WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Cogent Communications, Inc., a next-generation optical ISP, today announced that it has completed more than 75 percent of the planned 80 Gbps bandwidth expansion on its 12,400 mile long-haul backbone. The remainder of the expansion will be completed by the end of October. Since April 23rd, Cogent has steadily increased the capacity on its OC-192 backbone from one wavelength (10 Gbps) to eight wavelengths (80 Gbps). This makes Cogent's backbone one of the nation's largest for IP data traffic and enables it to accommodate the equivalent of over 150 billion e-mails per second. Cogent's backbone now touches 45 of the 50 largest metropolitan service areas (MSAs) and is fully operational. Cogent currently provides service in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Kansas City, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Santa Clara, and Washington, D.C., with plans to provide service in 20 cities by the end of the year. "Clearly, Cogent is making significant headway in positioning itself to become one of the nation's leading carriers of IP traffic," said Jason Knowles, Analyst, Current Analysis. "One major benefit from this strategy is that the higher the quantity of traffic, the more efficient the network becomes, bringing Cogent closer to profitability. By utilizing an end-to-end Optical + IP infrastructure, Cogent has been able to redefine bandwidth pricing in the marketplace today." Cogent Communications Inc.