Looking Glass Picks Cisco

OAK BROOK, Ill. -- Looking Glass Networks® Inc., a facilities-based provider of metropolitan telecommunication transport services, announced today plans to deploy the Cisco® ONS 15600 Multiservice Switching Platform (MSSP) in five metro area networks (MANs) including Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C. The Cisco ONS 15600 solution brings scalable bandwidth management to Looking Glass’ metro optical core networks while simplifying operations and increasing efficiency for high bandwidth services. Deployment is expected to begin with Los Angeles in the first quarter of 2003.“By increasing the efficiency and scalability of our networks, simplifying management, and accelerating speed to market, we are able to provide high-quality, cost effective services to our customers,” said Steve Daigle, Director of Engineering, Looking Glass Networks. “Our selection of the Cisco ONS 15600 solution plays a significant role in our ability to offer the most rapidly provisioned lit services available today—on-net in four days from order to delivery—which is essential to supporting our customer-driven strategy.”The Cisco ONS 15600 allows Looking Glass to consolidate equipment in its switching centers to achieve lower costs. Additionally, Looking Glass utilizes the solution’s single network management system, and automated cross-connect capability with point-and-click provisioning, to speed circuit turn up. Looking Glass is building upon an installed base of Cisco ONS 15454 multiservice provisioning platforms in its metro networks. Used together, the Cisco ONS 15600 and Cisco ONS 15454 enable a service dense and highly efficient solution that maximizes bandwidth.“In the diverse technology landscape of the metro area network, it’s critical to evaluate the transport network infrastructure, not only for today or tomorrow, but also for the next three to five years and beyond. The Cisco ONS 15600 enables customers like Looking Glass Networks to build networks that maximize bandwidth management in the Service PoP and cost-effectively scale for an evolving service portfolio,” said Rob Koslowsky, director of marketing, Optical Networking Group, Cisco Systems. “We share Looking Glass’ customer-focused commitment, and we are very pleased they have chosen the Cisco solution to enhance the value they bring to their customers.”In a separate release:Looking Glass Networks® Inc., a facilities-based provider of metropolitan telecommunication transport services, announced today that it has launched a fiber optic facility design and construction service. This service offers a turnkey solution to customers’ facility engineering and construction needs by providing a team of metro building experts to handle every aspect of a project from start to finish.Taking the customer’s project from concept to reality, the Looking Glass team not only designs and constructs scalable network facilities, but also manages staffing resources, obtains right-of-way and permit authorizations, and schedules all implementation activities to ensure on-time delivery of the facility.“Design and construction services are a natural extension of Looking Glass’ existing product offering,” said Stacy Jenkins, Sr. Vice President of Network Development, Looking Glass Networks. “We’ve built fiber infrastructure in hundreds of buildings for our own networks. Now, we are applying our design, construction and project management expertise to our customers’ projects—offering them the same cost-effective and rapidly delivered results that we expect for our own projects.”Looking Glass Networks Inc.Cisco Systems Inc.