Indiana Fiber Network Selects Ciena’s Packet-Optical Switching and OneConnect Control Plane Software for Statewide Network Expansion

Regional carrier adds capacity, flexibility and intelligence to its OTN core for assured delivery of voice, video and data services to customers throughout Indiana

LINTHICUM, Md. — 05/22/2012

Ciena^® Corporation (NASDAQ:CIEN, news, filings), the network specialist, today announced that Indiana Fiber Network (IFN) will deploy Ciena’s 5430 Packet-Optical Reconfigurable Switching System (RSS) and OneConnect Intelligent Control Plane software to expand the capacity and service flexibility of its backbone network, and provide assured service delivery. The newly enhanced OTN switched network will support the aggregation, transport and management of voice, video and data services to its business and service provider customers. It will also provide differentiated service offerings and simplified service creation capabilities through point-and-click provisioning, therefore creating bandwidth-on-demand services in minutes. This helps position IFN to strengthen its service velocity and increase revenue potential.

Key Facts:

• IFN is a statewide fiber optic network owned by a consortium of 20 independent telephone companies, and is comprised of more than 2,400 miles of fiber optic cable that interconnects eight metro ring networks and 23 points of presence serving more than 3,300 On/Near-Net locations. Its customers include enterprise businesses, government entities, educational and healthcare institutions, as well as independent telephone company members.

• IFN’s customers use the network for the aggregation and transport of residential local and long distance calls, Internet access and video services, but due to increased traffic they required additional capacity and higher-speed services.

• Ciena’s 5430 will serve as key aggregation switches, delivering regionalized OTN and Ethernet traffic to key points in IFN’s network with speed and simplicity. Equipped with OneConnect control plane software, the 5430 switches will also provide IFN with the ability to automate provisioning and management of its network, while mesh restoration will improve network resiliency and service availability.

• Combined with Ciena’s 4200 Advanced Services Platform, already deployed in the network, IFN can support customers growing broadband demands and data center connectivity requirements via a scalable, dynamic and reconfigurable infrastructure – from the access through the core.

• IFN is managing their network with Ciena’ s advanced management solution for simplified/automated service activation and proactive  monitoring. Ciena Specialist Services is providing solution installation, turn-up and testing, along with migration services.

• Later this year, IFN plans to deploy Ciena’s 5410 Reconfigurable Switching System to enable efficient aggregation, grooming and forwarding of multiple traffic types in metro and regional sites. 

Executive Comments:

• “Our recent upgrade is designed to create an intelligent, automated network that can adapt to the diverse service requirements of our customer base – including both member companies and businesses – and be monitored, managed and reprogrammed remotely from our Network Operations Center. Through Ciena’s packet-optical equipment and OneConnect control plane technology, we can offer our customers flexible, high-powered bandwidth switching and increased capacity via a simplified infrastructure for delivering SONET, Gigabit Ethernet, storage and other services.  Additionally, Ciena’s OneConnect control plane software provides us with a simple and seamless migration path to next generation OTN, with built in restoration capabilities that minimize the need for truck rolls during network events.”
  –  Jerry Haver, Planning and Engineering Manager, IFN

• “Ciena’s 5430 OTN switch equipped with OneConnect control plane software allows IFN to react immediately to evolving member or customer demands in terms of the type, speed and management of services without compromising the traffic of other customers on the network. Ciena’s suite of intelligent infrastructure solutions, which are suitable to network operators of all sizes, allow IFN to address any service request from any customer with assurance, while reducing capital and operational costs through our unique programmable ports and intelligent service management.”
  –  Jason Phipps, Vice President, U.S. Markets, Ciena

Technology Leadership:

• Ciena’s 5430 platform is optimized for cost-effective, scalable and intelligent bandwidth management, enabling efficient aggregation, grooming, and tiered protection of SONET/SDH and OTN traffic types. The platform is powered by Ciena’s market-leading OneConnect control plane software, which allows operators to automate labor-intensive operations including planning, provisioning, and inventory management, while dramatically increasing network resiliency and availability.

• Ciena’s leadership in control plane technology stems from a 12 year history of innovation and live field deployments in some of the world’s largest, most mission-critical and most performance-demanding networks, representing thousands of nodes and hundreds of thousands of circuits.

• In addition, Ciena’s control plane substantially lowers network OPEX with auto-discovery, low-touch service creation, and zero-touch restoration; and CAPEX by no-longer-needed reserved restoration bandwidth.

Supporting Resources:

• Product Overview: 5430 Reconfigurable Service Switch
• Product Overview: 4200 Advanced Services Platform
• Product Overview: 5410 Service Aggregation Switch
• Product Overview: OneConnect Intelligent Control Plane
• Product Overview: ON-Center Network and Service Management Suite
• Whitepaper: Intelligent Optical Control Plane Architecture
• Video: Optical Control Plane
• Ciena Insights: What is an Optical Control Plane?

Jamie Moody
Ciena Corporation
(214) 995-8035
jmoody@ciena.com

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