‘@Link Networks explodes in data communications market locally, nationally

LOUISVILLE – It seems fitting that data communications provider @Link Networks is based in Louisville. After all, the two-and-a-half-year-old start-up is growing as fast as Boulder County.

“We’ll be expanding to a new market every two to three weeks until we cover our phase-one development,´ said @Link’s President and Chief Operating Officer Hank Carabelli. “With phase one, we’ll be taking the middle third of the country and smothering it with our services.”

On April 17, the provider of broadband data and video services for businesses via high-speed access technologies like digital subscriber lines (DSL) and virtual private networks (VPN), launched its services in Indianapolis. @Link plans to service 30 markets in 14 states by the end of 2000, outfitting nearly 1,000 telephone central offices with next-generation hardware, according to the company.

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“We’re pursuing an aggressive buildup across the Midwest, toward nationwide deployment,´ said Shane Kinkennon, @Link’s director of marketing communications. All this from a company that had only 105 employees this past December.

“We’re a very small company,” however, “we’re up to 305 people and will be adding an average of 125 a month for the next five to six months,” Carabelli said.

But how did @Link Networks get to the point where it could grow like this? The company started out as Dakota Services in 1998, servicing markets in Wisconsin and Illinois. It continued to grow and in the spring of 1999 when venture capital firms Columbia Capital and Madison Dearborn Partners became interested. @Link Networks was created with a $45 million investment from these two firms, Carabelli said.

One of the first major projects at @Link was the development of a “new leadership team,´ said Carabelli. That’s when Alex Good came on board as chief executive officer and chairman, after serving as executive vice president of corporate strategy, development and performance assurance at Bell Atlantic.

Carabelli said Good put together a leadership team with experience and the ability to “attract the work force that will help the company succeed.” As a result of his efforts, the company now has experienced executives from several major companies, including Ameritech, MCIWorldCom, DSC, ICG and NextLink.

“These aren’t neophytes,” Carabelli said. “They’ve been around for a long time.”

Carabelli said the company’s experienced leadership and its ability to attract a highly qualified work force has played a major role in its success. “I don’t mean to be trite or cliché,” he said, “but the people here really do make the difference. The people working here are hand-picked by people at @Link. They’re all trained experts that come with experience – all the way from the leaders to those installing circuits.”

Besides hiring an effective leadership team, Good also has made sure @Link is adequately funded. And, according to Carabelli, he’s been very effective. Nortel Networks is in the process of providing @Link with $225 million worth of broadband equipment. “Alex has been working hard to ensure funding even before a public offering,” Carabelli added.

With this funding, @Link won’t need to worry about a public offering just yet. Carabelli said the company may go public in 2000 or 2001, “depending on a number of scenarios.

“The way the market’s been over the last week or so, we wouldn’t want to have an offering right now,” he said, just a few days after the Nasdaq’s record-breaking plunge. “We’ll play that by ear.”

And while the company has avoided the IPO mania that consumes so many start-ups, Kinkennon said the start-up culture isn’t missing at @Link’s offices. Working for the company “is fun and invigorating,” he said.

Carabelli agreed. “We do take the time to have fun and celebrate our success,” he said, describing the party @Link had after successfully launching its Indianapolis operations. “That makes people want to be part of our team.”

But Carabelli was quick to emphasize the company’s goals. “We’re going to have fun, but we’re here to get the job done. We want to be the dominant player in this industry,” he said.