GÉANT opts for Infinera Cloud Xpress for data center interconnect

GÉANT, which operates one of if not the largest pan-European research and education (R&E), has once again turned to Infinera (NASDAQ: INFN) for its optical transport needs. This time, GÉANT has chosen the Infinera Cloud Xpress for 100 Gigabit Ethernet (100GbE) data center interconnect.

The first Cloud Xpress deployment will involve Jisc, a UK R&E organization that enables the Janet network, and CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. They will use the optical transport platform to deliver connectivity to their data center in Budapest.

DANTE and TERENA combined to create the GÉANT Association in fall of 2014 (see "DANTE and TERENA become GÉANT Association"). Infinera has supplied a variety of equipment to the association and its partners, including the DTN-X (see, for example, "DANTE selects Infinera DTN-X platform for GÉANT Research and Education Network"). The two parties also have collaborated on technology demonstrations (see "DANTE, Infinera team on single-PIC terabit superchannel test").

"We wanted something that integrated with our existing Infinera XTC footprint across Europe to provide a scalable, cost-effective way to extend 100GbE connectivity into more locations across Europe to meet the growing demands of our users while minimizing the need for space and power. Rapid and easy provision of new services was also a critical factor for us," said Mark Johnston, chief network operations officer at GÉANT. "Instant Bandwidth allows the rapid activation of new services to meet the evolving requirements of our users."

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