Telecom Italia Sparkle expands its IP backbone in USA

Telecom Italia Sparkle today announced the opening of two new IP Points of Presence (PoPs) in Atlanta, GA and Dallas, TX. An additional PoP in Los Angeles, CA will be lit up within the next month. Telecom Italia Sparkle is consolidating its presence in the US market as part of the expansion plans of SEABONE, its global Internet backbone. The new PoPs give local and regional ISPs, content providers and aggregators a wider choice of access to Seabone and its value added services while improving Sparkle capability to get the traffic, for its worldwide customers, closer to its native source. "Our expansion in USA is the natural evolution that follows the dramatic growth of our successful Seabone network. As a top player, today, within the global IP backbones league, Sparkle needed a larger footprint and a scaled up infrastructure to support its highly performing connectivity offer. The significant investment involved also confirms the commitment and the focus the Company dedicates to the North American market" said Stefano Mazzitelli, CEO of Telecom Italia Sparkle. With the short-coming opening of the new PoP in Los Angeles, SEABONE (AS 6762) will circle the US from East to West, integrating a full presence in the country that currently relies on IP PoPs in: New York, NY; Newark, NJ; Ashburn, VA; Miami, FL; Chicago, IL and Palo Alto, CA. Moreover the Los Angeles PoP is of strategic importance as it will represent the East-bound landing point of the new IP PoP in Singapore - that will be launched within the last 2007 quarter - interconnecting the European and Asian portions of the backbone, while closing the loop around the globe and offering a unique robust and resilient service.

For further information, please contact

Gabriella Improta
Telecom Italia Sparkle
Marketing Wholesale Services- Marketing Communications
Email: gabriella.improta@telecomitalia.it