Sidera Networks was an American

telecommunications company A telecommunications company is a kind of electronic communications service provider, more precisely a telecommunications service provider (TSP), that provides telecommunications services such as telephony and data communications access. Many t ...

headquartered in

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 ...

which primarily provided fiber optic network infrastructure to cellular carriers,

financial services Financial services are service (economics), economic services tied to finance provided by financial institutions. Financial services encompass a broad range of tertiary sector of the economy, service sector activities, especially as concerns finan ...

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

healthcare Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

legal services A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as wel ...

and media industries. The company was acquired by

Lightower Fiber Networks Lightower Fiber Networks, founded in 2006, was a provider of telecommunications and IT services. It offered cloud computing, colocation hosting, and connectivity. Description The company's network spans the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest Uni ...

on April 11, 2013.

History and acquisitions

Sidera Networks began as

RCN Corporation RCN Corporation, originally Residential Communications Network, founded in 1993 and based in Princeton, New Jersey, was the first American facilities-based ("overbuild") provider of bundled cable telephony, cable television, and internet s ...

, a publicly traded telecommunications company, based out of Herndon, VA. RCN Corporation was founded in 1993 by developer David McCourt and Peter Kiewit Sons' Inc. In 1998, RCN Corporation became one of the ten largest Internet service providers in the country after acquiring Virginia-based Erols Internet, Inc. and Boston-based UltraNet Communications to strengthen the data side of its business. That same year, RCN acquired Interport Communications in New York City and Springfield, Massachusetts-based JavaNet, Inc., which linked high schools and colleges to the Internet. In March 2006, RCN Corporation created the subsidiary, RCN Business Solutions, with the acquisition of Con Edison Communications (CEC), a wholly owned subsidiary of Consolidated Edison Inc. RCN Business Solutions also built and operated its own fiber optic network in New York City. This network leveraged the electric utility rights of way. After acquiring NEON Communications in November 2007, RCN Business Solutions became RCN Metro Optical Networks, providing telecommunication services to enterprises and carrier customers. Founded in 1989 as FiveCom, NEON owned and operated a fiber optic network in twelve Northeastern and mid-Atlantic states and was a wholesale service provider of high bandwidth transport services to service providers and Fortune 100 companies. In September 2010, RCN Metro Optical Networks re-launched as Sidera Networks. The change was a result of ABRY Partners, LLC's acquisition of RCN Corporation on August 26, 2010. Later that year, Sidera Networks made two additional acquisitions. In November 2010, Sidera acquired Cross Connect Solutions, Inc. a Philadelphia-based colocation provider, adding of colocation space to Sidera's existing portfolio. In December 2010, Sidera Networks acquired Long Island Fiber Exchange] (LIFE), adding of fiber and 550 lit buildings to its footprint. On December 27, 2012, Sidera announced that it would merge with Lightower Fiber Networks in a transaction valued at over $2 billion led by Berkshire Partners, a Boston-based investment firm. Pamlico Capital, a significant Lightower investor, and ABRY Partners, a significant Sidera investor, would remain as investors in the new company. The combined company was led by then Lightower CEO, Rob Shanahan.

Services

Sidera Networks' suite of facilities-based services included: *

Ethernet Ethernet ( ) is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 198 ...

SONET Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET) and Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) are standardized protocols that transfer multiple digital bit streams synchronously over optical fiber using lasers or highly coherent light from light-emitting diodes ...

Wavelength In physics and mathematics, wavelength or spatial period of a wave or periodic function is the distance over which the wave's shape repeats. In other words, it is the distance between consecutive corresponding points of the same ''phase (waves ...

Internet access Internet access is a facility or service that provides connectivity for a computer, a computer network, or other network device to the Internet, and for individuals or organizations to access or use applications such as email and the World Wide ...

* Colocation * Custom Private Optical Network * Dark fiber network * Central Office Access *

Managed Services Managed services is the practice of outsourcing the responsibility for maintaining, and anticipating need for, a range of processes and functions, ostensibly for the purpose of improved operations and reduced budgetary expenditures through the ...

including Network Operations Center, Managed Router and Remote Hands services

Footprint

Sidera Networks' footprint included:

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, Burlington,

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, Hartford, Manchester,

, Long Island, Newark,

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, Portland, Providence,

Washington D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. * Fiber Miles: Approximately 450,000 * Route Miles: Approximately 12,500 * On-Net Locations: Approximately 2,900 * Colocation Facilities: 30

References

{{Reflist Fiber-optic communications