Backbone Directory: Qwest Communications

Founded in 1995 as SP telecom, a subsidiary of Southern Pacific Railroad, Qwest's network today covers more than 156,000 route miles worldwide.

by Jeff Goldman [September 21, 2005]

Qwest Communications was founded in 1988 as SP Construction, a subsidiary of Southern Pacific Railroad. In 1991, SP Construction became SP Telecom, and in 1996, the company acquired microwave carrier Qwest Transmission Inc. and changed its name to Qwest Communications.

In 2000, Qwest grew significantly through the acquisition of US West.

Today, Qwest's fiber optic network covers more than 156,000 route miles worldwide, and reaches the last mile in 14 U.S. states. The company's OC-192 IP network backbone uses MPLS fast re-route between each core router in the network in order to ensure a quick recovery time. Ports are available at speeds ranging from 56 Kbps to 2.4 Gbps.

Each of the network's more than 30 IP POPs, or TeraPOPs, houses three redundant Juniper M160 routers with Cisco gigabit switch routers and Juniper M40 routers on the edge. Qwest has extensive peering relationships throughout the U.S. and Europe, with over 93 gigabits of installed peering, 99 percent of which are private. Utilization of 40 percent or more triggers a capacity analysis, and circuits are ordered if necessary.

The company's wholesale dialup offering reaches over 2,700 POPs, which cover more than 85 percent of the U.S. population.

Corporate Contact Info:

	Executive:	Richard Notebaert, Chairman and CEO
	Headquarters:	1801 California St., Denver, CO 80202
	Voice:	303-992-1400
	Fax:	303-992-1724
	Customer Service:	http://www.qwest.com/customerService/
	Web Inquiry Form:	http://www.qwest.com/wholesale/pcfeedback.html
	ISP Products:	http://www.qwest.com/wholesale/industrysolution/isp.html
	Customer Contact Tool:	http://www.qwest.com/wholesale/ccdb/
	Network Database Tools:	http://www.qwest.com/wholesale/network/databasetools.html
	Network Statistics:	http://stat.qwest.net/
	Network Performance Reports:	http://stat.qwest.net/performance.html
	Press Releases:	http://www.qwest.com/about/media/
	Financial:	NYCE: Q

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