What Stratus Networks does

Stratus Networks is a privately held business telecommunications company headquartered in Peoria, Illinois, founded in 1999 and backed by private equity firm Novacap. The company owns and operates a privately built fiber-optic backbone spanning thousands of miles throughout Illinois, dedicated exclusively to business customers rather than shared with residential traffic. Stratus delivers a unified portfolio of managed connectivity services across four product families: Internet (Dedicated Internet Access, Business Internet Access, BIA Pro, and Stratus Broadband Internet), Data (SD-WAN, EPL/EVPL, EVPN, MultiLinQ, Secure Port, Wireless Backup), Voice (Hosted PBX with proprietary softphone applications, SIP Trunking, Microsoft Direct Routing, Internet Faxing), and Cloud (FLEX hosting and IaaS, Express Connect for direct Microsoft Azure connectivity, and Cloud-Based Firewall). All internet services are SLA-backed with up to 99.999% uptime guarantees, and the proprietary BIA Pro offering bundles fiber internet with integrated wireless failover for business continuity.

The company's go-to-market combines direct enterprise and SMB field sales, dedicated carrier-wholesale teams, channel partners, and a Connectbase Seller Cloud marketplace integration. Customers span enterprise (OSF Healthcare, Carle Health, Better Banks, Busey Bank, Country Financial, Maui Jim, Bunn-o-matic), mid-market, and SMB segments across regulated verticals (banking, healthcare) and commercial verticals (retail, manufacturing, education, hospitality). Pricing is quote-based and recurring-monthly across multi-year contracts, with revenue derived almost entirely from subscription services plus installation and managed professional services. Long-tenured customer relationships (some exceeding 20 years) and bundled, deeply integrated service stacks create meaningful switching costs.

The company has executed a clear growth strategy in 2024-2026: it acquired Illinois Fiber Resources Group (iFiber) in June 2024 to extend fiber across northwest Illinois, appointed a new CEO (Darren Feder, ex-Level 3/MCI/MFS) and a full bench of senior leaders across CRO, CFO, marketing, legal, and sales, launched BIA Pro in March 2026, expanded fiber across five additional Illinois communities, and onboarded onto Connectbase's Seller Cloud platform. Operational performance metrics are notable — an NPS of 84.2 (nearly 3x the telecom industry average of 31), 92% customer satisfaction, 18-second average call wait times, and churn less than half the industry norm — and have earned Stratus back-to-back Stevie Awards for Customer Service Department of the Year in Telecommunications in 2025 and 2026.

Name

Stratus Networks

Legal name

Stratus Networks, Inc.

Website

https://stratusnet.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1999

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Stratus Networks is a privately held, Illinois-based business telecommunications provider that owns and operates a regional fiber backbone to deliver dedicated internet, data, voice, and cloud connectivity services to enterprise, SMB, and carrier customers across Illinois.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Business Telecommunications Services

NAICS

Wired Telecommunications Carriers (517111), Wired and Wireless Telecommunications Carriers (except Satellite) (51711), Telecommunications (517)

SIC

Telephone Communications (No Radiotelephone) (4813), Services-Telephone Interconnect Systems (7385)

akta.pro primary industry

Business/Enterprise Fixed Connectivity Providers (SME/Enterprise Broadband) (HDAIABAI)

akta.pro secondary industries

Carrier Ethernet Services (E-Line/E-LAN/E-Tree) (HDAIAFAC), IP Transit & Internet Backbone (Tier-1/2, peering, DIA) (HDAIAEAA), Backbone & Long-Haul Transport (IP/MPLS, Optical/Wavelength) (HDABALAH)

Keywords

• Business internet services
• Fiber optic connectivity
• Managed network services
• Cloud voice solutions
• Enterprise telecom

