Cox Communications selects Infinera for national network

AUGUST 1, 2007 -- Cox Communications (search for Cox Communications), the third-largest cable company in the U.S., has selected an Infinera (search for Infinera) Digital Optical Network for its national transport network. The 12,000-mile Cox national build extends from coast to coast and is designed to enable Cox to offer leading-edge services, including voice, video, data, and wireless to residential and business customers.

Cox says it selected Infinera because of the flexibility and scalability of the Infinera Digital Optical Networks architecture. With rapid growth in services for both residential and business customers, Cox needed the capability to accommodate growth and the flexibility to reconfigure its network for future traffic patterns that cannot be foreseen today. With integrated switching enabled by large-scale photonic integration, and 100 Gbits/sec of capacity on every line card, the Infinera DTN offers Cox the ability to offer multiple services from a single platform, say Infinera representatives.

Dan Estes, Cox's director of transport and access engineering, reports that the Infinera equipment will help Cox provide for traffic on its network, which has been doubling every 12 to 18 months. "The flexibility of remote re-configurability allows us to rapidly respond to customer needs and dynamic demand patterns," he explains. "We know that our wireless services, enhanced video offerings, and increased data speeds will drive bandwidth growth in the future. With the Infinera architecture, we are positioned to handle that growth," he notes.

According to Infinera, its DTN provides many key benefits for multiple system cable operators (MSOs) seeking to move from traditional DWDM architectures to a converged network offering multiple services on one flexible and scalable platform. With digital intelligence at every node, the Infinera DTN platform is designed to enable MSOs to take advantage of protection and digital multicast features as well as digital ROADM functionality that integrates DWDM transport with sub-wavelength switching and reconfigurability. Further, Infinera says its GMPLS service intelligence can provide operational savings in terms of cost and speed of network deployments.

"Infinera is thrilled to have Cox Communications as a customer," adds Jagdeep Singh, CEO of Infinera. "Deployment by Cox, one of the world's best-known cable providers, shows that the Infinera Digital Optical Networks architecture is a good fit for cable providers, who need networks that can accommodate rapid growth and the demands of networks as they move into a new age of voice, video on demand, data, and wireless for the residence and for business."

Infinera representatives say the DTN is designed to be an effective option for long-haul and metro optical networks, combining the scalability of high-capacity DWDM, the flexibility of integrated switching, the operational intelligence of GMPLS and a carrier-class network management on a single platform.

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