Columbus Networks expands 40G DWDM network, adds capacity to handle demand

Columbus Networks has upgraded its Florida Transport Network, a U.S. optical fiber communications backbone that connects to international undersea fiber-optic cables in the Caribbean and Central American region.

March 25, 2010

MARCH 25, 2010 -- Columbus Networks has upgraded its Florida Transport Network, a U.S. optical fiber communications backbone that connects to international undersea fiber-optic cables in the Caribbean and Central American region. The latest upgrade adds new 40G channels (gigabits per second, on each beam of light) to the company’s existing dense wave division multiplex (DWDM) platform, implemented by Nokia Siemens Networks in 2008.

In the next expansion phase, slated for the second half of 2010, Columbus Networks has also contracted Nokia Siemens Networks to deploy a second DWDM platform, creating the Florida Transport Network II for enhanced network security and service resilience. The new network will offer 40 additional 40G channels for data traffic, for a total potential capacity of more than 3 terabits per second.

Peter Collins, chief technology officer at Columbus Networks, says: “Customers are increasingly less able to predict their capacity needs in advance, so it’s crucial our network is built with the flexibility to quickly and reliably enable major ‘in-service’ upgrades, without impact to existing services.”

The Nokia Siemens Networks solution deployed is based on the latest version of the company’s hiT 7300 DWDM (dense wavelength division multiplexing) platform.