For SDN Communications, Minnesota is more than just a friendly neighbor to the east. The Land of a Thousand Lakes holds many longtime customers and a solid reminder that SDN’s reach extends beyond state lines.
“We’ve had a long history of supplementing or providing services in Southern Minnesota,” says Dan Eich, director of wholesale and carrier management with SDN. “It started long before I joined the company and has been a strong relationship.”
In total, SDN Communications’ network is made up of more than 50,000 miles of fiber in eight states - South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Minnesota. In fact, SDN Communications has network extending into the Twin Cities and specifically serves the Minnesota communities of Luverne, Mankato, Pipestone, Marshall, Montevideo, Worthington and Windom.
When explaining SDN services, Eich likes to use a highway analogy. SDN’s network, or the actual physical equipment used to provide telecommunications services, is like a highway system. The large national carriers provide the coast-to-coast interstate system. SDN’s “highway” is extensive, reaching far and wide and branching off in areas that other providers sometimes don’t reach. “We provide the state highways and county roads that our customers rely upon to deliver the traffic to rural and metropolitan markets alike.”
SDN provides network access to its 17 member companies, allowing those businesses to serve their own residential and business markets with internet, phone, TV and other telecommunications services. It also provides network access to telecommunications companies that have their own networks but need supplemental help.
For instance, a telecommunications company in Minnesota might have a network that doesn’t quite reach the Twin Cities. To serve their customers, that company will utilize SDN’s network into the metropolitan area to ensure services to their customers are consistent. SDN also maintains relationships with regional and large national carriers in the telecom space. Those companies also require supplemental network access from time to time in certain areas in Southern Minnesota.
