XO Expands Market Presence

RESTON, Va. -- XO Communications, a leading provider of 21st century communications for businesses and communications service providers, today announced new initiatives to expand its presence in the enterprise market. The initiatives, which include the formation of a new enterprise sales and support organization, an enhanced network, recently expanded IP service offerings and targeted guarantees, will enhance XO Communications enterprise focus and further position the company as the leading nationwide alternative to today’s incumbent telecom companies for enterprise customers.

“The initiatives announced today demonstrate XO’s ongoing commitment to be a leading, major provider of nationwide network services to enterprises and will help to expand our presence in this critical segment of the telecommunications industry,” said Tom Cady, president of XO Business Services. “We have a focused strategy in the enterprise market that is aligned with our unique strengths: a nationwide, award-winning high-capacity network, advanced IP and converged communications services, and a responsive, customer-focused orientation that the large service providers lack.”

A Leading Alternative to Today’s Telecom Incumbents

XO Communications’ enterprise customer base has grown steadily over the past year as a result of the company’s increased focus on this customer segment, the expansion of its network, and addition of new IP and high-bandwidth network services for enterprises. In addition, XO Communications has seen increased opportunities in the enterprise market as customers seek alternatives to today’s incumbent telecom companies in the wake of industry consolidation. Today, XO Communications serves 50 percent of the Fortune 500 and manages complex and sophisticated networks for some of the nation’s largest enterprises.

XO Enterprise Solutions GroupTo spearhead the expansion within the enterprise market, XO Communications has created the Enterprise Solutions Group (ESG), its new nationwide enterprise sales and customer support organization. The XO ESG is focused on delivering cost-effective solutions to help enterprises gain efficiencies and improve performance of their existing networks and emerging applications. The group will leverage the unique capabilities of XO Communications’ extensive nationwide and metro networks and IP networking solutions expertise to deliver end-to-end solutions and high-demand enterprise services including high-speed network access, MPLS IP-VPN, IP Telephony, and network infrastructure and transport solutions to key enterprise locations nationwide.

Leading XO’s ESG is Tim Shaheen, who has been appointed vice president of enterprise sales. A telecommunications veteran with more than 17 years of experience, Shaheen comes to XO Communications from Ciena Corporation, where he was a director of enterprise and carrier sales. Prior Ciena, he held carrier and enterprise sales positions with Metromedia Fiber Networks and AboveNet.

According to Ted Chamberlin, Research Director, Gartner, Inc., “Communications services as we know it are undergoing a fundamental shift from legacy, proprietary based networks to IP based, fixed mobile convergence enabled services. Most large organizations will need to choose a communications provider who will not only be able to support tactical transitions to newer IP based communications services but will also be a change agent for communications enabled business process services.”

XO Communications Inc.