Windstream Wholesale offers Managed Spectrum service
Windstream Wholesale says it now offers its Managed Spectrum service nationwide. Leasing capacity by spectrum block rather than wavelength or dark fiber enables increased flexibility, reduced costs and faster deployment times, the fiber network services provider asserts.
The Managed Spectrum offering allows customers to access a dedicated block of photonic spectrum measured in gigahertz. The Customer would then procure, install, maintain, and monitor the service layer equipment. Windstream Wholesale says Managed Spectrum provides the scalability of dark fiber but with lower operational overhead.
“Exponential end-user traffic growth is requiring carriers to operate with greater agility, automation, cost-optimization and network flexibility,” said Joe Scattareggia, chief revenue officer for Windstream Wholesale. “The continuing evolution of Windstream Wholesale’s ICON network meets this need by enabling integration of new technologies. ICON’s innovative architecture makes it possible for us to simultaneously support emerging Spectrum services along with our traditional lit solutions, and that’s a huge advance for the high-bandwidth marketplace.”
Windstream Wholesale first discussed the Managed Spectrum capabilities in connection with a March 2021 trial with Colt Technology Services (see “Windstream Wholesale, Colt trial managed spectrum via 600G wavelength”). Colt subsequently has purchased spectrum on three routes from Windstream Wholesale – Chicago to New York; Secaucus, NJ, to Ashburn, VA; and Ashburn to Chicago.
“Since the success of our trial with Windstream Wholesale in March 2021, Colt has continued to invest in its high-bandwidth, agile, on-demand network – the Colt IQ Network – in the U.S. and pursue innovation and investment in our partnerships. We are excited to build on our collaboration with Windstream with this next step and leverage Windstream’s spectrum services to scale up our backbone capacity and capability in the region,” said Vivek Gaur, Colt’s vice president of network engineering.
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Stephen Hardy | Editorial Director and Associate Publisher, Lightwave
Stephen Hardy is editorial director and associate publisher of Lightwave and Broadband Technology Report, part of the Lighting & Technology Group at Endeavor Business Media. Stephen is responsible for establishing and executing editorial strategy across the both brands’ websites, email newsletters, events, and other information products. He has covered the fiber-optics space for more than 20 years, and communications and technology for more than 35 years. During his tenure, Lightwave has received awards from Folio: and the American Society of Business Press Editors (ASBPE) for editorial excellence. Prior to joining Lightwave in 1997, Stephen worked for Telecommunications magazine and the Journal of Electronic Defense.
Stephen has moderated panels at numerous events, including the Optica Executive Forum, ECOC, and SCTE Cable-Tec Expo. He also is program director for the Lightwave Innovation Reviews and the Diamond Technology Reviews.
He has written numerous articles in all aspects of optical communications and fiber-optic networks, including fiber to the home (FTTH), PON, optical components, DWDM, fiber cables, packet optical transport, optical transceivers, lasers, fiber optic testing, and more.
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