COLT Selects Infinera for Pan-European Network

European carrier COLT selected Infinera’s DTN for its pan-European network. The Infinera DTN is a Digital ROADM for long-haul and metro core networks, combining high-capacity DWDM transport, integrated digital bandwidth management, and GMPLS-powered service intelligence in a single platform.

COLT operates a 13-country, 25,000km network that includes metropolitan area networks in 34 major European cities with direct fiber connections into 16,000 buildings and 18 COLT data centers. The first phase of COLT's Infinera network connects major cities in eight countries in the business heart of Europe, including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy.

The first phase of the network was deployed in just three months, significantly faster than the time required by a traditional DWDM network. Based on Infinera's large-scale photonic integrated circuits, the Infinera DTN optical system uses fewer line cards and fewer cables, simplifying and speeding up the initial deployment process. In addition, Infinera's GMPLS-powered IQ network operating system supports rapid deployment with intelligent features like automatic recognition and inventorying of network assets.

With Infinera's Bandwidth Virtualization model, COLT can provision services and fully use the optical capacity without complex optical engineering. This flexibility is not possible with traditional DWDM networks, where each service is tightly coupled to the wavelength transponder card.

COLT's customers require a range of different services including wavelengths and Ethernet at varying bit rates. Through a combination of Infinera's Just-in-TAM fulfillment program and intelligent GMPLS control plane software, COLT can deliver a range of new services to its customers over pre-deployed 100gbps DWDM increments.

"Infinera's next generation photonic integration technology is helping COLT to achieve its goal of operating the most modern and advanced network in Europe and delivering the highest-quality services to all our customers," said Dr. Alireza Mahmoodshahi, COLT's CTO.

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