Our friends at Extenet have been busy lately, but they were able to carve out some time to speak with JSA for some exclusive interviews at PTC’23 and MetroConnect USA 2023.
Below is a Q&A with Roy Hilliard, Senior Vice President Sales & General Manager, who we spoke with at PTC’23, and Jay Floyd, Vice President of Corporate Strategy, who we spoke with at MetroConnect USA 2023.
Interviews have been edited for length and clarity.
For our readers who may not know, tell us a little about Extenet.
Jay Floyd: Extenet is one of the largest privately-held digital infrastructure companies in the United States, and really we’re out there delivering the dynamic connectivity solutions our customers need. Our exceptional network capabilities ensure we deliver the best end-user experience possible, and that’s why we’re able to work with just about anybody. Wireless carriers, sports, entertainment and hospitality venues, enterprises, government municipalities, you name it, we can probably help you out. We take a bold, innovative, and collaborative approach with our partners and clients, and we’re really looking to build off the momentum from some of our recent wins and continue improving connectivity, creating “Connections for Life,” throughout 2023.
Tell us about what’s happening at Extenet. You’ve had some big news recently.
Roy Hilliard: It’s been a fantastic few months, starting with the rebrand. It really allows us to reflect to the marketplace how we want to power those “Connections for Life,” and we say that as builders and operators of digital infrastructure that’s purposely built to support clients where they live, work and play.
Of course, you have the fun part, which you’ve seen in recent announcements with MGM Resorts, the San Antonio Spurs, the Dallas Cowboys, the Circuit of the Americas, so for us to get to play in and impact that user experience is just crazy fun.
If all that wasn’t enough, we’re in the final stage of moving to Frisco, TX. The excitement of that, not only from a marketplace standpoint of being close to our customers and our clients down there, but the area is fantastic. We have a brand new corporate headquarters that’s also reflective of the innovative, collaborative approach we have with our customers, so we’re super excited across the board.
What’s your role at Extenet?
JF: I like to think that I have the most fun job at Extenet, because I get to be creative, really. You know, when we talk about corporate strategy and product development, it’s one of those situations where I’m challenged by our CEO, Rich Coyle, to go out there and find new business opportunities and new ways to create revenue for the company.
And if I look at our operations team, who are out there in the field deploying fiber networks and in-building solutions for our customers, it’s day-in and day-out a very difficult job, so I get to align with them and really see where I need to take the company to the next step. It’s a great job, I really enjoy it, I have a great team, so I couldn’t ask for a better gig, to be honest with you.
RH: I lead the Telecom Solutions group, so that’s really focused on delivering network connectivity and solutions to a variety of different segments. It can be enterprises, wholesalers, entertainment, things like that, really leveraging our dense metro networks and nationwide footprint. It’s a fun group to be a part of. We’re more on the “work” side of “live, work and play,” but it’s great when you think of applications, content providers, hyperscalers and data centers, that’s what we’re focused on.
What’s the lay of the land for Extenet in 2023?
JF: It’s exciting times for us, right? For us in 2023, we’re really looking to capitalize on some of the big wins that we’ve had in the past, but most of all, we’re focused on really executing on our biggest win to date.
In my entire career, I’ve never been associated with a project so complex and so large, and the scale, and that’s MGM Resorts. We’ve partnered with them to replace all of their legacy networks with new ones that are going to launch this year and go live. It greatly benefits their guest experience within these properties, so we’re super excited about that.
We’re working with companies like Google and other hyperscalers to advance our technical capabilities and meet the demands of our customers. Super excited about 2023 and what’s around the corner.
RH: The big thing is working with the data centers and really helping to scale those up and really leveraging the dense networks that we have in cities. More specifically, we’re doing a lot of work in the Dallas area to launch there, coinciding with, obviously, the Frisco move, as well, so you’ll see more from us in terms of network announcements and launching there.
We’re also leveraging Las Vegas, going there for similar lit and dark services. So those are two markets we were working on in the fall, now we’re getting ready to launch in 2023.
For our readers who’d like to learn more about Extenet, where should they go?
JF: The new and improved extenet.com! It’s a great website, very intuitive and demonstrates what we have to offer to our customers and where we’re located in those major markets, so come visit us and reach out.
We’d like to thank both Jay and Roy for taking the time to speak with us!
See their full interviews in the videos below.
Extenet VP of Corporate Strategy, Technology Partnerships, and Product Development Jay Floyd sits down with JSA at Metro Connect to talk about the company’s bold, new reimagination in how digital infrastructure is developed and deployed, its brand and leadership team soon all under one roof at its new headquarters in Frisco, TX.
Extenet’s Roy Hilliard joins JSA TV live at PTC’23 to talk about the company being named to this years PTC Awards shortlist, as well as the new and improved Extenet, boldly reimagining how digital infrastructure is developed and deployed. Watch now!
