and Wavelength services. Both the network architecture and the MAINPoint OSS have been designed to support provisioning of new circuits in days (not months) and upgrades of existing circuits in hours. Existing suppliers' provisioning ordering processes are executed via phone or fax and take from two to nine months.
Sigma Networks gives its service provider customers a range of broadband network choice. MAINLink service includes OC-3, OC-12, OC-48 and OC-192 SONET-compatible circuits, MAINStream is the company's Gigabit Ethernet Layer 2 Transport service, and MAINLight provides protected or unprotected wavelengths. With both the MAINLink and MAINStream services, customers can scale their bandwidth as their business needs grow, only paying for the amount they need at a given time.
Sigma Networks also delivers service availability through equipment redundancy, protected transport infrastructure and common logic.
MAINPoint is a customer-controlled OSS that supports circuit, packet and wavelength services. It is an integrated software platform that provides both customer facing and "back office" support. The Sigma Networks team mapped out best-practice business processes, such as customer information management, order management, inventory management, service activation, network management, billing, and customer support and then implemented these processes into the MAINPoint OSS using a combination of proprietary and best of breed software solutions. The net result is a reduction in labor costs to operate the business, rapid provisioning intervals, and unparalleled control for the customer.
Sigma Networks' Washington, D.C. MAIN is operational, and the San Francisco MAIN will be online in the second quarter of 2001. Sigma Networks is deploying MAINs in 2001 in the top Internet markets which support approximately 80% of the Internet's total traffic. One or two switching centers and fifteen to thirty points of presence (POPs) will be deployed in each market. POPs are typically located in major hosting facilities, carrier hotels, broadband access network and ISP Hubs, and carrier hotels. Pricing of both circuit-switched and packet-switched services is distance-insensitive within the metropolitan area, which dramatically simplifies the budgeting and purchase process.
About Sigma Networks:
Sigma Networks is an independent provider of multi-service metropolitan broadband interconnectivity. For more information, visit www.sigmanetworks.com.