Windstream has acquired Chicago-based Business Only Broadband, a fixed wireless enterprise services provider with operations in Chicago, New York City, northern New Jersey and Milwaukee. [press release] While I know that BOB says enterprise broadband, I can't fathom what WIND is going to do with BOB. Other CLECs have acquired fixed wireless assets - including Covad/Megapath, Telepacific and recentlyAirband by UNSi (acquired by GTT this week). Fixed Wirless works when you have a team dedicated to it. RF engineers, project managers, techs, salespeople and someone to interface with building owners for roof access are all part of the team. It is difficult to dabble in wireless, since it isn't the same as any other telco model (reselling circuits from ILECs). Wireless means operating a network, which WIND does as an ILEC and fiber provider. It will be interesting to see if this is a long term move, something to confuse the quarterly numbers or if they dump it in 6 months.
Cable over-builder, WOW! (WideOpenWest), rolled out a "simple" (their words) Hosted VoIP service. WOW is a Metaswitch shop but I can't find which softswitch is powering their hosted voice service. WOW lost 3000 voice subscribers in their 4th quarter. This may be a move to gain some back. The PR does mention that the service will be delivered over fiber. I wonder if that means cable modem, too. WOW is spread out (like Bright House) in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee. WOW also rolled out carrier Ethernet gear from Alcatel-Lucent. WOW is 13th in MSO size in the US with 700K subs.
News Corp. that owns Fox News is buying Move, which owns Realtor.com for $950 million. This comes after Trulia and Zillow merged. It's rough being a real estate agent today. Why mention this? It just seemed strange to me - Fox and Realtor.com
Another cyber-security attack - this time at JPMorgan Chase. Apparently they aren't spending enough on security. (I guess only the big boys get big bonuses.) The attack "compromised the accounts of 76 million households and seven million small businesses, a tally that dwarfs previous estimates by the bank and puts the intrusion among the largest ever." [NYT] And how do they notify? In an SEC filing. In the face of this, "Faced with the rising threat of online crime, JPMorgan has said it plans to spend $250 million on digital security annually, but had been losing many of its security staff to other banks over the last year, with others expected to leave soon." Talent retention is a problem for them?
Poll: Are Companies Finally Being Held Accountable For Data Breaches?
