The names of individuals and companies listed below were not explicitly named in the book, in order to declutter the story and streamline the narrative. They are included here for those interested in the minute details of the Bandwidth adventure in its entirety.
Chapter I: The Storyteller#
George Lynch was my Level 3 supervisor at Illinois Bell. Colleagues referred to Lynch as George Lunch, as vendors were required to treat him for a meal whenever they wanted to meet with him.
Dan’s colleagues at Ameritech were Andrew Morely, Dan Foreman, Dave Donalik, Greg Smitherman, Jason Lee, Jason Weller, Jeff White, Lynn Refer, Mitch Moore, and Tom Toulton. Moore, Morely, and Refer would join Dan at either MFS or Level 3.
Chapter II: The Inventors of the Internet Backbones#
BBN—Leo Beranek
Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) was the computing company that developed the prototype PDP-1 for BBN.
The device BBN developed for DARPA that evolved into modern-day Internet routers was called the Interface Message Processor (IMP).
The other two government packet networks that could not interface with ARPANET were called Packet Radio net and SATNET.
BBN’s first IP-based router was the T/20. Its successors were the T/200 and the C/30, a micro-programmable, medium-speed packet processor.
UUNET—John Sidgmore and Rick Adams
Science Application International Corporation was Rick Adams’s first employer.
Dan Lynch, UUNET board member, “They are just like us . . .”
Mike O’Dell, UUNET’s chief scientist, “The project was swallowing cash . . .”
The nonprofit that Adams was part of was called the Usenix Association.
PSINet—Bill Schrader
NYSERNET was the name of the nonprofit that Schrader created to connect New York State’s universities, research institutions, medical centers, and libraries.
The original name of PSINet was Performance Systems International.
Matrix Partners, Sigma Partners, and Amerindo were PSINet’s three sponsors.
The nonprofit trade association that PSINet co-founded with UUNET was named Commercial Internet eXchange.
In 1998 USinternetworking Inc. made the offer to buy the controlling interest in PSINet.
Chapter III: The Renegades That Laid the Fiber#
Teleport
Trenton Borden R. Putnam, commissioner of New Jersey’s Department of Commerce and Economic Development, “‘the amount of data that will be flying around . . .”
Guy F. Tozzoli, director, Port Authority World Trade Department, “It’s like an airport . . .”
MFS—Jim Crowe and Royce Holland
Institutional Communications Company was the name of the DC start-up that was also constructing a local fiber network to bypass the Baby Bells.
Broadwing—Ralph Swett
Broadwing’s largest microwave acquisition was the 1988 purchase of Michigan-based ALC Communications.
In 1997 and 1998, Broadwing’s acquisitions included Network Long Distance and Telecom One of Chicago; web hosting company SmartNAP; system integrators the Data Place, Network Evolutions, and ntr.net; and Coastal Telephone Company.
WilTel—Roy Wilkens
Richard Klugman, analyst, Merrill Lynch, “It’s an excellent fit . . .”
XO—Craig McCaw
Twin City Cablevision was the name of the Cable TV provider in Centralia, Washington, that Craig McCaw’s father left to his family estate.
AboveNet—John Kluge and Steve Garofalo
Alan J. Gottesman, analyst, Unterbridge & Towbin, “There’s not anything left . . .”
Chapter IV: The Bandwidth Boom Gold Rush#
WorldCom—Bernie Ebbers
Advantage Company, a seventeen-year-old Nashville company, was the public company WorldCom merged with to become a publicly traded company.
Resurgens Communications Group was the third company in the three-way merger between WorldCom and Metromedia Communications Corporation.
Richard Klugman, analyst, Merrill Lynch, “It’s an excellent fit . . .”; “If BT’s shares hold up . . .”
Blake Bath, analyst, Lehman Brothers, “This is a bomb, a major bomb . . .”
Scott Cleland, analyst, Legg Mason Precursor Group, “Telecom is about scale, scale, scale . . .”
Eric Strumingher, analyst, PaineWebber, “[WorldCom/Sprint] would be the largest . . .”
Kevin Dundon and John Scarano were the two members of the senior team that Dan consulted about how they were going to use IP technology to send voice, data, and video over the same lines with lower costs.
Richard Klugman, analyst, Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, “We believe that as in past deals . . .”
Simon Flannery, analyst, Morgan Stanley, “We believe WorldCom’s current valuation . . .”
Richard Klugman, analyst, Jefferies & Company, “‘There was some rumbling in the investment community . . .”
