JULY 23, 2008 -- Foundry Networks Inc. (search for Foundry Networks) has been selected by Azienda Bergamasca Multiservizi Information and Communication Technology (ABM ICT) to engineer a next-generation carrier-grade MPLS wide area network (WAN) for the Province of Bergamo in northern Italy.
The Bergamo advanced broadband network is one of Italy's largest and most comprehensive cable networks comprised of more than 250 miles of fiber optics. With approximately100 Foundry NetIron MLX Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) metro routers and the involvement of more than 100 municipalities, Bergamo's network will be able to deliver a variety of next-generation voice, video, data, and wireless services to more than 216,000 households and 49,000 businesses, say company representatives.
The Province of Bergamo (Provincia di Bergamo) is a territory in the Lombardy region of Italy with a population of more than one million residents in an area approximately 1,051 square miles. With a majority of its local economy stimulated by a variety of medium-to-large enterprises, the Province of Bergamo required a robust MPLS carrier-class offering to deliver high quality of service (QoS) and aggressive service level agreements (SLAs) to its users.
The Foundry Networks-based IP MPLS network implemented by BT ITALIA, the main provider in Italy of communication services dedicated to the corporate and public sectors, is configured to manage data transfer speed from 10 Gbits/sec on a single line to 100 Gbits/sec on a trunked connection. Combining Layer 2 connectivity and MPLS versatility throughout its WAN, the Province of Bergamo will be able to provide its customers with flexible levels of triple- and quadruple-play services requested by enterprises and consumers.
The Foundry Networks offering is based on the NetIron MLX Series metro router platform; these high-performance multi-service routers will also be used by ABM ICT for its Network Operations Center (NOC) to monitor reliability and performance of the entire broadband network.
According to Foundry, the benefits and new services being delivered using its networking equipment include:
• Voice over IP (VoIP) to allow internal telecommunications between local public institutions more efficiently by utilizing the existing network;
• High-speed and secure connections with public utility services in the territory available through the Web, such as geographical survey documentation, residents' personal data, and online bill payments;
• Remote IP services available to special needs and senior citizens, such as e-learning and telemedicine; and
• Reducing the volume of physical documents, minimizing complexity and improving management, and increasing administrative costs savings
"We selected next-generation IP products from Foundry Networks for their high performance and energy efficiency capabilities as well as for their carrier-class reliability and scalability," reports Laura Capodicasa, managing director of ABM ICT S.p.A. "Because we require stringent levels of service quality to deliver advanced triple-play services throughout the region, we needed a solution that was not only cost-effective [and] reliable, but also efficient from an operational expenditure point-of-view and delivered the highest performance available. Foundry Networks was the only networking provider that could address all our needs," she contends.
"We are glad to have been selected by the Province of Bergamo and ABM ICT for the heart of its network," adds Ken Cheng, vice president and general manager for Foundry's the High-End Systems and Service Provider Business Unit. "The Province of Bergamo is one of the largest government-operated MPLS networks in Italy; having Foundry as the heart of this advanced infrastructure provides residential and enterprise users enhanced broadband services and the Province a highly scalable, reliable, and future-ready carrier Ethernet solution."
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