DSL.net pops 107 percent on IBM pact

DSL.net Inc. (Nasdaq: DSLN) blasted up 107 percent Tuesday on news it had inked a deal with IBM (NYSE: IBM) to offer digital subscriber line (DSL) access and services to IBM's small business customers.

Shares were up 3 23/64 to 6 31/64, and the stock was the most actively traded on the Nasdaq at Tuesday's market open. The stock slipped recently on a downgrade, which saw a downturn despite better-than-expected earnings reported in July.

Under the agreement with IBM, DSL.net's DSL service will be part of IBM Small Business WebConnections, providing high-performance connection to the Internet with guaranteed access speeds up to 25 times faster than dial-up.

``DSL.net's strong, fast bandwidth coverage in secondary cities will enable many more small businesses to take full advantage of IBM's Small Business WebConnections service,'' said Mike Braun, general manager, IBM Global Small Business in a release.

Financial details of the deal were not released.