Lightower Fiber Networks, founded in 2006, was a provider of

telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

and

IT services Information technology service management (ITSM) are the activities performed by an organization to design, build, deliver, operate and control IT services offered to customers. Differing from more technology-oriented IT management approach ...

. It offered cloud computing, colocation hosting, and connectivity.

Description

The company's network spans the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest United States including Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, DC, and New Hampshire. Additionally, Lightower offers service in both Toronto and London. The network comprises over 33,000 route miles of fiber. Lightower’s products include network and video transport, alternative access, nationwide long haul services, dark fiber, Ethernet, and cloud computing services. Lightower has built out access to over 22,000 service locations throughout the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Midwest including 275+ data centers and 5,000+ wireless towers, rooftop cell sites, and small cells. Customers include Fortune 500 businesses, enterprise, carriers, financial services, media, healthcare, education, and government. The company was acquired by

Berkshire Partners Berkshire Partners LLC is an American private equity firm based in Boston. It has invested in over 100 middle market companies since 1986 through nine investment funds with aggregate capital commitments of more than $16 billion. Berkshire has de ...

in December 2012 when it also acquired Sidera Networks and announced plans to merge them under the Lightower brand. Its previous owners were

M/C Partners M/C Partners is a private equity firm focused on growth equity investments in emerging companies in the media and communications industries. M/C invests in early, mid, and late stage companies as well as turnarounds and buyouts in its sectors o ...

and

Pamlico Capital Pamlico Capital, which was formerly called First Union Capital Partners and then Wachovia Capital Partners, is an independent private equity firm focused on growth capital and leveraged buyout investments in middle-market companies in the busines ...

(the investing unit of

Wachovia Wachovia was a diversified financial services company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Before its acquisition by Wells Fargo and Company in 2008, Wachovia was the fourth-largest bank holding company in the United States, based on total asset ...

before its takeover by

Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with a significant global presence. The company operates in 35 countries and serves over 70 million customers worldwide. It is a systemically important fi ...

. Those two companies had bought it from National Grid in 2007. Lightower was bought by

Crown Castle Crown Castle Inc. is a real estate investment trust and provider of shared communications infrastructure in the United States headquartered in Houston, Texas. Operating with 100 offices worldwide, its network includes over 40,000 cell towers and ...

in July 2017, and no longer exists as a separate company. The company was the title sponsor of the Lightower Conference Classic, now called the Roc City Hoops Classic.

Mergers and acquisitions

2007

*National Grid Wireless- Acquisition (NEESCom)

2008

*Keyspan Communications - Acquisition *Hudson Valley DataNet - Acquisition

2010

*Veroxity Technology Partners - Acquisition * Lexent Metro Connect

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

based neutral telecommunications provider that owns, operates, builds and maintains its own dark fiber network in New York, Northern New Jersey, and surrounding areas. - Acquisition *Open Access, Inc. - Acquisition

2013

*Sidera Networks - Merger

2015

*Fibertech - Merger *Colocation Zone - Acquisition

2016

*Datacenter101 - Acquisition

References

*"Lightower Picks Ciena for 100G". 11 January 2012. *"Lightower’s Ultra-Low Latency Network Provides Fastest Networking to Key Financial Centers". 3 November 2011. *"Lightower Announces New Network Expansion Projects in New York Metro and Southern Connecticut". 21 June 2011. *”Lightower Completes Acquisition of Open Access Inc.” 1 April 2011. *”Lightower Acquires Veroxity Technology”. 25 May 2010.

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.lightower.com
Lightower on Twitter
Companies based in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Telecommunications companies based in Massachusetts Synchronous optical networking Telecommunications companies established in 2001 2001 establishments in Massachusetts