Hibernia Media Rides Hibernia Atlantic To Europe

Telecom Ramblings, March 3, 2009

Video network specialist Hibernia Media has chosen Hibernia Atlantic for its transatlantic capacity requirements. The deal is for multiple diverse 10Gbps wavelengths from North America to London and Dublin, and further extends Hibernia Media’s young DTM video network such that it can serve customers with European needs. And who is Hibernia Media? That’s a question I asked myself, until I ran into a familiar name in its President Del Bothof.

Bothof, telecom and broadcast infrastructure followers surely recall, was the head of Wiltel’s Vyvx for years, after which he resurfaced at Broadwing and spearheaded the development of their DTM video network. Both of course became part of Level 3 Communications (LVLT: chart, news), and I had wondered what happened to both Del Bothof and the Broadwing DTM network but never followed up. Well now I know - roughly a year ago he got started with Hibernia Media which apparently hit the ground running. Their network happens to look a heck of a lot like the video network he built for Broadwing - it’s even managed out of a NOC in Baltimore. I’m curious about the circumstances, I’m guessing Level 3 didn’t continue with the DTM plans so Bothof picked up the ball and ran with it, but I don’t really know. Anybody?

The pairing makes a lot of sense for both Hibernia Atlantic and Hibernia Media. The northern transatlantic route has low latency which is vital to the delivery of HD video feeds to Europe, and Hibernia Atlantic’s unique footprint on both continents allows them to handle the on and off ramps as well.