LINTHICUM, Md. -- Ciena Corporation (NASDAQ: CIEN), the network specialist, today announced that Interoute, owner operator of Europe’s largest next generation network, has selected Ciena Specialist Services for end-to-end managed field services support across its pan-European network operations. The five year contract marks a high-note entry for Ciena into the multivendor managed field services area.

Interoute’s network connects more than 100 cities in 29 countries around the world, via 55,000 kilometres (35,000 miles) of lit fibre. The company has also built metropolitan area networks (MANs) in more than 20 European cities. The operator offers bandwidth, virtual private networks (VPNs), high-speed internet access and transit, communication, managed hosting and colocation services, as well as media streaming to business customers and service providers.

In order to streamline its operations and generate significant cost efficiencies, Interoute decided to consolidate its network maintenance by introducing – to the largest extent possible – a single supplier model. To accomplish this across seven countries in Europe where Interoute maintains Points of Presence (Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom), the operator required a reliable services partner with an established and expansive footprint.

“We wanted a services framework that would provide a single management centre and reporting point, while also ensuring consistent SLAs across the whole of Europe – a true one-stop-shop for all our network maintenance needs,” said Andy Hudson, vice president of infrastructure engineering and field operations at Interoute. “The Ciena Specialist Services package has proven to be exactly what we were looking for, especially in terms of providing support across multiple manufacturers’ products.”

Ciena Corp. (NYSE: CIEN)