tw telecom (News - Alert), a provider of Business Ethernet and networking solutions, recently announced the expansion of operations into St. Paul, MN., and surrounding western suburbs. The company is also looking at other areas of Anoka County and Washington County.

tw telecom delivers simple, scalable, cost effective managed business Ethernet metro and nationwide WAN services — all based on Metro Ethernet Forum (News - Alert) standards. The company’s Ethernet Access (E-Access) has an external network-to-network interface (ENNI) that provides carrier, application, and data center service providers with a single point of access into the national Business Ethernet footprint. tw telecom is on a nationwide expansion spree and has already made its way into many new markets – Salt Lake City, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Boston and Richmond, Va. this year. It now connects directly to 21,300 commercial buildings, including approximately 500 third-party data centers.

"Rapid economic growth in Minneapolis - St. Paul and surrounding suburbs is fueling increased demand for flexible, innovative and robust networking solutions by businesses entering the state as well as those existing businesses in our state all looking to gain a competitive edge in the marketplace," said Steve Hatcher, vice president and general manager, tw telecom Minneapolis. "tw telecom's expanded investments in Minnesota will help to further enhance the connectivity across the Twin (News - Alert) Cities, as well as provide additional choice, options and capabilities for businesses across our community."

Meanwhile, Briggs Freeman, the oldest privately held boutique real-estate firm in Dallas, recently opted for tw telecom to deliver a full suite of networking solutions for its five Dallas metroplex area locations.

Earlier, Briggs Freeman used a "one size fits all" copper-based networking solution that impacted its business with long lags in deployment time, and significant limits impacting the IT needs and requirements of the company. To combat this challenge, Briggs Freeman selected tw telecom as its service provider. tw telecom’s prior experience, and the level of expertise of the entire team, worked in its favor and helped in its selection by Briggs Freeman.