Verizon supports customer traffic using Cisco’s high-capacity circuit emulation capability

Verizon says it is now supporting customer traffic on part of its transport network using Cisco's high-capacity circuit emulation capability. This approach will enhance customer experience and increase efficiency on its Intelligent Edge Network, says the company.

Cisco's new platform carries speeds up to OC-192, as compared to previous circuit emulation equipment speeds up to OC-12. Circuit emulation enables transport oftraditional digital and optical signal rates over a packet-based MPLSnetwork, while eliminating customer traffic impact, says Verizon. This, in turn, establishes a seamless migration of legacy services to next-generation infrastructure, and advances overall reliability.

Over the past few months, Verizon collaborated with Cisco to develop, test, and implement this capability, and plans to increase the number of circuits using this technology over the next decade. Verizon first deployed Cisco's technology where it could aggregate multiple Ethernet and TDM circuits at the same location onto a unified high-speed circuit. This effort was part of Verizon's next-generation U.S. metro 100G network rollout, says the company.

Bill Gartner, Cisco vice president of Optical Systems (OPSY) and Transceivers Group, first suggested that this circuit emulation capability could prove an important aspect of Verizon's next-generation U.S. metro fiber-optic network upgrade in 2015 (see "Cisco offers Verizon metro optical network deal insight").

Then in 2016, Cisco announced additions to its Network Convergence System (NCS) 4000 family, with the intention to earn its share of Verizon's 100-Gbps metro network upgrade business (see "Cisco aims for large share of Verizon metro contract with new optical transport platform, line cards").

According to Verizon, the rapid development of this technology type will evolve its cost structure and provide an improved customer experience with video streaming, social media, and cloud services accelerating network traffic.

"In the face of robust customer demand on our network, Verizon's infrastructure systems must adapt to support current and future needs," said Lee Hicks, Verizon vice president for network infrastructure planning. "By implementing innovative deployments like this high-capacity circuit emulation, Verizon continues to set the bar for the highest standards of network performance and efficiency."

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