MegaPath, which provides managed data, voice, and security services nationwide, is upgrading its copper network with an eye toward being able to support bandwidths as high as 400 Mbps via VDSL2 by next year. The company plans to deploy TA 5000 Multi-Service Access and Aggregation Platforms (MSAPs) from ADTRAN, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADTN) to approximately 400 central offices by the end of 2011 and more than 680 central offices by June 2012.
Megapath’s Ethernet-based services currently top out at 20x20 Mbps. However, Megapath Director of Product Management, Access Services Pasha Mohammed says that the company will begin rolling out DS1 and DS3 based services over its new infrastructure this year to support symmetrical 90-Mbps services. With a move to VDSL2 starting in the first quarter of next year, the company will then be able to support download data rates as high as 400 Mbps on an application-specific basis and symmetrical 100-Mbps services as a standard offering.
The ADTRAN TA-5000 will support the 400-Mbps rate via a new capability the company has yet to publicly unveil. However, ADTRAN sources allowed that some form of bonding would be involved. The company also will provide customer premises equipment.
Megapath first deployed the TA 5000 in its Los Angeles network last year, Mohammed says. That experience gave Megapath the confidence to work with ADTRAN on its current nationwide network upgrade that will extend to more than 50 markets. In addition to providing ultra high speeds to a variety of customers new and old, the upgraded capabilities also should enable Megapath to provide improved services to customers where limitations of the copper plant do not allow even the current 20x20-Mbps offerings.
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