ADTRAN scores optical transport win with Consolidated Electric Cooperative

ADTRAN, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADTN) says it has won a contract from Consolidated Electric Cooperative, Inc. (CEC) to supply the ADTRAN Total Access 5000 with integrated Optical Networking Edge (ONE) capabilities for use in a middle-mile network project in Ohio. The win is significant, sources at ADTRAN said during a media and analyst event held at ADTRAN’s Huntsville, AL, headquarters, because it demonstrates the company’s increasing legitimacy in the optical transport market.

CEC will use the ONE-enabled Total Access 5000 platforms in a new 166-mile middle-mile fiber network. The project is funded via a broadband stimulus award from the Rural Utilities Service (RUS). The packet-optical transport network, dubbed ENLITE, will support a variety of applications, from smart grid monitoring of its 16 power substations, to 1-Gbps FTTP services and wholesale Carrier Ethernet and 10-Gbps wavelength services for CLECs, mobile operators and Tier 2/Tier 3 service providers in Central Ohio.

“We believe broadband plays a key role in rural development and is a vital infrastructure component in attracting and stimulating economic development,” said Doug Payauys, CIO and vice president of information systems at CEC. “ADTRAN’s Total Access 5000 was the only solution we evaluated that could deliver Carrier Ethernet, legacy transport, multiple access technologies, and WDM in a single platform.”

ADTRAN introduced the ONE capabilities for the Total Access 5000 late last year (see “ADTRAN joins packet optical transport race with Optical Networking Edge family”). The company’s goal was to provide packet-optical transport capabilities designed specifically for the edge of the network – where the Total Access 5000 would typically already be providing access and aggregation functions. In its initial release, the ONE capabilities included a Layer 2 Ethernet switch card called the Ethernet Transport Optical Switch, a “SONET/SDH MSPP on a card” blade, and CWDM and DWDM capabilities that will support as much as 400 Gbps on a single fiber pair. This year, the company added Ethernet Ring Protection Switching (ERPS) and Ethernet LAN (ELAN) capabilities. At the time of ONE’s debut, ADTRAN also promised a multiservice OTN blade and an edge-optimized ROADM card for release sometime this year as well.

At the media and analyst event, ONE Product Line Manager Manu Nachum said that the company has “more than 10” customers for the packet-optical transport capabilities, with the pace of customer acceptance picking up strongly. He expressed pride in the CEC deployment because the Total Access 5000 with ONE was pitched as an optical transport platform against several established names in the field to a new customer.