Iowa Network Services picks White Rock optical gear

May 2, 2006 Richardson, TX -- White Rock Networks, a provider of optical transport systems for metro networks, announced that Iowa Network Services (INS) has deployed White Rock's optical networking products for the delivery of voice, data, and IPTV services to more than 500,000 end users in Iowa.

INS, which provides a range of network based platforms to 148 independent telephone companies servicing 330 different communities throughout the state, has deployed White Rock's VLX2020 optical transport system and VLX2006 multi-service access platform to deliver the triple play services over its network, which consists of 2,500 route miles of fiber cable, 50 remote POP sites, and 38 SONET rings.

"INS deployed White Rock's next-generation transport system to provide Ethernet over SONET and allow us to provide broadcast and video on demand, as well as Internet and other IP services to a majority of the independent companies in Iowa that are rapidly moving to Ethernet as their connection of choice," comments Bob Sherlock, vice president of engineering for INS. "White Rock's VLX2006 has been a major factor in INS being able to deliver these services cost effectively."

White Rock says that both the VLX2020 and VLX2006 systems support an Ethernet shared ring topology, allowing carriers to efficiently deliver broadcast video traffic with a single copy of each channel. Bandwidth reuse on the INS SONET ring coupled with the ability to support up to 2 Gbit/sec of Ethernet traffic per OC-48 ring provides ample headroom for growth of video on demand and other unicast video services, according to the company.

"As the delivery of IPTV services begins to drive the majority of some service providers' bandwidth, they are discovering that their existing transport platforms cannot efficiently support the backhaul of Ethernet traffic," observes Paul Forzisi, White Rock's vice president of marketing. "White Rock's VLX2006 is an economical and highly effective solution to provide scalable transport for triple-play services by delivering carrier-class transport for voice, data, and IPTV services using TDM and Ethernet circuits over shared fiber-optic facilities."