The growth in Internet Protocol (IP) services has increased the demand for an efficient, manageable long haul high-capacity transport infrastructure. StarTouch had recognized that the rapid growth, unpredictable service mix’s, and changing traffic patterns all combine to make flexibility and scalability critically important in its network design. 

StarTouch now offers a full portfolio of carrier-class quality IP services for Long Haul communications with full-time “five 9s” service availability. It’s newly installed Microwave OC12 (622Mbps) IP transport to Seattle, WA. and soon to Vancouver, Canada. also offers a Optical Dedicated Protection Ring (ODPR), with a self-healing ring architecture, optimized with Cisco 12000 Routers for large IP backbones, and high-bandwidth services.

The network will be anchored by up to 7 hub cities (5 cities already in place) with direct OC- links: Vancouver Canada, Bellingham, Mt. Vernon, Everett, Bothell, Seattle, and Tacoma, WA. The rest of StarTouch markets are connected to these hubs via dual Fiber or Microwave circuits that can pump out up to 100Mb per second in throughput.

StarTouch has moved its own voice traffic onto the backbone network for better transport efficiency. It's also adding high-capacity Ethernet connectivity not just between buildings in a market, but also from city to city.

"It's going to be for Internet transport, as much as it is going to be for VPN, voice traffic, and Ethernet services between cities," commented StarTouch’s NOC center, "So we are layering it all on one integrated backbone, and we think because we had the opportunity to build this from scratch — our existing leased network, we are just migrating off and swinging the traffic over to this."

StarTouch expects about 75 percent of its markets to switch over to this backbone network by the end of the year, with the rest added in January. Internet-service providers and other network providers have expressed interest in the company's long-haul potential offerings.

"With this new backbone, we're making it very clear we are a prime player in telecommunications across the board — both transport and data. If you are going to provide a proposal to your customer(s) or your own enterprise, and are seeking quotes from the top communications companies in this area, we have faith that we are going to be on your contact list!"

~ StarTouch Management ~