CELEBRATING 20 YEARS

Helping organizations achieve greater value through the advancement of fiber optic telecommunications

CEO’S MESSAGE

MARCH 2016

DCN’S CEO SPEAKS AT TT&S CONFERENCE On February 23-25, 2016, Telecom Training and Safety (TT&S), held their annual conference and vendor showcase at the Best Western Ramkota in Bismarck, North Dakota. Over one hundred telecommunications employees from around the state attended the three-day event. Sessions relating to the telecom industry included, cybersecurity, Wi-Fi, cable splicing, and fiber optic testing procedures.

Seth Arndorfer was the closing speaker at the event where he provided the audience with his insight on a few emerging technologies and how together, DCN and North Dakota’s rural telephone companies are well positioned to adapt to the rapid changes in our industry.

Arndorfer discussed topics such as virtualization and cloud computing along with exploring the impact of the explosion of video content on the internet. Video content on the web has caused subscribers internet bandwidth consumption to skyrocket. Fortunately, DCN’s Owner Companies have invested in fiber to the home, providing customers access to Gigabit Internet speeds. Fiber infrastructure provides customers high-speed access to cloud applications and virtual computing solutions.

Seth commended the industry’s commitment to training and emphasized the importance of providing our employees with the necessary skills to support the complex technologies utilized in our service offerings.

Seth Arndorfer

What a winter for a construction project in North Dakota! ND winters have a reputation that can be more abrasive than the current presidential candidates. Because of the mild winter, DCN’s Bismarck data center project is ahead of schedule and our fiber crews are busy gearing up for an early construction season.

In the next few months, you will be hearing how we plan to leverage our data center investment by expanding our service portfolio to include cloud computing and dedicated hosting solutions tailored to meet our customer’s needs.

2016 is going to be a big year for DCN! In addition to our data center and fiber construction projects, we are also celebrating a milestone in business.

“20 Years of Partnership & Progress” is our anniversary slogan and we plan to celebrate the unique partnership that exists with the 15 independent rural telecommunications providers that own DCN. We must also recognize what a truly amazing business model DCN is and how far we’ve come as an organization. Each year I’m more impressed with the progress that DCN and our owners have made in deploying fiber optic based broadband infrastructure. DCN and its owner companies commitment has resulted with constant growth in the number of businesses relying on us for their network and data center needs.

DCN is excited for another year of connecting ND businesses with fiber access to the region’s best network and state-of-the-art data centers.

Keith Andersen, General Manager/CEO of Inter-Community Telephone Company (ICTC) retired from his position on DCN’s Board of Governors.

Andersen was recently recognized for serving over 19 years on the DCN’s Board of Governors and was presented with an appreciation award from DCN.

On November 1, 2015, Mark Johnson assumed the role as ICTC’s General Manager/CEO and will occupy Andersen’s DCN Board position.

Anyone traveling through Fargo’s Hector Airport and Bismarck’s Municipal Airport might have noticed DCN’s new airport signage. As part of our marketing efforts, DCN is now advertising at local airports encouraging customers to “Bring Your Business Anywhere” and letting them know our services are available “Across the State and Around the Globe”.

DCN PURSUES MARKETING EFFORTS AT AIRPORTS

TWO DCN BOARD MEMBERS RETIRE

Pictured above from left to right: Dakota Carrier Network CEO, Seth Arndorfer; former Inter-Community Telephone Company General Manager/CEO, Keith Andersen; and Consolidated Telcom General Manager/CEO, Paul Schuetzler, the current Chairman of DCN’s Board of Governors.

On January 31, 2016, Bonnie Krause retired as CEO/General Manager of West River Telcom (WRT).

Krause served as a member of DCN’s Board of Governors since 2012. In recognition for her dedication and commitment to the Board, DCN presented Bonnie with an appreciation award.

Troy Schilling assumed the role as WRT’s CEO/General Manager on February 1, 2016, and will occupy Krause’s DCN Board position.

Pictured above from left to right: Dakota Carrier Network CEO, Seth Arndorfer; former West River Telcom CEO/General Manager, Bonnie Krause; and Consolidated Telcom General Manager/CEO, Paul Schuetzler, the current Chairman of DCN’s Board of Governors.

DCN scrolling signs located at the Bismarck Airport

PROGRESS CONTINUES ON DCN’S DATA CENTER EXPANSION IN BISMARCK

March 2016

August 2015 September 2015

January 2016

More information relating to DCN’s data center expansion can be found on DCN’s website at: http://dakotacarrier.com/making-progress-bismarck-data-center-expansion/.

P.O. Box 2484 Fargo, ND 58108-2484 800.814.3333

www.DakotaCarrier.com

(If you would like to be removed from our mailing list, please e-mail Laura Walz at lwalz@dakotacarrier.com)

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CHAPA JOINS DCN TEAM

Tara Chapa has joined the DCN team as an Application Administrator in the Bismarck Office. Her role includes being the Application Administrator for the new NetOmnia Centina System being implemented at DCN.

Prior to joining DCN, Chapa worked as a Technical Support Trainer at Sykes and for the past four years she was employed as an Application Analyst at CHI St. Alexius Medical Center.

Chapa graduated from Bismarck State College with an Associate’s degree in Computer Support.

Regarding her new position, Tara says technology is always changing and she enjoys the challenge of learning new things.

Tara and her husband, Roberto, have three children and reside in Bismarck, North Dakota. In her free time, Tara enjoys spending time with family, cooking, reading, and watching movies.

Tara Chapa