Colt moves to 100-Gbps services on fiber-optic network
Fiber-optic network services provider Colt Technology Services says it will embark on a system-wide network upgrade that enable it to deliver transmission rates of up to 100 Gbps for its enterprise, carrier, and web-centric customers.
Colt positions itself as an independent fiber network operator in Europe and an alternative, high-bandwidth carrier across Europe and Asia. The company says it will increase capacity on its backbone fiber and packet network to the multi-terabit level. The core network enhancement should enable a wider range of high-bandwidth services to businesses, a demographic Colt says is being underserved as many other operators focus on investments in consumer-driven wireless and content infrastructure.
"We are causing a major disruption in the telecoms market, similar to that being played out now in cloud computing," asserts Carl Grivner, CEO of Colt. "Old business models are breaking down and technology is taking a major leap forward, driven by software and virtualizsation. Colt is investing heavily in its core strength, the network, to stay ahead of the business transformation curve – just as our customers expect."
Colt expects to support the evolution toward cloud and the data center centric networking.
"To enable this transition, Colt is driving a data center-focused, distributed network topology, offering direct connections to over 200 key data centres, carrier hotels, and cloud aggregation points, putting customers closer to the core of their digital business," explains Rajiv Datta, Colt's CTO.
Colt's network currently connects more than 680 data centers worldwide, with more than 24,000 on-net buildings. The service provider says the upgrade program will enable the company to offer pre-positioned high-capacity connectivity and thus rapid service delivery. The company deployed Infinera's DTN-X in 2015 as part of an upgrade to the operator's European network (see "Colt upgrades European Supercore fiber network with Infinera DTN-X").
"Colt's network investment is centred around creating a scalable and flexible platform that provides customers with choices that meet the varying service requirements of different applications," Datta added. "This platform will further enable our award-winning product portfolio including innovative, software-defined networking (SDN) products and Ethernet services, to provide value to our customers as they transition to this agile, cloud-centric world."
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