USCarrier Picks ADVA, Fujitsu

MARTINSREID Germany -- ADVA Optical Networking announced that their North American Original Equipment Manufacturing (OEM) partner, Fujitsu Network Communications Inc., has successfully deployed the FLASHWAVE® 7420 metro DWDM platform for USCarrier Telecom, LLC. The solution has enabled USCarrier to roll out its new E-Max 1000 Long Haul Wholesale Ethernet Service to carrier customers seeking to introduce competitively priced, advanced broadband offerings in the south-eastern United States.

The FLASHWAVE 7420 platform, sold exclusively by Fujitsu to North American service providers as part of a strategic OEM agreement with ADVA Optical Networking, is a flexible, cost-effective system that significantly extends the distance capabilities for data, storage, voice, and video applications.

Twenty incumbent local exchange carriers from Georgia and South Carolina – seeking to establish a region-wide fiber-optic network – formed USCarrier in 1997. Today, USCarrier operates more than 4,000 route miles of fiber across a coverage area that is about 70-percent rural and 30-percent urban. The company provides reliable, high-speed telecommunications bandwidth to carrier and reseller customers, local municipalities, and state-government agencies. It is the sole carrier in the southeastern United States to deliver broadband access to several major eastern seaboard cities, metro and north metro Atlanta, and many regional cities.

The FLASHWAVE 7420 platform is an important addition to USCarrier’s network infrastructure because it multiplexes, transports, and switches multiple high-speed voice, video, data, and storage applications. USCarrier’s E-Max 1000 customers will be able to bundle advanced broadband services such as voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP), streaming media and digital TV with high-speed Internet access. Augmented with ADVA’s next-generation Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier (EDFA) modules, the Fujitsu FLASHWAVE 7420 nodes cost-effectively provide high-performance services over multiple rings in USCarrier’s regional network, including a seven-node, 320-mile loop that links Atlanta, Georgia, and Chattanooga, Tennessee.

“The Fujitsu solution affords us tremendous flexibility in quickly, cost-effectively rolling out tiered bandwidth services to our wholesale customers at the network-management interface. We can sell a service today and provision live customer traffic tomorrow,” said Michael S. Layer, President and Chief Executive Officer of USCarrier. “Fast service turn-up, simple scalability and the support of an experienced supplier were key factors in our choosing Fujitsu. Plus, the solution’s planned support for in-service upgrades to 10Gbps provides us with cost-effective, long-term scalability. USCarrier has relied on Fujitsu for metro access and core networks, and our confidence in their regional platform is being borne out.”

Brian P. McCann, Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer at ADVA Optical Networking, added, “The cost-efficient scalability and flexibility of our solution expand the renewable revenue potential of USCarrier’s fiber assets, enabling cost-controlled growth into new markets and service opportunities. The FLASHWAVE 7420 platform and EDFA modules combine to uniquely deliver regional platform power, reach, and functionality at a metro platform price.”

ADVA AG Optical Networking

Fujitsu Network Communications Inc. (FNC)

USCarrier Telecom LLC