Headquarters

HQ city

Peoria Heights

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Infrastructure, Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Internet Services: Recurring subscription revenue from Dedicated Internet Access (DIA), Business Internet Access (BIA), BIA Pro, and Stratus Broadband Internet (SBI) services. These are recurring monthly services backed by SLAs, generating consistent subscription income from enterprise and SMB customers.
2. Data / Network Services: Recurring revenue from SD-WAN, Ethernet Private Line (EPL/EVPL), Ethernet Virtual Private Networking (EVPN), Secure Port, MultiLinQ, and Wireless Backup services. These managed network services are sold as recurring subscriptions typically under multi-year contracts.
3. Voice Services: Recurring revenue from hosted PBX, SIP trunking, Microsoft Direct Routing, and internet faxing services. Voice solutions are offered as cloud-based subscriptions, often bundled with internet connectivity.
4. Cloud Services: Revenue from FLEX products (cloud hosting, IaaS, disaster recovery), Express Connect (direct cloud connectivity), and cloud-based firewall services. These managed cloud services generate recurring revenue with varying contract terms.
5. Professional Services: One-time and recurring professional services revenue from installation, project management, dedicated account management, and on-call technical support.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

Stratus Networks sells business-grade internet, data, voice, and cloud connectivity services over its privately owned fiber-optic backbone, including Dedicated Internet Access, Business Internet Access, SD-WAN, Ethernet, Hosted PBX, SIP trunking, Microsoft Direct Routing, cloud hosting (FLEX), direct cloud connectivity (Express Connect), and integrated wireless backup. Services are delivered under SLAs with up to 99.999% uptime to enterprise, SMB, and carrier/wholesale customers primarily across Illinois, with bundled one-source support and a 24/7 in-region NOC.

Product overview

Stratus Networks is a business telecommunications provider offering a unified platform of internet, data, voice, and cloud connectivity solutions. The portfolio consists of four core service categories: Internet (Dedicated Internet Access, Business Internet Access, BIA Pro, and Stratus Broadband Internet — all SLA-backed), Data (SD-WAN, MultiLinQ, EPL/EVPL, EVPN, Secure Port, and Wireless Backup), Voice (Hosted PBX, Microsoft Direct Routing, SIP Trunking, and Internet Faxing), and Cloud (FLEX Products, Express Connect, and Cloud-Based Firewall). These services share a common fiber network infrastructure and are delivered as both standalone offerings and complementary bundles — for example, BIA Pro bundles fiber internet with integrated wireless backup, Express Connect extends the network to Microsoft Azure, and Secure Port and Wireless Backup serve as add-on security and redundancy layers atop core internet services. The company primarily serves SMB, enterprise, and carrier segments across Illinois and surrounding states, with recent expansion into five additional Illinois communities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Dedicated Internet Access (DIA) SLA-backed dedicated internet access providing guaranteed bandwidth, symmetrical speeds, and high availability with up to 99.999% uptime, designed for mission-critical business operations and multi-site enterprises.
• Business Internet Access (BIA) SLA-based fiber broadband internet service delivering speed and reliability for modern business applications, positioned between premium DIA and low-cost cable alternatives for SMB and mid-market customers.
• Business Internet Access Pro (BIA Pro) Business Internet Access solution combining SLA-based fiber internet with integrated wireless backup for automatic failover, providing symmetrical fiber speeds and continuous monitoring for small businesses and branch offices.
• Stratus Broadband Internet (SBI) SLA-backed fiber broadband internet service for businesses requiring reliable connectivity at a broadband budget, supporting SLA-backed service levels for cost-sensitive customers.
• SD-WAN Software-Defined Wide Area Networking solution that intelligently routes traffic over multiple underlay connections (fiber, broadband, 4G/5G) to optimize performance for cloud applications including VoIP, video conferencing, and multi-cloud environments.
• MultiLinQ Business data service enabling multiple network connections or functions over a single access line, providing bandwidth aggregation and redundancy capabilities for cost-efficient multi-service delivery.
• EPL/EVPL Ethernet Private Line (EPL) and Ethernet Virtual Private Line (EVPL) services providing Layer 2 connectivity for point-to-point or point-to-multipoint Ethernet circuits with SLA-backed performance for enterprise private networking.
• Ethernet Virtual Private Networking (EVPN) Ethernet Virtual Private Networking service delivering advanced Layer 2 VPN capabilities for multi-site Ethernet connectivity across the Stratus network for distributed enterprises.
• Secure Port Secure dedicated port service providing private, isolated connectivity for businesses requiring enhanced security and dedicated bandwidth.
• Wireless Backup Integrated wireless backup connectivity providing automatic failover for business internet connections, ensuring continuity when primary fiber connections are disrupted.
• Hosted PBX Cloud-based hosted private branch exchange (PBX) service delivering business phone system capabilities including extensions, auto-attendants, call queues, and voicemail without on-premises hardware.
• Microsoft Direct Routing SIP-based voice integration enabling Microsoft Teams Direct Routing for businesses, allowing Teams to serve as the primary phone system with Stratus-provided voice trunking.
• SIP Trunking Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunking service providing voice connectivity over the Stratus fiber network, replacing traditional PRI lines with scalable, cost-effective voice circuits.
• Internet Faxing Voice-over-IP fax service enabling sending and receiving of faxes over the internet through the Stratus network, eliminating the need for analog fax lines.
• FLEX Products Cloud hosting and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) platform providing secure cloud hosting, disaster recovery options, and seamless failover capabilities with built-in redundancy.
• Express Connect Direct private connection service linking customer networks to Microsoft Azure via a dedicated fiber connection, bypassing the public internet for improved security, performance, and reliability.
• Cloud-Based Firewall Managed cloud firewall service providing network security, threat protection, and traffic filtering as a cloud-hosted security service.

