Verizon (NYSE:VZ) is using circuit emulation technology from Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) to improve the efficiency of its edge network. The company is carrying customer traffic on part of its transport network using a new circuit emulation solution from Cisco designed to support speed up to OC-192. Previous circuit emulation equipment carried speeds up to OC-12.
Circuit emulation enables transport of conventional digital and optical signal rates over a packet-based MPLS network without impacting customer traffic.
"In the face of robust customer demand on our network, Verizon's infrastructure systems must adapt to support current and future needs," said Lee Hicks, vice president for network infrastructure planning for Verizon. "By implementing innovative deployments like this high-capacity circuit emulation, Verizon continues to set the bar for the highest standards of network performance and efficiency."
Over the past few months, Verizon collaborated with Cisco to develop, test and implement the solution, with plans to significantly increase the number of circuits using the technology over the next 10+ years.
"This is a true architectural collaboration with Verizon. We have worked hard to deliver this unique solution that will easily enable the growth of Ethernet services while improving the reliability of mission critical TDM private line services," said Bill Gartner, vice president, optical systems and optics, Service Provider Business, Cisco.
As part of its next-generation 100G U.S. metro network rollout, Verizon initially deployed the technology where it could aggregate multiple Ethernet and TDM circuits at the same location onto a unified high-speed circuit. The network upgrades are intended to support increased network traffic from video streaming, social media, and cloud services.