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Minnesota Telecom (NESC) Selects CALIENT and Cyan to Deploy the Industry's First CDC Optical Network for Services Innovation
[June 05, 2012]

Minnesota Telecom (NESC) Selects CALIENT and Cyan to Deploy the Industry's First CDC Optical Network for Services Innovation


DALLAS --(Business Wire)--

CALIENT Technologies, Inc., the global leader in photonic switching technology, and Cyan Inc. , a global innovator of software-defined packet-optical transport systems, today announced that Minnesota Telecom's Northeast Service Cooperative (NESC) has picked the two companies to deploy a revolutionary fiber-optic network to deliver a wide range of data services, at speeds up to 10Gbps, to customers in rural Northeast Minnesota.

Cyan and CALIENT have built the industry's first colorless, directionless, contentionless (CDC) reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer (ROADM (News - Alert)) using 3D MEMS photonic switching to deliver a cost-effective high add-drop ratio solution with complete remote management, provisioning and testing capabilities. These capabilities allow NESC to leverage its resources to support the entire network spanning 14 network nodes and 915 fiber miles.

NESC, a nonprofit public corporation serving eight counties in Northeast Minnesota, is building the network with $43.5 million in funds from a federal broadband stimulus award under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act through the USDA's Rural Utilities Service. The new network will bring broadband services to more than 340,000 residents and hundreds of schools, colleges, clinics, hospitals, libraries, critical services government agencies, tribal governments and telecommunications partners within those counties.

"The Northeast Service Cooperative is a key regional resource for education, health care, information technology and economic development in Northeast Minnesota," said Paul Brinkman, executive director of NESC and CEO of Minnesota Telecom. "Our mission to bring much-needed high speed data services to such a diverse, rural area has been a collaborative effort among our members and partners. The flexibility and scalability of the Cyan/CALIENT network solution uniquely solves the challenges of this project and we're excited to be the first application to successfully deploy this architecture."

First CDC ROADM with 3D MEMS Photonic Switching

The NESC CDC ROADM network is based on a hybrid solution consisting of Cyan's Z-Series packet-optical transport system and CALIENT's new S320 3D MEMS photonic switch. The Cyan 360 software-defined operations system completes the solution integration to provide integrated provisioning, configuration and fault monitoring for the entire network.



NESC's CDC ROADM network will enable the organization to provision high-bandwidth connectivity to any anchor site in its service area and provision new services or change customer bandwidth levels on the fly based on demand.

CALIENT's S320 Photonic Switch


The Calient S320 photonic switch provides the industry's highest port count and reliability in a small form factor with extremely low power consumption. This enables the S320 to deliver the power and flexibility needed for NESC's CDC ROADM.

The S320 includes CALIENT's patented 3D MEMS switching technology, which has served production networks for eight years with a significant global installed base of tier one service providers and government customers. The MEMS core of the S320 uses CALIENT's three-dimensional array of silicon micro mirrors to switch up to 320 incoming fiber optic signals from any port to any of the 320 output ports.

"Service provider networks today need the capacity and connectivity that our 3D MEMS technology can deliver, and with the S320 we now offer that technology in a power efficient, small platform that can be remotely managed," said Atiq Raza, Chairman and CEO of CALIENT. "The deployment of photonic switching in the NESC network is an excellent example for other regional service providers of an application where remote unmanned network operation and accompanying low OPEX (News - Alert) is a major benefit."

Cyan's Z77 P-OTP and Cyan 360 Software-Defined Operations System

NESC chose Cyan's Z77 packet-optical transport platform because of its flexibility and scalability. The Z77 is part of a family of Z-Series platforms with highly advanced wavelength selectable switch (WSS) - based, reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers (ROADMs) and a range of Ethernet, SONET, and OTN service modules. The Z-Series platforms are planned, managed and verified by the Cyan 360 software-defined operations system, which has revolutionized the industry with software-defined, multi-layer, multi-vendor solutions integration.

NESC will use Cyan 360 to manage the entire network, including CALIENT's photonic switches for a fully integrated solution. This management includes remotely performing all aspects of service provisioning, reconfiguration, fault isolation and test from a central network operating office with minimal need for onsite maintenance.

"Cyan's Z-Series platforms and Cyan 360 software-defined operations systems were designed to seamlessly integrate multi-vendor solutions for precisely this type of service innovation," said Michael Hatfield, president of Cyan. "The integration of Cyan and CALIENT products to operationalize the industry's first colorless, directionless, contentionless (CDC) ROADM network puts NESC at the forefront of services innovation. With this level of integration and centralized control, NESC can more efficiently and effectively manage its network and services to reduce capital and operational expense, while delivering superior services. Paul Brinkman and his team at NESC are taking an exciting step forward into the network of the future and we applaud them."

About CALIENT Technologies, Inc.

Headquartered in Santa Barbara, Calif., CALIENT Technologies is the global leader in adaptive photonic switching with systems that build service providers, cloud computing, content delivery and government networks for today's content explosion. CALIENT's 3D MEMS switches have demonstrated years of reliability, with eight years of successful continuous operation. With more than 80,000 optical terminations shipped, CALIENT has one of the largest installed bases of photonic switches worldwide. For more information visit us at http://www.calient.net or contact us at [email protected].

About Cyan, Inc.

Cyan is a global supplier of software-defined metro network solutions that include multi-layer packet-optical transport platforms, software and SaaS (News - Alert) systems, and comprehensive professional services. With deployments around the world, Cyan customers include multi-million-line local-access service providers as well as operators of regional transport, business Ethernet, wireless backhaul, data center, and cable MSO networks. Cyan helps service providers scale, extend, and simplify packet-based networks for more profitable service offerings. For more information, please visit www.cyaninc.com or follow Cyan on Twitter (News - Alert) at http://twitter.com/CyanNews.


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