Verio launches national DSL effort

After testing service for six months in Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco, Verio Inc. officials said last week the company would begin a nationwide rollout of digital subscriber line services in Chicago and would expand service over the next several months.

Verio is provisioning DSL circuits from Rhythms NetConnections for the Chicago rollout. Domain-name registration, multiple e-mail accounts and Web sites are included in the package.

"The key to being successful in the DSL market is to emphasize the advantages and create as broad a coverage as possible," said Erik Heels, director of sales operations for Verio. With extensive coverage, companies can create national advertising campaigns for the new service, he said.

In related news, Covad Communications continued its campaign to lead the wholesale DSL market by signing a co-development and co-deployment agreement with Cisco Systems.

Under the agreement, Covad will deploy Cisco DSL premises equipment to telecommuters and small to medium-sized businesses nationwide. Additionally, they will begin joint engineering projects focused on future DSL-based products and services.