In the first half of 2018 managed service provider GTT Communications made significant strides to grow its VMware VeloCloud-based managed SD-WAN service with new deployments and acquisitions.

GTT launched the SD-WAN service in April 2017 and delivers VeloCloud’s SD-WAN as a pre-packaged box for customers to install on premises.

The SD-WAN is based on the GTT’s Tier 1 internet backbone and it has deployed VeloCloud gateways across its network. Its network is made up of more than 300 points of presence (PoPs) across six continents, which GTT said enables it to install, manage, and maintain more than 100,000 managed equipment services, including customer premises equipment, network monitoring and alerts, and its SD-WAN and WAN services.

In its second quarter 2018 earnings call with investors, the company said its SD-WAN bookings increased, in both sales and installs. According to the Seeking Alpha transcript of the company's investor call, GTT President and CEO Rick Calder said that SD-WAN initially only made up a relatively minor part of the company's total sales but is now "a meaningful double-digit and a growing part of our total sales numbers and we see that accelerating.”

Calder added that GTT’s local loops across multiple access technologies are the differentiating part of its SD-WAN. This, he said, gives GTT the ability to deliver low latency, high performance traffic to both cloud providers and public internet, leveraging GTT’s backbone. The most compelling loops, he continued, provide dedicated internet access across an Ethernet fiber loop and a broadband internet connection over DSL or cable.

GTT executives also addressed competition from the combined Level 3-CenturyLink. Calder said what what sets GTT apart is its internet-based SD-WAN. He praised the simplicity, speed, agility, and price of the service.

In its second quarter of 2018, GTT posted revenue of $326.8 million, a 71.9 percent increase year-over-year. It reported a net loss of $136.3 million, primarily related to the large cost of its Interoute acquisition and a loss due to extinguishment of debt.

During the first six months of the year, the company made three acquisitions. It acquired Amsterdam-based network connectivity provider Custom Connect in January to extend the reach of its internet backbone. In March, it acquired Toronto-based Accelerated Connections, which provides managed networking, voice-over-IP (VoIP), and colocation services. This expanded GTT’s network footprint in Canada.

And in May, it purchased Interoute, a European fiber network for $2.3 billion in cash. In the second quarter earnings call Calder said that customers found the combination of the two businesses “compelling.” This acquisition, Calder said,  led to large SD-WAN wins with two big European food processing companies. It also initiated a number of renewals of its services from European clients, “who just are very excited about the potential across the two companies,” he said.

Following the Interoute acquisition, GTT re-structured its European business and appointed Martin Ford as president of its U.K. division and the Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific. Former Interoute Director Jesper Aagaard was named Europe division president.

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