Light Reading Acquires Boardwatch

NEW YORK -- Light Reading (www.lightreading.com), the premier information resource for news and analysis of next-generation telecommunications technology, today announced that it has purchased Boardwatch magazine from Penton Media. Light Reading also acquired Penton’s Boardwatch and ISPworld Websites and its directory of Internet service providers. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

“This is a huge day for Light Reading. Integrating Boardwatch’s 50,000 service provider readers with our existing carrier audience gives Light Reading the largest service provider audience of any publication in the world,” says Stephen Saunders, president and CEO of Light Reading. “We now reach over 100,000 service providers in the U.S., Asia, and Europe.”

“Unlike many publishers, Light Reading believes in the long-term viability of the telecommunications market. There is no better way for us to express that commitment than by investing in our position as the leading media company providing information for telecom executives,” adds John Keough, vice president of sales and marketing at Light Reading.

Under Light Reading's ownership, Boardwatch will undergo radical improvements that will benefit both readers and advertisers.

The magazine will be moved online, like all of Light Reading’s publications, and as befits a magazine for Internet service providers. The resulting savings on printing and distribution costs will be reinvested into the magazine’s editorial coverage – which will be expanded to include analysis of both the economics of service provider networks and the technology installed in them.

“Boardwatch will focus on the issues that service providers are concerned with – not just technology and the business case for deploying it, but also everything to do with the information supply chain that links content providers to end users,” says Peter Heywood, cofounder of Light Reading.

The Boardwatch Website will also undergo a sweeping redesign – including the incorporation of an existing part of the Light Reading Website: the Service Provider Circle (www.lightreading.com/spc), a portal that brings together information of interest to carriers from third-party sources. Service Provider Circle already reaches over 50,000 carriers and service providers around the world.


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ContactsEditorial:
Peter Heywood
Cofounder
Light Reading
[email protected]
+44-1293-862299Sales/advertising:
John Keough
VP of Sales and Marketing
Boardwatch/Light Reading
[email protected]
415-293-8458
About Light Reading
Light Reading launched in February 2000. Its Website, www.lightreading.com, delivers timely and entertaining in-depth analysis of telco networking developments for free. Profitable from its inception, Light Reading has rapidly gained a reputation as required reading for anybody associated with next-generation Internet technology. 850,000 people visit Light Reading each month. In June 2001, Light Reading launched a new site, www.byteandswitch.com, which has rapidly become the go-to destination on the Internet for independent analysis of storage networking issues. In 2002, Light Reading acquired and re-launched www.unstrung.com, a site providing analysis of the wireless industry.

About Penton Media
Penton Media is a leading, global business-to-business media company that produces market-focused magazines, trade shows, and conferences, and a broad offering of online media products. Penton’s integrated media portfolio serves 12 industries: Internet/broadband; information technology; electronics; natural products; food/retail; manufacturing; design/engineering; supply chain; aviation; government/compliance; mechanical systems/construction; and leisure/hospitality.