Telecommunications: tw telecom: Delivering technology solutions that are faster, better, and easier; Bianco and his team provided significant help and relief to aid after superstorm sandy

Approaching the one-year anniversary of one of the most devastating "superstorms" to ever hit the East Coast, we are starkly reminded of the fragility of life in all aspects; just how very easily impacted our families, our homes, our cities, our businesses can be. This past year, many lessons have been learned since Sandy left approximately eight million homes and businesses without power, flooded data centers, and caused businesses across the Eastern Seaboard to lose billions of dollars. To date, some companies are still working hard to recover, and if they're smart, thinking ahead to what the next disaster will bring, and effective ways to minimize impact. In New York City alone, the effects of Sandy were devastating. Between the flooding of the city's subway system and several road tunnels entering Manhattan, destroyed homes and businesses, the loss of electricity for days, evacuations, network outages, and the closure of the New York Stock Exchange for two consecutive days, it is estimated that the economic losses across New York from the super-storm are in the vicinity of $42 billion. Regarding the state of New York City's telecommunications infrastructure, as Sandy set in on October 29, 2012, service providers across the region had their disaster recovery plans tested to the very core. Fortunately, network providers like tw telecom, fared especially well during the natural disaster. A leading provider of managed services including business ethernet, converged and IP VPN solutions for enterprises in Manhattan and throughout the U.S., tw telecom was more than adequately prepared for Superstorm Sandy. Its award-winning Business Ethernet fiber network ran smoothly before, during and after the catastrophe occurred. In the year that has passed since Sandy, tw telecom Manhattan vice president and general manager, Robert Bianco, and his team have provided a significant amount of help and relief aid to the region. "While every service provider was impacted, tw telecom customers were minimally affected as a result of preparation in advance of the storm; the resiliency of our all-fiber, business Ethernet network; and the collaboration of our local teams with building managers of properties where our fiber network connects to their buildings," said Bianco. "Even considering our network and team's resiliency, we can still take away lessons from Sandy, some of which include being aware of where our equipment is being placed in buildings, how best to bring fuel into the city in the case of a disaster, and ideas on even better preparing for the next time; getting to that next level. Because, as much as we don't like to think about it, an event like this will happen again." The tw telecom network continues to grow and outperform the rest Since the anniversary of the superstorm, tw telecom as a whole continues to make tremendous strides. Vertical Systems Group, a leading industry analyst, recognized tw telecom's leadership performance in its mid-year 2013 U.S. Business Ethernet Services Leaderboard as one of the top 3 providers in the industry, and first among all competitive providers in delivering business ethernet services. tw telecom continues to innovate around its business ethernet service platform, which is the foundation for its intelligent network capabilities and future constellation platformsm. Alerts Driven Dynamic Capacity is the industry's first real-time, automatic dedicated ethernet bandwidth-on-demand capability. With tw telecom's intelligent network enhanced management and dynamic capacity services, enterprises in Manhattan, and nationally, now have the additional capability to pre-set bandwidth utilization thresholds, without human intervention, to automatically double or triple network business ethernet bandwidth when reached. tw telecom's intelligent network capabilities support bandwidth needs up to 10 gigabytes. For Manhattan-area businesses that need "round-the-clock" website protection, tw telecom also offers its Distributed Denial of Service Scrubbing (or DDoS Scrubbing), which helps protect against DoS attacks on a business's web presence. The service is seamless and transparent to all businesses as it is enabled directly within the tw telecom network, requiring zero installation of hardware of software. "If a commercial building in and around Manhattan is to attract more tenants and continue to fill occupancy, the technology within their building must be reliable and dependable," said Bianco. "tw telecom delivers technological solutions that are faster, better and easier."