Infinera tops NSN/Coriant for BICS network upgrade

International wholesale carrier services provider BICS has chosen the DTN-X packet-optical transport platform from Infinera (NASDAQ: INFN) for an upgrade of its pan-European fiber-optic network. Infinera’s DTN-X topped an offering from the incumbent network hardware supplier, Nokia Siemens Networks (now Coriant), among others, according to an executive at BICS.

BICS already has one customer running at 100 Gbps and it also transports aggregated traffic at 100 Gbps using its current NSN/Coriant optical transport platforms, according to Johan Wouters, senior vice president, capacity business management at BICS. However, “the business case wasn’t positive,” in Wouters’s words, for the network to support the significantly greater demand for 100-Gbps services that BICS could foresee.

After an RFP and demonstration process, BICS narrowed its field of potential suppliers to three: NSN, Infinera, and a third company Wouters declined to name. Despite facing what he termed “a difficult choice,” Wouters said BICS opted for the DTN-X because of its ability to support multiple 500-Gbps superchannels on a fiber – a capability for which Wouters says the company will have immediate use – as well as the support of OTN interfaces and Infinera’s ability to deliver the platforms in a timely manner. BICS plans to deploy the DTN-X in as many as 12 points of presence (PoPs) along the 9000-km network in the September/October timeframe this year.

Wouters also said that the fact that the DTN-X can enable BICS’s wholesale customers to view the performance of their services was an important factor in the decision-making process. He said the ability to support very high speed services with very short delivery times will create a competitive advantage for the company.

BICS provides international wholesale services via a fiber-optic network that includes 100 PoPs in 55 cities and 33 countries around the world. Its pan-European network includes a cable landing station in Marseille that provides access to the EIG and SEA-ME-WE 4 submarine cable systems. The company also leases infrastructure in Asia and Eastern Europe, Wouten says. Its current customer roster includes major Internet service providers looking to connect Asia with Europe as well as European incumbent telecommunications service providers.

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