3:15 AM -- For U.S. dark fiber and business services specialist {complink 12854|Sidera Networks Inc.}, 2012 has been a year of significant change.

Now the team is looking forward to an even more seismic 2013.

A competitive service provider with roots in the SMB space -- its lineage includes Neon Networks, RCN Metro and the Long Island Fiber Exchange -- Sidera has reshaped its future into one focused on much larger businesses and on providing connectivity for data centers (to facilitate cloud services).

So in addition to its healthy wholesale revenues, and its existing success in the financial services sector, Sidera hopes to serve mobile operators, cloud service providers, big content companies and larger retail companies, among others. It's a strategic leap for a company that has been transforming for some time now.

"It’s an exciting time to be at Sidera," says CTO Philip Olivero. He, and other senior Sidera figures, say the company has put into place the people, the processes and the tools to meet the needs of much larger customers.

Sidera also expects to be ready to capitalize on the explosion of cloud services that will enable mobile data to fuel applications everywhere, including M2M, according to Olivero. With billions of devices being connected, from cars to home appliances to health monitoring gear, an explosion of demand for connectivity into data centers is anticipated and that's a trend for which Sidera is prepared.

"We will provide coverage with differentiation -- unique coverage designed to connect mobile hubs and data centers and provide robust, reliable service," Olivero said.

Sidera is already doing this in Virginia, where the company is building out a 1,000-route mile network that will connect the data centers it doesn't already reach in that state, initially to serve a major wireless carrier, but available for others as well. And it recently announced a deal to link CoreSite Realty Corp.'s data centers too. (See Sidera Links CoreSite Data Centers and Sidera Expands With Major Virginia Build.)

The company is also hinting at major plans for software-defined networking and has been investing heavily in the bandwidth it is able to offer. (See Ethernet Expo 2012: Sidera's Bandwidth Boom.)

This determined move upmarket is a gutsy one for Sidera as it puts the company in the crosshairs of not only the U.S. majors -- AT&T Inc. CenturyLink Inc. Verizon Communications Inc. -- but also the major competitive players such as tw telecom Inc. and the international players that are working with multinationals in the U.S.

But it also puts Sidera squarely in position to ride a tremendous growth wave, if the company is able to execute its new strategy. And that makes Sidera a company to watch carefully in the coming year.

— Carol Wilson, Chief Editor, Events, Light Reading