VERNet Upgrading Fibre Optic Research and Education Network With Ciena
Announcement posted by Ciena 15 Jun 2011
Key Facts
The VERN spans 1872 km across Victoria, covering metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria including Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton, Wodonga, Churchill, and Lakes Entrance. It is a DWDM-based optical network that works by combining and transmitting multiple signals simultaneously on separate wavelengths over the same fibre pair.
VERNet’s network upgrade will leverage the benefits of coherent optics to upgrade its existing 10G wavelengths to 40G. The additional bandwidth enables VERNet to improve the speed of delivery and expand upon the services it already provides to its members.
As bandwidth demands continue to increase, Ciena’s high-capacity coherent optical technology allows VERNet to simply upgrade service capacity to 100G across the same infrastructure by merely changing interface cards at the source and endpoints of the network.
The network will also form the backbone for the Victorian Research Network (VRN), which VERNet is building as part of the Commonwealth Government’s Super Science (Future Industries) Initiative. The VRN will provide researchers in Melbourne and Geelong with a high-capacity, any-to-any network that will act as a strong enabler for research in Victoria.
In April 2010, VERNet completed a successful trial of Ciena’s coherent 40G and 100G technology on the ActivFlex 6500 with WaveLogic™ coherent optical processors and ActivSpan Common Photonic Layer platforms. Those same platforms from Ciena’s Packet-Optical Transport portfolio will be deployed in this network upgrade.
Executive Comments“This network expansion is part of our long-term strategic investment plan that has already delivered measureable returns for VERNet over the past five years,” said Roger Tanton, Chief Executive Officer of VERNet. “VERNet absolutely must have scalable capacity to support the level of data transmission, rapid computation and collaboration required by the local research community,” says Tanton. “Collection, collation, analysis and dissemination of large quantities of data will enable researchers to conduct research as part of the global research community. It is incumbent on us to provide our users with the services they need to keep Australia at the forefront of this community.”
“We decided early on to deploy pioneering optical technology as the foundation of our network infrastructure, which laid the groundwork for an architecture that can be easily upgraded with additional capacity, without requiring expensive and time-consuming forklift upgrades.” he added. “Ciena is actively advancing this coherent optical technology to further improve network economics and enable more flexible architectures, which gives us great confidence in what the future holds for our network and what it enables us to deliver to our customers.”
“Australia’s world-class research and education sector is one of the biggest catalysts driving the expansion of high-speed optical networks in the region, and connects Australia to some of the world’s foremost research networks such as Internet2 and SURFnet,” said Dave McDermott, Managing Director, Australia and New Zealand, Ciena. “Achieving speed parity with these global networks and delivering a more robust, resilient network for the local research community are two key goals of this project. Ciena’s global experience with large-scale deployments for Internet2, SURFnet, CANARIE and other research networks – combined with our local resources and expertise – gives our local customers the tools they need to manage and deploy strategically important networks such as the VERN.”
Supporting Resources
Video: Next-Generation Optical Transport
Data Sheet: ActivFlex 6500 Packet-Optical Platform
Data Sheet:ActivSpan Common Photonic Layer
Application Note:Coherent Optical Processing for High-Capacity Networks
Podcast:Roger Tanton discusses the main business drivers for the network upgrade
Podcast:Roger Tanton discusses the benefits that Ciena’s technology provides
Podcast:Roger Tanton discusses the ease of upgrading the network to 100G in the future
About Ciena
Ciena specializes in practical network transition. We offer leading network infrastructure solutions, intelligent software and a comprehensive services practice to help our customers use their networks to fundamentally change the way they compete. With a global presence, Ciena leverages its heritage of practical innovation to deliver maximum performance and economic value in communications networks worldwide. We routinely post recent news, financial results and other important announcements and information about Ciena on our website. For more information, visit www.ciena.com.
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Forward-looking statements. This press release contains certain forward-looking statements based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements are based on information available to the Company as of the date hereof; and Ciena's actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied, due to risks and uncertainties associated with its business, which include the risk factors disclosed in its Report on Form 10-Q, which Ciena filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 10, 2010. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding Ciena's expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future and can be identified by forward-looking words such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "should," "will," and "would" or similar words. Ciena assumes no obligation to update the information included in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise