Ericsson and Ciena Enter IP-Optical Agreement

Ericsson and Ciena announced a global, strategic agreement to develop joint transport solutions for IP-optical convergence and service provider software-defined networking (SDN).

Under the deal, Ericsson will resell Ciena's Converged Packet Optical portfolio, including the 6500 Packet-Optical Platform and 5400 family.

The companies also plan to build IPoWDM interfaces/boards for Ericsson SSR 8000 platform based on Ciena WaveLogic coherent optical processors.  They will also develop multi-layer and multi-vendor open Service Provider SDN Transport Control.

"This strategic global agreement brings together two companies uniquely positioned to drive the adoption of more open, programmable networks. The integration of our industry-leading packet-optical technologies into Ericsson's portfolio, combined with our global distribution agreement, allows us to address a wider market with a combined offering," said Gary Smith, President and CEO, Ciena. "As our industry moves toward a more open networking environment, collaboration within an ecosystem of specialists will be critical for innovation. Our SDN-focused joint development activities will enable us to deliver on network transformation strategies that dynamically support changing demands for network-level applications and services."

"The convergence between IP and Optical network layers in an Open SDN controlled architecture will enable more flexible and cost efficient networks for Service Providers" said Johan Wibergh, Executive Vice President and Ericsson's Head of Business Unit Networks." This agreement allows us to offer Ciena's industry-leading Packet-Optical products. This is a great complement to our portfolio of 4th Generation IP products and will enable more complete and competitive solutions to our customers."

The strategic agreement is effective immediately, and go-to-market activities and solution integration efforts are underway.

http://www.ericsson.com
http://www.ciena.com

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Deutsche Telekom Goes All IP in Macedonia, Switching Off PSTN

Deutsche Telekom has implemented a pure, All IP infrastructure in the voice network of its subsidiary in Macedonia.

Makedonski Telekom is the first company within the Group with a network fully based on IP.  The conversion of 290,000 fixed lines away from the PSTN occurred over 25 months.

"Our vision is a Pan-European network on the basis of All IP. This network will integrate mobile communications and fixed-line network technology. And it will enable a new cloud-based production model", said Claudia Nemat, member of the Board of Deutsche Telekom for Europe & Technology . The objective is to have the customers across Europe migrated to IP by the end of 2018. "The experience gained from Macedonia is of great value. Migrating to All IP is a great challenge. With its successful launch our colleagues in Macedonia are real pioneers", said Nemat.

DT said its network in Slovakia will be the next to go all IP later this year.  Next year, Croatia and Montenegro will follow and then Hungary. By the end of 2018 Romania, Greece and Germany are expected to have migrated too.

http://www.telekom.com/media/company/214696

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Cyan Boosts its Packet-Optical for Scale and Network Programmability

Cyan is rolling out a number of major enhancements aimed at delivering scalablity and further network programabbility to both its Z-Series Packet-Optical hardware and Blue Planet SDN Platform.

Upgrades for  the Cyan Z-Series Packet-Optical Transport Platform (P-OTP) include the following modules:

• A 10-port 10G to 100G muxponder module – that complements Cyan’s single-slot 100G coherent transponder by aggregating packet and non-packet wavelength services
• A 100 GbE packet switching module – that further extends Cyan’s Carrier Ethernet 2.0 (CE 2.0) solution with line-rate 100 GbE switching and transport
• Two multi-degree ROADM modules – that significantly increase fiber capacity and efficiency in metro core and regional networks with support for up to 96 100G wavelengths on a single fiber

Cyan is enhancing its Blue Planet SDN and NFV Orchestration Platform with multi-vendor Service Automation capabilities.  These enable carriers to simplify, manage and orchestrate multi-vendor networks to achieve end-to-end network control, service automation and service agility. Specifically, new Blue Planet features include the addition of A-to-Z provisioning of Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) services in multi-vendor networks, a “cut-in” and “cut-out” feature that provides for non-disruptive activation of third-party devices on live networks, and new element adaptors for provisioning Accedian (MetroNID GT, GT-S, LT-S) and RAD (ETX-204A) devices.

Cyan has also released its first open application programming interface (API). The MEF CE 2.0 API is being utilized by multiple customers to automate the provisioning of standards-based MEF E-Line, E-LAN, and E-Access services across multi-vendor networks. This reduces provisioning errors and service turn-up times for network operators.

“Packet-optical scale and service orchestration are key topics as network operators simplify and automate their operations to reduce costs and revitalize their business models. In addition, the launch of our API strategy is critical for customers who want to unite existing operational and support systems with Blue Planet to automate service delivery. All of these enhancements are designed to ensure Cyan can help network operators deploy scalable and automated networks that can respond to today’s on-demand world,” stated Mark Floyd, chief executive officer, Cyan.

http://www.cyaninc.com

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