ECI will supply its Apollo packet optical transport systems to SURFnet, the Dutch national research and education network. SURFnet announced December 16 that it will use the systems on the next generation of its fiber-optic network, SURFnet8. Transition to the new infrastructure will begin next year.
"It is clearly time to migrate to a next-generation network, as we have simply outgrown our current infrastructure, which no longer provides enough flexibility or bandwidth per wavelength. Moreover, this new solution allows for automating operations and bandwidth restoration, both important capabilities for the future," said Jac Kloots, project manager at SURFnet.
"Of the nine candidates for this tender, we selected ECI as they offer an unrivaled combination of advanced capabilities and service along with the possibility to quickly, easily, and cost-effectively migrate to 400G, as future requirements may warrant," Kloots continued. "Excellent support of alien wavelengths was another winning factor."
ECI will supply the Apollo optical transport platform coupled with a 100G blade and new collector ROADMs. The systems house says the platforms will support Raman amplification, low latency, and software-configurable colorless, directionless, and gridless optical routing. SURFnet is the company's sixth research and education customer in Europe (see, for example, "Germany's BelWü to build new metro and regional research and education networks").
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