Viatel Inc., founded in the United States in 1991, was a Nasdaq-quoted technology company which operated

fiber optic An optical fiber, or optical fibre, is a flexible glass or plastic fiber that can transmit light from one end to the other. Such fibers find wide usage in fiber-optic communications, where they permit transmission over longer distances and at ...

networks in several countries, including in the United Kingdom during the mid-1990s. Viatel Technology Group, a

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

-based technology company focused primarily on the Irish market, was founded from some of the elements of Viatel Inc. following acquisition by

Digiweb Digiweb is a Telephone company, telecommunications company in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, supplying business and consumer broadband and Web hosting service, web hosting, and a group of companies in the telecoms and technology sectors. The ...

in 2013.

History

Early years

Viatel was founded in 1991, in Colorado, by

Martin Varsavsky Martin may refer to: Places Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Europe * Martin, Croatia, a village * Martin, Slovakia, a city * Martín del Río, Aragón, Spain * Mart ...

. In 1994, it went public on the

Nasdaq stock exchange The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...

. Four years later, Varsavsky sold his stake in the company for US$200 million and left the company. In 1999, Viatel's market capitalization reached US$1.2 billion. At that time, Viatel's second-largest outside shareholder was

George Soros George Soros (born György Schwartz; August 12, 1930) is an American investor and philanthropist. , he has a net worth of US$7.2 billion, Note that this site is updated daily. having donated more than $32 billion to the Open Society Foundat ...

, while the largest outside stake was held by the global telecommunications company

COMSAT Communications Satellite Corporation (COMSAT) is a global telecommunications company based in the United States. By 2007, it had branches in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela and several other countries in the Americas. Alt ...

. On 2 May 2001 Viatel Inc. and its all of its U.S. subsidies filed for relief under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the state of Delaware. In 2013 it was reported, in ''

Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest and most influential daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of ''SZ'' is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and ...

'', that documents provided by

Edward Snowden Edward Joseph Snowden (born June 21, 1983) is a former National Security Agency (NSA) intelligence contractor and whistleblower who leaked classified documents revealing the existence of global surveillance programs. Born in 1983 in Elizabeth ...

revealed that several telecom operators, including Viatel, had played a role in helping the British intelligence agency

Government Communications Headquarters Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) is an intelligence and security organisation responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance (IA) to the government and armed forces of the United Kingdom. Primari ...

(GCHQ) to tap onto worldwide

fiber-optic communication Fiber-optic communication is a form of optical communication for transmitting information from one place to another by sending pulses of infrared or visible light through an optical fiber. The light is a form of carrier wave that is modul ...

Sale to Digiweb and divestment of Viatel Technology Group

The European arm of Viatel was purchased, in May 2013, by the Irish telecoms operator

, with at least some Viatel investors retaining interests in the new setup. In November 2015, it was announced that Zayo was in the process of buying Viatel's UK and mainland Europe network, leaving the Irish network to continue under the name of Viatel; This €98.8m transaction was completed on 31 December 2015. The remaining elements of Viatel, branded as the 'Viatel Technology Group', focused on the Irish and European markets, primarily providing business telecoms, cloud and cyber security services. In 2018, Paul Rellis, formerly of Microsoft, was appointed as CEO of the Digiweb Group, with Digiweb and Viatel as the main operating branches. In 2020, Viatel Technology Group acquired Ripplecom and Irish Telecom Service. During 2021, the company acquired Skytel Networks and Nova Telecom. This was followed, in 2022, by the acquisition of ActionPoint, Wifibre, and supportIT. Sungard AS Ireland was acquired in May 2023. By 2023, Viatel Technology Group had over 310 employees with offices in Dublin, Dundalk and Limerick. Viatel Technology Group was included, by Deloitte Ireland, on its 2022 list of "Ireland's Best Managed Companies". In 2023, Viatel was named "Best Place to Work" at the Tech Excellence Awards, and Managed ICT Company of the Year by the Chambers Ireland InBUSINESS Recognition Awards.

References

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External links

Viatel Technology Group
Telecommunications companies of the United Kingdom Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2001