Shaw Communications (TSX:SJR.B) has completed work with Fujitsu Network Communications to upgrade Shaw's fiber-optic network with the Fujitsu 1FINITY platform and Virtuora software. The upgrade is intended to increase Shaw's network capacity and scale.
"Everything we do is driven by our customers, and we are committed to enhancing our network with new technologies to meet their growing need for connectivity," said Damian Poltz, vice president of Technology, Strategy & Network at Shaw. "Fujitsu has helped make our network more agile and scalable, especially in urban areas - which will allow us to continue delivering a seamless connectivity experience."
The deployment of Fujitsu's 1FINITY T310 Transport and 1FINITY L100 Lambda series blades and Virtuora Network Control Solution is intended to provide Shaw with a modular, programmable, optical networking solution to enhance network utilization, capacity and performance. The Virtuora solution offers software-defined network control capability, network planning and design, network management, as well as service fulfillment and assurance functions.
"Combining our technology with Shaw's infrastructure has allowed us to enable a virtualized, programmable network with automated applications and faster service provisioning," said Paul Fagan, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Fujitsu. "Fujitsu's integrated 1FINITY and Virtuora platforms allows operators to meet their customers' needs today and well into the future, in a cost-efficient way."
The work completed with Fujitsu follows the completion of other upgrades Shaw has made to the coaxial portion of its network to free up bandwidth and increase network capacity. The improvements have combined to enable Shaw to expand its broadband offerings - most recently doubling the speeds of its fastest Internet plans - and paving the way for Shaw to offer 1 Gbps speeds in the future.