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Global IP solutions provider Global Crossing has reportedly selected the Ekinops (News - Alert) 360 optical transport platform to support its metro networks in the U.S.

Ekinops is a provider of innovative optical transport, WDM and aggregation solutions for service providers and enterprise networks. It 360 platform, designed for metro, regional, and long-haul DWDM and CWDM networks, can aggregate or transport any Ethernet, Fibre Channel, SONET, or SDH client protocol. The company claims it is “the ultimate solution for optical transport applications such as video transport, broadband and wireless traffic backhaul, and Ethernet services” yet it “allows for long-haul fiber spans at a fraction of the cost, size, and complexity of other CWDM and DWDM systems.” The platform includes a flexible set of aggregation modules that combine multiple inputs such as Gigabit Ethernet, OC-48/STM-16 or Fibre Channel and transport them at 10G over one wavelength. Because this aggregation reduces the number of wavelengths, Ekinos claims it “lowers the overall cost of DWDM and CWDM networks by 30 to 50 percent.”

With the Ekinops 360 platform deployed in its metro DWDM optical networks, Global Crossing (News - Alert) will be able to transport high-capacity traffic at speeds of up to 10 Gigabits per second. The platform connects metropolitan network nodes to long-haul networks and enables Global Crossing to provide Ethernet, SONET and Wavelength services to its business and carrier customers.

“The Ekinops platform offers us simplicity, flexibility, and a range of interfaces packed into a compact footprint,” said Jim Watts, vice president of Global Transport and Infrastructure at Global Crossing, in a press release. “The versatility of this solution, as a metro transport product with long-haul capability, gives us an effective tool for maximizing the value of our networks.”

The Ekinops 360 combines a compact and powerful WDM shelf, ideal for transporting and aggregating traffic at edge locations, and a larger shelf with capacity and density to handle core sites and large data centers.

Global Crossing offers a full suite of IP-based telecommunications solutions which are delivered over its privately managed global network. The company’s core network, which serves enterprises, SMBs, governments and carriers all over the globe, connects more than 390 cities in more than 30 countries worldwide, and delivers services to approximately 690 cities in more than 60 countries and 6 continents. Approximately 40 percent of the Fortune 500, as well as 700 carriers, mobile operators and ISPs, lease this global network and rely on it for their communications needs. Global Crossing was the first -- and remains the only -- global communications provider with IPv6 natively deployed in both its private and public backbone networks.

For more information about Global Crossing visit www.globalcrossing.com.

For more information about Ekinops, see www.ekinops.net.

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Patrick Barnard is Assignment Editor for TMCnet and Associate Editor for Customer Interaction Solutions magazine. To see more of his articles, please visit Patrick Barnard’s columnist page.

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