Interoute selects Infinera, Ciena for Pan-European network expansion

OCTOBER 30, 2006 -- Interoute, owner of Europe's most advanced next-generation voice and data network, today announced it will deploy new optical equipment across its pan-European footprint that will radically cut service delivery times for high-capacity bandwidth. The network upgrade means service providers can now deliver enough capacity to ensure all Web users in the European Union have on-demand access to video clips and digital content, say Interoute representatives.

To put the upgrade in perspective, the popular download site YouTube currently registers 100 million downloads a day and may account for as much as 4% of global Internet traffic. Once upgraded, Interoute says it will be able to single-handedly serve 4,000 YouTubes. Already considered the sixth-largest IP network in Europe and in the top 25 globally, this bandwidth expansion further accelerates Interoute's next-generation network lead over other enterprises attempting to develop similar platforms, says the carrier, including BT.

Interoute is investing over € 22million on the technology upgrade using a combination of the Infinera (search for Infinera) DTN Digital Optical Network system in its European network, and Ciena's (search for Ciena) CoreStream in Central and Eastern Europe.

According to Infinera, its Digital Optical System is the most advanced, IP-optimized optical service platform for next-generation data networks, and Interoute is the only pan-European operator deploying this technology. The total upgrade will be completed in less than three months; by mid January, customers will have access to 10-Gigabit waves and 10-Gigabit Ethernet delivered in less than 10 days, compared with the four- to eight-week lead times operators are offering today, says Infinera.

The Infinera and Ciena upgrade significantly extends Interoute's ability to offer a wider array of high-capacity data services to a customer base of leading enterprises and telecom service providers.

"Because we own our own fiber across Europe, we can prepare the physical infrastructure in a matter of weeks and complete the total deployment in under three months, which is phenomenally quick," reports Interoute CEO Matthew Finnie. "The current investment will support up to 800 Gbits/sec capacity and right now we are lighting fiber in 100- and 200-Gbit/sec chunks, at a rate of over 1,500 km per week. No other operator can match the speed at which we can upgrade our footprint across Europe to deliver high capacity bandwidth to our customers," he contends.

Beyond increased capacity and rapid delivery times, the upgrade enables operational efficiencies and increased reliability, say the vendors selected for the upgrade.

"We are thrilled to be working with a prominent leading-edge operator like Interoute," says Infinera co-founder and CEO Jagdeep Singh. "By making digital optical networking available to the vast majority of Europe's 300 million people, Interoute will bring advanced services to its customers, and a new networking architecture to a very large market."

"Building on our six-year relationship with Interoute, Ciena is delighted to expand our footprint in this next-generation network into Eastern European markets and continue to help position Interoute to offer high-capacity bandwidth and advanced services across its pan-European network," adds Francois Locoh-Donou, Ciena's vice president and general manager for EMEA.

While other operators are struggling to buy fiber and upgrade their network capacity, Interoute says it is providing services to all of Europe's leading telcos and an increasing numbers of corporate customers that have increasingly high-capacity demands. Forty-eight fiber pairs have been deployed throughout Interoute's network, which means it has the capacity to carry over a Petabit (a billion megabits per second) of traffic. Because of the physical nature of the network itself, it can introduce the very latest electronics far quicker than its competitors.

"The new economic reality in wholesale supply is all about speed, reliability, and operating cost efficiencies," explains James Kinsella, CEO of Interoute. "The speed of deployment is greatly enhanced if you are fiber rich and your network is equipped with the latest in digital technologies from companies such as Infinera and Ciena, which gives us a significant performance and deployment advantage. Carriers that are waiting to buy and light new fiber risk losing ground rapidly," he adds.

Visit Interoute
Visit Ciena Corp.
Visit Infinera