US Signal turns to Cisco for 100-Gbps network upgrade

Nov. 17, 2011
Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) says that the successful completion of a 100-Gbps DWDM trial with US Signal has led the provider of regional transport, data center, and IP services to deploy 100-Gbps technology on parts of its network. US Signal will use the Cisco ONS 15454 Multiservice Transport Platform (MSTP) system with coherent-enabled 100-Gbps interfaces for the roll out.

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) says that the successful completion of a 100-Gbps DWDM trial with US Signal has led the provider of regional transport, data center, and IP services to deploy 100-Gbps technology on parts of its network. US Signal will use the Cisco ONS 15454 Multiservice Transport Platform (MSTP) system with coherent-enabled 100-Gbps interfaces for the roll out.

The trial ran over a link engineered for 10 Gbps between Chicago, IL, and Kalamazoo, MI. US Signal will now deploy the capabilities on 12,200 miles of fiber in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin.

In addition to the ONS 15454 MSTP, US Signal also will use the Cisco Aggregation Services Router (ASR) 9000, Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Switches, and the Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) within its network.

Said Dan Olrich, chief operating officer at US Signal, "We have utilized Cisco technology for almost a decade, and many of our customers also deploy Cisco solutions. Cisco has established itself as the industry leader in enabling 100G capabilities. Working with Cisco allows us to seamlessly scale from 10G to 100G services with the flip of a switch. The trial has shown us how easily we can enhance our network so our customers worry less about bandwidth, reliability and speed, and spend more time focusing on new services."

Cisco’s coherent 100-Gbps capabilities leverage technology gained through the acquisition of CoreOptics in May 2010.

"The demand for next-generation services requires a more robust network capable of 100G services,. We expect a large percentage of networks will evolve to 100G services in the coming years,”offered Surya Panditi, senior vice president and general manager, Core Technology Group, Cisco

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