WASHINGTON -- Cogent Communications Group, Inc. announced that it had purchased for $11.7 million the major assets of Tier-1 Internet service provider NetRail in bankruptcy. NetRail will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cogent Communications. As a result of this purchase, Cogent will continue to serve the majority of NetRail's customers. Over the next several months NetRail's service will be integrated with Cogent's national backbone and facilities. Cogent, headquartered in Washington, DC, is a privately held high speed Internet service provider providing end-to-end optical connectivity to the Internet for businesses. NetRail, headquartered in Atlanta, is a provider of Internet access service in eight U.S. cities. Dave Schaeffer, chief executive officer of Cogent, said, "The acquisition of the NetRail service will allow Cogent to integrate into the nation's largest Internet protocol backbone operating at 80 Gigabits per second a traditional Tier 1 Internet service provider. The combination of Tier 1 status and Cogent's high speed network will improve Cogent's ability to offer cost-effective Ethernet Internet access to small- and medium-size businesses in major metropolitan markets."Cogent Communications Inc.