Quantifiable outcome

• NPS of 84.2, nearly 3x the telecom industry average of 31
• +9 more outcomes

Named customers22 records

Segments10 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• ConnectbasecoreTechnology or Integration · 17 June 2026Ongoing collaboration where Stratus Networks leverages Connectbase's Seller Cloud platform to enhance how its network services are discovered, accessed, and engaged with by buyers and partners. The platform enables Stratus to efficiently publish and manage service availability including Dedicated Internet Access, Ethernet services, and SLA-backed fiber Broadband.
• Illinois Fiber Resources Group (iFiber)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 4 June 2024Illinois Fiber Resources Group (iFiber) was acquired by Stratus Networks in June 2024. The acquisition represents a strategic expansion in fiber infrastructure, adding network coverage in northwest Illinois. Specific financial details were not disclosed.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Brightspeed: Regional fiber operator (formerly Lumen's ILEC assets) actively building fiber across 20 U.S. states with a focus on business-grade broadband and voice. Comparable regional fiber-overbuild strategy targeting enterprise customers.
• TDS Telecom: Regional fiber and broadband provider serving rural and suburban U.S. markets with business and residential connectivity, voice, and managed services. Overlapping Midwest footprint and similar enterprise/SMB focus.
• TPx Communications: Managed services provider specializing in connectivity, SD-WAN, UCaaS, and cybersecurity for SMB and mid-market customers nationally. Comparable in target segment and product mix, including hosted voice.
• WOW! WideOpenWest: Regional fiber and cable broadband provider delivering business and residential internet, voice, and cloud services in the Midwest and Southeast. Overlaps with Stratus in Midwestern markets and SMB targeting.
• FirstLight Fiber: Regional fiber-based business telecom provider in the U.S. Northeast offering DIA, Ethernet, voice, and cloud services to enterprise, carrier, and wholesale customers. Highly comparable to Stratus in scale, product mix, and customer profile.
• Metronet: Large regional fiber-to-the-premises provider across the Midwest and South, delivering gigabit internet, voice, and video to residential and business customers. Operates in overlapping Illinois geography with comparable fiber construction economics.
• Consolidated Communications: Regional wireline carrier offering fiber-based broadband, voice, and managed services to business and residential customers across the Midwest and U.S. Closely comparable in customer mix and service portfolio to Stratus.
• Windstream: Mid-tier fiber and SD-WAN provider serving SMB and enterprise customers across the U.S., with overlapping Midwest presence. Comparable managed network and wholesale service portfolio to Stratus.

Broad incumbents

• Zayo Group: Large-scale fiber infrastructure operator providing wholesale wavelengths, dark fiber, and enterprise connectivity across North America. A broader incumbent whose wholesale and carrier services overlap with Stratus's carrier solutions segment.
• Crown Castle: Large U.S. tower and fiber infrastructure operator with a significant fiber business serving carriers and enterprise customers. Broader incumbent whose fiber footprint and carrier focus overlap with Stratus's wholesale offerings.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/StratusNetworks
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/stratus-networks

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Stratus Networks