Level 3—Jim Crowe
Jeffrey Kagan, analyst, Kagan Telecom Associates, “Crowe struck gold last time out . . .”
Salvatore Muoio, analyst, S. Muoio & Co., “It’s going to be a fantastic company . . .”
Josh Howell, Crowe’s right hand for Corporate Marketing at Level 3
Ike Eliott, engineer who patented the Softswitch at Level 3
Rob Hagans, lead engineer, Level 3, who led the team that rewrote XCom’s software
Kevin Dundon, Level 3 colleague who took Shawn Lewis (XCom) out with Dan for drinks
Kevin Dundon and John Scarano were the two members of the senior team that Dan consulted about how they were going to use IP technology to send voice, data, and video over the same lines with lower costs.
Global Crossing—Gary Winnick
David Lee, president, Global Crossing, “It was like doing business . . .”
Jack Scanlon, first Global Crossing CEO, former senior Motorola executive, “A chance to build a global . . .”
Racal Telecom was the UK Bandwidth provider Global Crossing acquired for $1.65 billion in cash in 1999.
IXNet was the private company Global Crossing acquired a minority ownership position in that did not own a fiber network. IPC Communications was the owner of IXNet.
Istar Internet is the Canadian ISP PSINET exchanged $25 million of its stock for.
PSINet—Bill Schrader
Lawrence Winkler, treasurer, PSINet, “We are now set up for 2000 . . .”
Harold S. Wills, president and COO, PSINet, “Some day, they will buy us and we will . . .”
AT&T—Robert E. Allen and C. Michael Armstrong
Michael J. Balhoff of securities firm Legg Mason Wood Walker, “As best as I can tell . . .”
Mark Cooper, research director, Consumer Federation of America, “The forces of evil unleashed . . .”
Anne Bingaman, former antitrust chief, Justice Department, “Creates huge competitive problems . . .”
Walter Y. Elisha, board member, AT&T, “He’s a bright guy, but . . .” and “We are now searching . . .”
Stuart Conrad, analyst, Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, “From AT&T’s perspective . . .”
John Hodulik, analyst, Lazard Frères & Co., “It makes the most sense . . .”
Jeffrey Kagan, analyst, Kagan Telecom Associates, “This is the best news . . .”
Steve Allen, division manager, AT&T Network Services, “AT&T is responding to unprecedented . . .”
Stephen R. Leeolou, co-founder and CEO, Vanguard, “We believe that this . . .”
Genuity—Charles Lee
James L. Freeze, SVP and CSO, Genuity, “It’s not about just having great . . .”
Philippe Guglielmetti, chairman and founder, Integra, “The market had concerns . . .”
XO—Craig McCaw and Dan Akerson
Jose Romero, telecom analyst, Safeco Asset Management Co., “With Nextlink . . .”
Jay Sherwood, senior analyst, RS Mid-Cap Opportunities Fund, “They are one of the few . . .”
AboveNet—John Kluge and Steve Garofalo
Nicholas “Nick” Tanzi, president and COO, MFN (AboveNet), “MFN plans to extend . . .”
Chapter V: The Bandwidth Bust#
Larissa Herda, CEO, tw telecom, “Unfortunately, we see a slowdown in business . . .”
Aryeh Bourkoff, analyst, UBS Warburg, “All the companies in the emerging telecom . . .”
WorldCom—Bernie Ebbers
Richard Klugman, telecommunications analyst, Jefferies & Company, “I’ve been following . . .”
Mark Abide, bookkeeper, WorldCom, “This is worth looking into from an audit . . .”
Howard J. Schilit, founder, Center for Financial Research and Analysis, “The kiboshing . . .”
Ken Johnson, spokesman, House Energy and Commerce Committee, “Ebbers was aware that . . .”
Vincent Wright, bus driver and juror for Ebbers trial, “In order to find the defendant guilty . . .”
Aran Nulty, elementary school teacher and juror number ten on Ebbers trial, “The most difficult thing . . .”
Salina Strong, juror number four on Ebbers trial, “I think Ebbers pretty much . . .”
Qwest—Joe Nacchio and Dick Notebaert
Solomon Dennis “Sol” Trujillo, CEO, U S West, “No way we will engage . . .”
Troy A. Eid, United States attorney for Colorado, “Convicted felon Joe Nacchio . . .”
Global Crossing—Gary Winnick and John Legere
Robin Wright, executive, Global Crossing, “Ends up being the plug . . .”
