US telco Windstream has selected Ciena to build its National Converged Optical Network (NCON), as it seeks to meet customers’ surging bandwidth demands driven by remote work and learning applications, cloud computing and video streaming. The NCON will connect cities across its nationwide network, and enable increased capacity to major US data centres, cable landing stations and cross-border gateways.
Windstream says it will deploy Ciena’s Waveserver 5 compact modular platform, powered by WaveLogic 5 Extreme, which allows for 100GbE and 400GbE client connectivity across any distance over programmable 400Gbps-800Gbps wavelengths. Ciena notes that the NCON architecture will efficiently scale and dynamically adjust for optimal capacity on any path and avoid potential faults by automatically re-routing traffic based on available network resources. Windstream will start deploying and turning up traffic on the new network in the third quarter of 2020.