To bankroll these buys, Zayo received $225 million in funding from Battery Ventures , Columbia Capital , Centennial Ventures, M/C Venture Partners , and Oak Investment Partners .

    Scarano and Caruso first met while working at MFS Communications, a provider of last-mile (nowadays called "first-mile") fiber assets that was later acquired by the friendly folks at WorldCom. Much of the old executive team at MFS, including Caruso, went on to form what we know today as Level 3. Caruso and Scarano would eventually leave Level 3 to take ICG Communications private before, coincidentally enough, it was acquired by Level 3.

    Like Level 3, Zayo is building its business through acquisition after acquisition. It's a strategy that Level 3 has struggled with up to this point, but Scarano thinks in the long run it's the right way to go. (See Level 3 Feels Integration Irritation.)

    "It hink in the long run it'll pay off for them," he says. "They believe that bandwidth continues to grow. They've taken on an enormous integration challenge. Our integration activities are bite sized by comparison."