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Core180 is a start-up service provider that’s starting out with a big bang, thanks to a key subcontracting job on a billion-dollar Defense Department contract.
Core180 is the sole subcontractor to Arrowhead Global Solutions on its share of a 10-year, $1.5 billion contract that involves connecting 500 military bases along the East Coast to the Defense Information Systems Network (DISN), the Defense Department’s worldwide network.
The contract, dubbed DATS for DISN Access Transport Services, will provide network capacity to support voice, data and video applications. The Defense Department awarded DATS contracts to three companies – Arrowhead, AT&T and Qwest – in October.
Arrowhead will provide access services to military bases in the Northeast and Southeast regions of the United States. AT&T will provide access services to the Midwest, while Qwest will support Western sites.
DATS is the largest contract awarded to Arrowhead, a minority-owned business based in Falls Church, Va. Arrowhead provides satellite and terrestrial networks to government agencies.
Core180 is a two-year-old Hoboken, N.J. provider of network integration services. The company specializes in creating special-purpose, carrier-neutral networks for enterprise and government clients.
The DATS subcontract is a huge win for Core180, which has 20 employees and earned $750,000 in revenue last year. Core180 expects to hire 30 more employees and earn $6 million this year, most of it from the DATS program.
Core180’s other customers include HP and Computer Sciences Corp., but DATS is by far its largest deal.
“We’re getting traction,” says David Baule, CEO of Core180. “This is a very large play for us.”
For DATS, Core180 will use its proprietary software to create a Layer 2 overlay network on top of circuits provided by various carriers. Core180 will get circuits from local Bell companies, cable companies and CLECs. It will terminate these circuits at carrier-neutral hotels. It will pick the carrier for each route based on price, QoS or diversity.
“With DATS, the Department of Defense is becoming its own carrier,” Baule says. “They need to manage their access points like a carrier. We focus on helping them with an aggregation solution. We choose the best carrier by location, by base, by camp, by post, and then we aggregate the circuits at key locations and provide access back to the Defense Department.”
Core180’s software allows network managers to do asset management and change management on multi-carrier networks. By terminating at carrier-neutral hotels, Core180 is able to quickly add additional circuits.
“The overlay software allows the managers of the network to understand what their assets are and to track all of the switches and routers. They know where they are located, what buildings they are in, what racks they are in and even what ports they are using,” says Dick Murphy, president of Core180. “Changes are much easier to make on this network, and network managers have visibility into the network.”
Arrowhead and Core180 will be installing circuits under the DATS contract over the next two years.
“This is a purpose-built network,” Murphy says. “We will build the network as we get the orders. This is not a ‘we-will-build-it-and-they-will-come’ network.”
Although Arrowhead is the prime contractor on the DATS deal, Core180 says at least half of the revenue will flow to the start-up.
“Arrowhead has the interface to [the Defense Department] and they will manage the contract,” Murphy says. “We are doing all of the network work.”
Once Core180 has built out a network to support the military on the East Coast, it will offer excess capacity to commercial customers.
“One of the biggest advantages of DATS is that it is allowing us to accelerate our deployment of our interconnection platform,” Baule says.
