Joe Scattereggia shares his journey with Windstream and how the company is leading the way in technology.
Can you tell us a little about your background at Windstream and how you came to your current position as President of Wholesale?
Although I have been working in the industry for over 30 years, my passion remains the same. My journey with Windstream spans just over 10 years of his. During that time, I first oversaw wholesale voice operations before leading his transition to a next-generation wholesale provider with a VoIP-based network. My focus then shifted to the optical transport segment of our business.
I was named president of Windstream Wholesale last year and remain excited about the possibilities in front of us. We have a great team of individuals who have worked together for many years and have developed strong collaboration and a true passion for their work. Our wholesale division has achieved remarkable success in recent years and is fully committed to a responsive and flexible culture.
What is the secret to team cohesion and success?
We’ve fostered a great culture that fosters creativity and fosters communication between teams. In this collaborative environment, all our ideas flourish. It’s an old cliché to say that Windstream Wholesale feels like family, and it really is.
Everyone on the team has a voice and sees tangible results from their work, including major divestitures, data center expansions, and enhancements to the iconnect customer portal.
A key aspect of our success is that we all share a common goal and have seamlessly integrated the commercial and technical aspects of our business. In my experience, I have never seen such strong collaboration between individuals within a company.
Additionally, our team is highly focused on a three-pronged strategy that has contributed to our recent results. These pillars include network expansion, strategic partnerships, and technological leadership.
What does innovative leadership look like in the modern wholesale industry?
We are a pioneer in both technology and software and want to stay ahead of market trends. Our company started marketing 400G technology three and a half years ago and was one of the earliest companies in the United States to introduce 400G technology. This early adoption gives us valuable experience with the technology and enables us to work effectively with our customers and identify potential gaps and issues related to technology, software, operations, and other aspects. I did.
We strive to be flexible and creative in shaping solutions that truly fit our customers’ needs. We also place importance on responding quickly to customer inquiries. Whether it’s providing a quick quote or efficiently resolving a trouble ticket, we aim to provide proactive support.
Meanwhile, our iconnect portal serves as an industry-leading platform for our customers. This allows you to get quotes, streamline service delivery, track performance analysis, and facilitate route planning, all in one convenient hub. This is just one example of our ‘fast and flexible’ culture.
What else allows Windstream Wholesale to stay ahead of the curve with technology?
In addition to our close collaboration with equipment manufacturers, we have the ideal scale for technology testing and incubation. We have a robust network and national presence, including extensive dark fiber infrastructure and numerous points of presence. Despite our considerable size, we remain agile and responsive, allowing us to be a fast and flexible provider. As a result, vendors often approach us knowing that we are open to exploring and evaluating new technologies and can move quickly.
Several years ago, we adopted equipment-agnostic principles to re-architect our intelligent converged optical network. [ICON] to support it. Our goal is to work with all vendors and promote interoperability between different technologies. Our strategic focus in the marketplace includes identifying the best technologies for our organizations and customers, ensuring seamless integration and optimal performance.
What does the future look like in terms of continuing this leadership?
We recently achieved a significant milestone by successfully transmitting 1Tbps of wavelength over a 1,100km link spanning multiple routes. 400G technology is still gaining momentum and is expected to advance toward higher capacity over time.
Conducting these tests not only establishes our expertise in current technologies such as 400G, but also establishes us as a leader in future advancements such as 800G and beyond. We recently proved the feasibility of 800GE services by demonstrating the capability of long-distance transmission at speeds of 800Gbps on a single wavelength.
For 400G, we started observing an increase in quote activity approximately 18-24 months ago, and this continued to escalate throughout 2023. As a result, 400G has become a significant part of our sales, and in December it was one of the best selling months for this technology. The evolution of his 400G over the past 18 months has been remarkable.
What does it mean for Windstream Wholesale to win Best North American Airline at last year’s Global Carrier Awards?
For us, winning this award represents the pinnacle of our team’s achievements and serves as the perfect culmination of an amazing year. We believe that he has made great strides in the market in 2023 and it really means a lot to be recognized as the best among strong competitors with great assets.
Our success is deeply rooted in our great teams, vibrant culture and camaraderie among colleagues. That’s why this evaluation is especially rewarding. This is a testament to our steady focus on fostering a strong team spirit and positive working environment.
What big focuses and discussions do you expect to see at this year’s Metro Connect?
This event takes place in February, giving you the opportunity to connect with many customers early. Our focus on the US market serves as a gathering place for many providers in our ecosystem, making us an ideal place to network with peers. Therefore, we will have a large presence at the event. Our new CEO, Paul Sunu, will participate in a panel discussion on broadband equity, access, and deployment. [BEAD]will co-host Metro Connect’s main reception with Bank Street.
We expect discussions to revolve around several key themes, including fiber optic and long-haul fiber initiatives, AI and data center developments, and strategies to address power consumption concerns. With such a diverse range of topics on the agenda, we can expect a packed schedule and a busy few days ahead.
How do you plan to drive Windstream Wholesale this year and beyond?
In 2024, Windstream Wholesale’s primary focus will be on monetizing its assets and previous network investments. This includes selling additional wavelengths and IP services, as well as leveraging dark fiber projects launched in recent years.
These construction projects include delivering high-density fiber from Tulsa, Oklahoma, to Little Rock, Arkansas, and Memphis, Tennessee, some of which are already ready for service. The company operates a beach route connecting Raleigh, North Carolina, with cable landing stations in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and Jacksonville, Florida. We will then develop a route with a high number of fibers from New York to Montreal, Canada.
Each initiative is built on cutting-edge, high-count fiber technology, and our infrastructure team works diligently to deliver on time and within budget. We are pleased to report that we have already successfully delivered thousands of miles of fiber to our customers.
As the year progresses, we expect to see new technology announcements that may reveal details of additional fiber builds and network expansion projects. Given all this, 2024 is expected to be a success.
Windstream Wholesale’s journey as an industry technology leader is defined by an unwavering commitment to excellence, resilience in the face of challenges, and a relentless pursuit of innovation. With a proven track record of success, we have established ourselves as a trusted provider known for our expertise and commitment to innovation.
Paul Sunu, Windstream Chairman and CEO