Randall Lee, director, SEC’s Los Angeles office, “Global Crossing’s senior executives . . .”
Janet Mahoney, former Global Crossing employee and plaintiff, “This is not justice . . .”
WilTel 2—Howard Janzen and Jeff Storey
Renee Christian, spokeswoman, Williams Communications, “The goal is to come out . . .”
PSINet—Bill Schrader
Ian P. Sharp, board member, PSINet, “Was more interested in building . . .”
Drake Johnstone, analyst, Davenport & Company, “The risk of bankruptcy . . .”
Genuity
Richard Klugman, analyst, Jefferies & Co., “It sounds like they’re anticipating . . .”
Susan Kraus, spokeswoman, Genuity, “This is absolutely coincidental . . .”
Touch America—Bob Gannon
Frank Morrison Jr., former state Supreme Court justice, “We’re trying to salvage . . .”
Carl Anderson, retiree, Montana Power, “I get pretty emotional . . .”
Monica Boehmer, change management administrator, “You can see a company . . .”
360 Networks—Greg Maffei
Sam Jadallah, former head of worldwide sales, Microsoft, “When Maffei bets, he bets big . . .”
GT Group Telecom was the Canadian fiber provider 360networks acquired after emerging from bankruptcy.
AT&T—C. Michael Armstrong
Ken McGee, analyst, Gartner Group, “It’s hard to escape the feeling . . .”
Oscar Castro, manager, Montgomery Global Communications fund, “If Comcast gets away . . .”
Level 3—Jim Crowe
Richard Rolnik, head of high-yield telecom research, BNP Paribas, “Level 3’s bonds are . . .”
Tom Friedberg, analyst, Brean, Murray & Co., “This is creative financial . . .”
Jack Grubman—Sarbanes–Oxley
Elliot Dorbian, former broker, Salomon, “When Grubman said wonderful . . .”
Steve Holwerda, portfolio manager, Ferguson, Wellman, Rudd, Purdy, and Van Winkle, “It’s buyer beware . . .”
Jacob H. Zamansky, securities lawyer, “Jack Grubman is the king . . .”
Helen Scott, professor of securities law, New York University, “Does it look crummy?”
Eric Efron, co-portfolio manager, USAA Aggressive Growth Fund, “Whenever [Grubman] picks . . .”
Chapter VI: The Phoenix Rises from the Ashes#
Broadwing—David Huber
Jeffrey Kagan, analyst, Kagan Telecom Associates, “Times change . . . [fiber] companies are selling . . .”
tw telecom—Larissa Herda
Bruce Roberts, analyst, Dillon, Read & Co. Inc. in New York, “By almost any measure . . .”
Mark Gershien was Herda’s boss who wanted her to remain in Chicago.
Chapter VII: The Reconsolidation#
Adam Quinton, analyst, Merrill Lynch, “What you have been seeing is the gradual reconsolidation . . .”
Level 3—Jim Crowe and Jeff Storey
Greg Maffei, CEO, 360networks, “I hope Level 3 is amazingly successful . . .”
Colby Synesael, analyst, Merriman Curhan Ford & Co., “Over the last two years he did a lot . . .”
Colby Synesael, analyst, Merriman Curhan Ford & Co., “There’s a lot of disorganization . . .”
Colby Synesael, analyst, Cowen Securities, “Of all the companies that I cover . . .”
Jonathan Chaplin, telecom investment analyst, JPMorgan Chase, “Given that most of the issues were operations-related . . .”
Lumen—Glen Post and Jeff Storey
Daniel R. “Dan” Hesse, CEO, Sprint, “As CEOs go . . .”
George Cummings, CEO, Progressive Bank in Monroe, Louisiana, “During the wintertime . . .”
Appendix 3#
Enron Broadband & Dynegy Global Communications
Douglas Carmichael, accounting professor, Baruch College in Manhattan, “It’s like somebody sat down with the rules . . .”
Carol Coale, analyst, Prudential Securities, “[Enron executives] were great spin doctors . . .”
Rudy Sutherland Jr., former broadband trader, Enron, “From a common-sense standpoint . . .”
Jon Kyle Cartwright, analyst, Raymond James, “[Dynegy] no longer has to pour money into it . . .”
McLeodUSA
Denise L. Nappier, treasurer, State of Connecticut, “I have no intention of sitting . . .”
Velocita
Mary Beth Jarvis, spokesperson, Koch Industries, “We’re excited about the partnership . . .”
Bo Fifer, analyst, Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown, “Mandl has taken on a personal mission . . .”