Data Center POST interview with Travis Noble Senior Vice President of Sales at Unite Private Networks

By Managing Editor Ilissa Miller

Unite Private Networks (UPN) provides high-bandwidth, fiber-based communications networks and related services to schools, governments, carriers, data centers, hospitals, and enterprise business customers throughout the United States. Service offerings include dark and lit fiber, private line, optical Ethernet, Internet access, data center services, and other customized solutions. UPN currently serves over 300 communities across 21 states, with 8,500 metro fiber route miles, and over 6,000 on-net buildings. UPN is regulated by Public Service Commissions of each state in which UPN operates and also by the Federal Communication Commission, with periodic reporting requirements and service standards. UPN is a certified E-Rate service provider. Headquartered in the Kansas City, MO metro area, UPN has been providing customer-focused communications solutions since 1998. UPN’s investors include Cox Communications, Ridgemont Equity Partners and the company’s management team. To learn more about UPN, visit https://uniteprivatenetworks.com/.

Travis Noble the Senior Vice President of Sales at Unite Private Networks. Senior Vice President of Sales with Unite Private Networks. He has over 26 years of telecommunications and management experience with companies such as MCI, tw telecom and Level 3. During his tenure in telecom Travis served as the Vice President and General Manager for multiple markets including Greensboro, NC, Charlotte, NC and Kansas City, MO. At Level 3 he managed teams in the Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa regions. As SVP of Sales he oversees all sales sectors at UPN. Travis is a graduate of Iowa State University.

We sat down with Travis to talk about how UPN is solving its customers’ problems, discuss its recent partnership with DE-CIX and explore what’s on the horizon for the company.

Data Center POST, Ilissa Miller (DCP-IM) Question: Tell our readers what trends UPN is seeing in the interconnection space?

Unite Private Networks, Travis Noble (UPN-TN) Answer: Customers are requiring more low latency routes. Often our business customers tie together applications on different networks and pretty quickly they begin to notice a slow down. Our private lit and dark 100 percent fiber networks offer ultra low latency and highly scalable bandwidth allowing data to travel at speeds of up to 100 Gigabit to run critical applications.

DCP-IM Q: What new initiatives should our readers be on the look out for from your company?

UPN-TN A: UPN recently rolled out a Carrier portal for online ordering, and will soon be releasing an API. Wholesale customer applications can now interface directly with UPN’s pricing and ordering portal to create a seamless customer experience. There are two ways to access the Carrier portal, through the UPN website or by utilizing the API. The API allows Carriers to integrate UPN’s pricing and building list directly into their own pricing tools, streamlining the process for Wholesale customers who want to plug into UPN’s pricing and ordering platform.

Expansions

We are also expanding our presence in Colorado and Texas as a result of recent sales. UPN has partnered with the cities of Allen and Denton in Texas.

In Allen, UPN is providing a dark fiber ring connecting eight city buildings together via state-of-the-art infrastructure. UPN is also providing the City high speed Internet connectivity expanding the network in Allen to give the business community a triple-path redundancy to Dallas, powered by a low-latency carrier-grade, 100 percent fiber-optic network.

In Denton, Texas, UPN is expanding over 60 miles of new fiber-optic infrastructure throughout. Business customers will now have access to dark fiber or dedicated lit services that are scalable from 100 mbps to 100 gbps, as well as a suite of other products. Denton County is forecasted to experience the strongest economic growth in the U.S. over the next several years, at 4.1 percent, according to a study by Oxford Economics. Our Metro Optical Ethernet (MOE) ring that serves Denton has two diverse routes, spanning both the east and west sides of Lake Lewisville and will connect back into our core network, giving business customers more advanced connectivity options.

UPN also has a fiber presence in three major Colorado cities: Denver, Grand Junction and Pueblo with administrative support in Grand Junction and Pueblo. We’ve have already expanded from those three fiber rings into Colorado Springs, and into rural areas and have plans to continue that expansion. Stay tuned for announcements.

Partnerships

We recently partnered with DE-CIX, the world’s leading Internet Exchange (IX) operator, to enhance our ability to support evolving customer requirements. DE-CIX is on a mission to improve the quality of the Internet on a global scale with better digital infrastructure. This is a goal that aligns with our own dedication to improving the technological capabilities and opportunities for businesses and end users alike into the future. We look forward to working with DE-CIX and leveraging their ever-growing family of neutral interconnection platforms to strengthen our solutions.

DCP-IM Q: If companies want to work with you, what are the ways to do so?

UPN-TN A: The best thing, initially, is to reach out to the Carrier Sales Team–Blair Pierce blair.pierce@upnfiber.com 214-425-1818.

DCP-IM Q: Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to chat, Travis. To learn more, please visit https://uniteprivatenetworks.com/.