Saudi Telecom Picks Ciena for International Mesh Network

Saudi Telecom Company (STC) has selected Ciena's packet/optical for a resilient, next-generation mesh network designed for maximizing the potential of STC’s existing global submarine and terrestrial investments by enabling flexible, high-capacity wholesale and enterprise Carrier Ethernet and OTN for Internet connectivity, datacenter interconnect and high-bandwidth cloud services.

The deployment will use Ciena’s 5430 Packet-Optical platform, equipped with the WaveLogic 3 Extreme chipset for 15 Terabit (Tbps) of hybrid packet OTN switching, along with the 6500. E-Suite packet switch modules on both the 6500 and 5430 allow STC to maximize the number of high speed Ethernet services carried on the network. Ciena’s GeoMesh submarine solution ensures survivability even in the case of multiple network outages or submarine fiber cuts, with restoration within 50 milliseconds.

“Transforming our network to deliver comprehensive and reliable services demonstrates STC’s dedication to its customers. Being a customer-centric operator, STC offers innovative and high-quality services over its leading state-of-the-art network infrastructure. STC ICT regional leadership is emphasized by the deployment of NGN solutions like Ciena’s packet-optical and GeoMesh solutions. These give STC the scalability and speed of services deployment, in tandem with lowering operating costs and supporting STC’s fierce evolution toward NGN capabilities,” stated Dr. Homoud Al Kussayer, Vice President for Wholesale at STC.

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