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Cisco Expands Global Leadership in Optical Multiservice Transport
New Features in Cisco ONS 15454 Platform Enable Cogent, Vidéotron and Veroxity to Improve Operational Efficiencies and Launch Advanced Services
| Source: Cisco Systems, Inc.
SAN JOSE, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- March 21, 2007 -- Cisco® (NASDAQ : CSCO ) today announced it has
made significant hardware and software upgrades to its Cisco ONS optical
networking portfolio that give service providers and enterprises more
flexibility in delivering new services as well as a greater ability to
scale their networks.
Available today on the industry-leading Cisco ONS 15454 Multiservice
Transport Platform (MSTP), the latest hardware and software features will
help users generate new revenue streams and move toward more efficient,
flexible, Internet Protocol Next-Generation (IP NGN) and Ethernet-based
networks, helping them reduce capital and operating expenses.
Highlights include a new 40-channel, mesh reconfigurable optical add/drop
multiplexer (ROADM) supporting from 2 to
8-degrees of dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) traffic,
Ethernet Xponder and Cisco Multiservice Provisioning Platform
(MSPP)-on-a-blade. The Cisco mesh ROADM functionality includes operational
innovations that support a service provider's migration from ring-based
DWDM topologies to more fiber-efficient mesh DWDM topologies while
simultaneously simplifying management, provisioning and troubleshooting.
The Cisco Ethernet Xponder is the first DWDM solution that provides
aggregation of 1-Mbps up to 1-Gbps Ethernet into G.709, 10-Gbps wavelengths
for delivery to Cisco routers such as the Cisco CRS-1 Carrier Routing
System-based
IP-over-DWDM solution. This enables service providers who have already
deployed the Cisco ONS 15454 platform for other services to add a blade to
provide cost-effective Ethernet aggregation services in remote central
offices.
The Cisco MSPP on a blade provides significant investment protection by
enabling full MSPP Synchronous Optical Network (SONET)/Synchronous Digital
Hierarchy (SDH) functionality to reside on a single card inside a Cisco
MSTP DWDM chassis. With more than 75,000 Cisco ONS 15454 systems deployed,
these innovations are enabling service providers to migrate easily from
SONET/SDH services to DWDM services in the same Cisco ONS 15454 chassis,
providing unparalleled investment protection.
Service Providers Benefit from ONS 15454 MSTP Upgrades
Cisco is also announcing that four leading service providers -- Cogent
Communications, Vidéotron, Veroxity Technology Partners and HL komm -- have
deployed or support Cisco's new ONS 15454 MSTP hardware and software
features.
Cogent
Cogent Communications, a multinational, Tier 1 facilities-based Internet
Service Provider (ISP) and one of the largest providers of Ethernet
services, offers high-capacity Internet access and transport services to
corporate and net centric customers in approximately 90 markets across 14
countries in North America and Western Europe. Cogent has been using the
Cisco ONS 15454 in its metro networks since 2000.
Cogent is deploying the Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP across its long haul backbone
where Cogent utilizes the flexibility and features of the MSTP to quickly
and cost-effectively provision bandwidth when and where it is needed. The
Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP not only meets Cogent's needs for Gigabit Ethernet
(GbE), 10GbE, and Optical Carrier (OC)-192 services on an operational
basis, but gives Cogent the flexibility to upgrade to higher capacity 40
GigaBits per second (Gbps) wavelengths in the future.
Vidéotron
Vidéotron, an integrated communications company engaged in cable
television, interactive multimedia development, Internet access services,
cable telephony and wireless in Canada, has chosen and deployed Cisco ONS
15454 MSTP with ROADM technology for their major transport sites.
Vidéotron is a wholly owned subsidiary of Quebecor Media Inc.
The Cisco ROADM allows Vidéotron to rapidly build new optical paths between
any of their major sites in a more cost effective manner. This new
capability enables Vidéotron to operate more efficiently and cost
effectively since the
pre-provisioning of each and every hub site is not required. A Cisco ONS
15454 ROADM node also allows Vidéotron to add and drop wavelengths without
changing the physical fiber connections.
"By deploying the Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP, Vidéotron is better equipped to
handle the convergence of voice, video, data and mobile communications that
customers need to survive in a competitive marketplace," said Michel
Allard,
vice-president, engineering, Vidéotron. "Vidéotron is poised to provide
customers with the most advanced 'quad-play' services in our service area."
Veroxity
Veroxity Technology Partners, based in Bedford, Mass., builds and supports
fiber-diverse
mission-critical optical networks for its enterprise customers. The
company operates as a facilities-based carrier and owns and operates a
global optical backbone to serve major metropolitan markets across the
United States and Europe.
Veroxity, which has deployed the most recent Cisco ONS 15454 platform
upgrades, aims to provision new high-speed
customer-site connections much more rapidly using software and the ROADM
capabilities of the new solution.
With the demands for increasing bandwidth and high-bandwidth services,
Veroxity needed a way to offer new,
high-bandwidth services yet retain its existing operational model and avoid
increasing its support staff. The goal was to limit provisioning to a
single truck roll with the ability to provision new services remotely as
needed.
"The Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP solution is another example of how well Cisco
understands our business," said Matthew Roth, chief network architect,
Veroxity. "It was the first company to provide ROADM capability that met
all of our flexibility and redundancy requirements and fit into our
existing business model. Cisco allows us to place 2-degree ROADM
technology cost-effectively at specific sites and now provides the
capability to use multidegree ROADM technology at ring interconnections.
It is the only vendor that I am aware of to offer complementary 2-degree
and multidegree ROADM technology."
HL komm
HL komm, a telecommunications service provider for the Leipzig and Halle
region in Germany, uses the Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP for its core backbone in
Halle-Leipzig and to unite local-area networks in Saxonia-Anhalt. The
Cisco ONS 15454 platform offered HL komm more flexibility in delivering new
services, such as Gigabit Ethernet and SDH links to its customers as well
as the ability to more efficiently manage the optical infrastructure.
"The latest enhancements to the Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP play a key role in
helping us reach our evolving IP-based next-generation network and service
goals," said Heiko Heusinger, HL komm. "The wavelength cross-connect
extends the management efficiencies, flexibility and reduced operating
costs we already have with ROADMs in ring-based sub networks to our
mesh-based network. It would also enable us to migrate our SDH service
onto the Cisco ONS 15454 platform with 10 Gigabit MSPP-on-a-blade, which
again reduces operating expenses and provides more flexibility."
"Upgrading our optical solutions is significant because it provides
features that give service providers like Veroxity, Cogent, Vidéotron and
HL komm competitive edges as well as even better return on their
investments in Cisco technology," said Surya Panditi, vice president and
general manager, Optical Transport Business Unit, Cisco. "These
enhancements are part of our commitment to service providers and
enterprises during their transitions to IP Next-Generation Network
infrastructures."
Pricing and Expected Availability
The Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP is available now and varies in price based on
configuration.
For more information on Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP software and hardware
upgrades, visit Cisco at OFC/NFOEC 2007 (March 27-29, 2007) at the Anaheim
Convention Center in Anaheim, Calif., or go to www.cisco.com/go/opticalr8.
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