Great Plains Communications chooses Ciena’s Coherent Routing portfolio for fiber network upgrade

May 15, 2023

Great Plains Communications (GPC) has launched deployments of elements of Ciena’s Coherent Routing portfolio in its 13-state network, according to the communications technology provider.

Stephen Hardy

Great Plains Communications (GPC) has launched deployments of elements of Ciena’s Coherent Routing portfolio in its 13-state network, according to the communications technology provider. The fiber network upgrade initiative will enable enhanced services GPC’s varied customers

The service provider operates a more than 16,500-mile network across Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. GPC serves residential and business customers with broadband services as well as regional and national telecommunications carriers, LECs, ISPs, wireless carriers, and other service providers with network services. This latter group will particularly benefit from the network upgrade initiative, as the enhanced capabilities will support 5G and xHaul services of up to 10 Gbps (10X the previous top-end speed) for fiber-to-the-tower (FTTT) customers, 400-Gbps data center interconnect offerings, and improved resiliency for Layer 2 VPNs with Segment Routing.

GPC will leverages 5164 Router and 8110 Coherent Aggregation Router with WaveLogic 5 Nano 100G–400G coherent pluggables within the as well as the 6500 Packet-Optical Platform, powered by WaveLogic coherent optics, for optical transport. The service provider will manage its new capabilities via Ciena’s Manage, Control and Plan (MCP) multi-layer domain controller. Ciena also is providing Installation, turn-up, and test services.

“We strive to continuously improve our network to meet rising bandwidth demands with greater scalability and agility,” said Tony Thakur, Chief Technology Officer, Great Plains Communications. “GPC is committed to providing a customer experience that meets or exceeds the changing needs and expectations of our customers, whether it’s ultra-fast 5G, cloud computing, or high-bandwidth applications like streaming video and gaming—and Ciena’s coherent routing, switching, and optical technology play a key role in this.”

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About the Author

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.

You can connect with Stephen on LinkedIn as well as Twitter.