Neutral Tandem Announces Interconnection to Ethernet Exchange It Already Owns

By David Gross

I know this is supposed to be the week of the Ethernet Exchange press release, but Neutral Tandem announced this morning that it is interconnecting its network with another network it already owns.  

Neutral Tandem paid $95 million to acquire global IP transit provider Tinet in September, expanding the number of places where its "Ethernet Exchange-enabled".    Basically, it seemed to be saying "we're not necessarily setting up Exchange ports in Bucharest or Bratislava, but if you call up and ask for one in those cities, we'll give it to you".   Today, it said that the two networks are interconnected, meaning that if you hook into Neutral Tandem at 60 Hudson Street or 111 8th Avenue, you can now reach Ethernet customers in Bratislava through its Ethernet Exchange.  

While you might question the need for GigE ports in former Communist bloc countries, I would remind you that this rapidly growing Carrier Ethernet business is heading for an oligopoly among CENX, Equinix, and the Neutral Tandem/Telx we're-working-together-on-this-thing arrangement.   Additionally, we've gone one hour and twenty-eight minutes without an Ethernet Exchange press release, so another one should be on the wire shortly.