Fastweb Deploys 300 Gbps Service over its Backbone Network between Milan and Rome with Coriant

MUNICH, Germany, 27 June 2018 – Coriant, a global supplier of open, disruptive, and hyperscale networking solutions for service providers and web-scale internet operators, and Fastweb, one of the major Italian telecommunications operators today announced that Fastweb has deployed a protected 300 Gbps connection spanning over more than 950 kilometers on its long haul backbone network thanks to Coriant CloudWave™ Optics technology.

The 300 Gbps connectivity service connects Fastweb PoPs between Rome and Milan via Turin (more than 950 km) as the primary path and via Florence-Bologna (more than 800 km) as the protected path. The long distance service has been implemented without special amplifiers, tuning or changes in field hardware. Thanks to the solutions provided by Coriant, Fastweb is now able to boost the high-capacity connection of the two paths of its infrastructure up to 300 Gbps. This technology upgrade represents for Fastweb a milestone in the evolution of its network because of the extraordinary performances and the improving of optical efficiency achieved. Fastweb is able to offer to all its customers, families, enterprises, and other telecommunication operators ultra-high speed capacity to manage the increasing growth of data traffic.

The long haul backbone network of Fastweb was built in 2010 and already equipped with the Coriant hiT 7300 Multi Haul Transport Platform implementing 100 Gbps Coherent Technology regeneration-free connections in order to manage increasing data traffic. The further deployment with Coriant CloudWave™ Optics has helped Fastweb to upgrade its network to the latest generation of state-of-the art technology. Coriant CloudWave™ Optics boosts the capabilities of the installed network, enabling Fastweb to maximize its initial investments and meet the challenges that new cloud and hyperscale connectivity services pose.

Further deployments of Coriant CloudWave™ Optics technology are foreseen on Fastweb’s infrastructure in order to implement 200 Gbps and 300 Gbps services all over the existing national backbone network, improving by 50% its capacity with respect to the original design channel count. The deployment of the Fastweb backbone has grown over the years to include up to more than 600 nodes, proving the durability of Coriant networking technology optimized for enhancing operators’ investments in the years to come.

“Providing our customers with the best quality of connection is our main goal,” said Andrea Lasagna, Technology Officer, Fastweb. “A new era of high performing and reliable long distance transport services is growing on the market faster every day. A scalable and simple network approach is required to address the increasing demand of bandwidth. We have been confident in Coriant’s ability to meet our needs since the beginning and we have deployed a widespread and nationwide transport network with them. Now with the combination of Coriant hiT 7300 and CloudWave Optics technology we can light our fibers at 300 Gbps between Milan and Rome leveraging the existing infrastructure.”

“Our ability to provide 200G and 300G links helps our customers to upgrade their existing networks,” said Uwe Fischer, Executive Vice President, R&D and PLM, and CTO, Coriant. “With bandwidth requirements consistently increasing, the ability to extend networks to 200 Gbps and 300 Gbps capacities leads to seamless and powerful network designs. We are pleased to be working with Fastweb to further expand their offering for their end customers.”

Real-time optical performance results for the service were enabled and validated by the software-enabled Coriant Aware™ Technology solution, providing Fastweb a precise view of key performance metrics including OSNR margins and channel EoL.

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