Cox Deploys Ciena’s CoreDirector Multiservice Switch

Ciena Corp. announced Wednesday that Cox Communications Inc. has become the first MSO to deploy Ciena's CoreDirector Multiservice Optical Switches. The cableco will deploy the system in the super headend of its San Diego network to interconnect two metro rings, each transporting multiple 10gbps circuits over DWDM.

CoreDirector is a multiservice, multiprotocol optical switching system that consolidates the functionality of a multiservice provisioning platform, digital cross-connect and Ethernet switch into a single, high-capacity switching system.

Vinay Rathore, director of service provider marketing for Ciena, said that as MSOs like Cox increasingly offer business communications services, the infrastructure requirements at their headends changes to including more switching requirements.

“Their choices were to spend a lot of money on MSPPs and cross connects and Ethernet switches – in Cox’s case, so much equipment that they would have to expand their facility – or CoreDirector, which is a single-rack system that does it all,” he said.

CoreDirector gives Cox 640gbps of switching capacity in a single bay. Rathore said Cox will use CoreDirector for switching, aggregation and transport. The system will not be used for its video delivery, but Cox has implemented the Ciena CN4200 for that purpose and these systems eventually will be connected to CoreDirector.

CoreDirector combines WDM, ADM, Ethernet and some cross-connect functionality. “What makes it unique – besides the device integration – is the automation of the management,” said Rathore. This is accomplished via an intelligent control plane and Ciena’s NMS, which is called OnCenter.

"Our growing capacity requirements made the ring interconnection a natural decision point for our core metro infrastructure. After evaluating the options, CoreDirector clearly delivered the best solution from all perspectives – cost, functionality, performance and operational simplicity," said David Vaughn, engineering manager for Cox San Diego. "More importantly, CoreDirector provides SONET and Ethernet services flexibility and intelligent automation for load balancing, provisioning and cross-connecting traffic between the two rings."

Ciena Corp. www.ciena.com  

Cox Communications Inc. www.cox.com

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