BT Openreach selects Ciena networking solutions
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BT Openreach selects Ciena networking solutions

BT Openreach has partnered with Ciena to expand the UK firm’s Ethernet offering using the US vendor’s packet networking solutions.

The partnership follows strong demand for BT Openreach’s Ethernet Access Direct (EAD) products, as communication providers look to capitalise on the UK’s high-capacity business services market.

BT Openreach has been providing EAD products to the UK communications industry since 2009, and Jon Hurry, MD, strategy, commercial, portfolio and policy at the company, said that market demand in this time has grown exponentially, “literally underpinning the bread and butter” of UK businesses.

“Maintaining a robust supply chain against this backdrop is of paramount importance us and our customers,” Hurry said. “Choosing Ciena as our new dual NTE vendor will provide assurance of continuous supply while also maximising opportunities to further develop the capabilities we offer.”

Ciena will deploy its E-suite of packet switch solutions, which combine intelligent devices to create infrastructure for Openreach to deploy high-velocity Ethernet services, supported by SLAs with strict performance guarantees.

The vendor will also deploy its operations, administration and maintenance (OAM) software, and automated reporting and service-level testing capabilities, to enable proactive monitoring of a network’s performance.

“By deploying a simplified, on-demand infrastructure with our packet networking and software solution, Openreach is ensuring its communication provider customers have access to the support and services they need to be competitive,” said François Locoh-Donou, SVP of global products group at Ciena.

Openreach and Ciena also penned a deal in April this year for the extension of the former’s optical services portfolio.

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