SUNNYVALE, CA – Dec. 1, 2010 – SDN Communications (SDN) has deployed an Infinera ATN network (Nasdaq: INFN) to support its Project Connect South Dakota project, funded under the U.S. government’s broadband stimulus program in addition to SDN matching funds.
The Infinera ATN network connects with SDN’s Infinera DTN network and extends the Infinera benefits of flexibility, ease of use, and integrated network management throughout the expanded network.
SDN was awarded a $20 million grant from the Department of Commerce’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) in December 2009. It is matching the grant with an additional $5 million of construction. When complete, Project Connect South Dakota will add 140 miles of backbone network and 219 miles of middle mile spurs to SDN’s existing 1,850-mile fiber-optic network. It is anticipated that the network expansion will enable the delivery of services of 10 Megabits per second or greater to more than 300 anchor institution customers in rural and underserved areas of the state, including schools, libraries, hospitals, government facilities and public safety offices. SDN is one of the nation’s first broadband stimulus grant recipients to deploy and carry traffic on a stimulus-funded network.
The Infinera Management Suite is engineered to provide seamless integration of SDN’s ATN and DTN networks, with end-to-end service provisioning and visibility. By eliminating back-to-back transponders at network interconnection points, an ATN/DTN network delivers savings in capital expenditure, while extending Infinera’s ease of operation to the metro edge. The ATN supports all metro transport services, including Ethernet, SAN, SONET/SDH, OTN and video services.
Powered by Infinera’s photonic integrated circuits, the Infinera DTN is a Digital ROADM with the efficiencies of integration, as well as network-level benefits including Infinera’s Bandwidth Virtualization and GMPLS intelligence to provision circuits and manage the network. SDN has achieved significant benefits from the existing Infinera DTN network, including savings in floor space and power consumption, and the scalability of being able to add capacity to the network at the touch of a mouse.
“Infinera has enabled us to operate a powerful, scalable, highly reliable optical network that is quick to upgrade and easy to manage,” said SDN CEO Mark Shlanta. “The Infinera ATN was the natural choice to extend all those benefits to the edge of our network.”
“We are pleased to support SDN’s broadband stimulus project with an Infinera ATN network,” said Infinera CEO Tom Fallon. “Infinera’s capital and operational benefits make it an excellent choice for broadband networks in the U.S. and worldwide.”
The Infinera family of optical solutions includes the Infinera DTN, the first optical system based on large-scale photonic integrated circuits, and the Infinera ATN, a compact metro edge platform that extends the benefits of Infinera’s Digital Optical Networks to the metro edge.
