Windstream
Nokia, Windstream Wholesale and Colt complete world’s first ultra-fast 800GbE optical and IP service trial
Nokia, Windstream, and Colt Technology Services have completed an 800 Gigabit Ethernet (800 GbE) trial spanning 8,500km between London and Chicago over a subsea and terrestrial route. The trial showcased innovative power-saving networking technologies from the three global tech businesses to test the boundaries of next-generation wavelength, capacity, speed and latency between two of the world’s largest financial trading hubs.
Colt’s five transatlantic subsea cables and part of its extensive terrestrial fiber optic network were connected with Windstream Wholesale’s domestic U.S. low latency, optical fiber Intelligent Converged Optical Network (ICON) monitoring speed and performance. Colt and Windstream Wholesale have partnered to demonstrate the world’s first transoceanic 800 gigabit ethernet (GbE) end-to-end service transport from router to router over 1Tbps optical transport. The trial was successfully delivered using Nokia’s sixth-generation Photonic Service Engine (PSE-6s) coherent optics and 7750 Service Router (SR) high-performance routing platforms boosting internet service speeds and supporting ultra-high wavelength capacity, while maintaining power efficiency.
The companies say that 800G marks a breakthrough in service bandwidth, doubling capacity to support advanced network applications like AI data center networking, content delivery networks, and financial data hub connections.
| Ethernet Rate | AUI | BP | Cu Cable | MMF 50m | MMF 100m | SMF 500m | SMF 2km |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 400 Gb/s | — | — | — | — | — | — | 4 pairs |
| 800 Gb/s | 8 lanes | 8 lanes | 8 pairs | 8 pairs | 8 pairs | 8 pairs | 8 pairs |
Quotes:
Buddy Bayer, Chief Operating Officer of Colt Technology Services, said: “Pushing the boundaries of technology innovation is a fundamental part of our customer commitment: it means we stay a step ahead of the market, so we’re ready when our customers ask, “What’s next for us?” This trial has seen us build a powerful industry collaboration to explore the ‘what’s next?’. It’s tested the limits of infrastructure performance and capability across thousands of miles of land and sea with incredible networking technologies, and it’s demonstrated the power and potential of what can be achieved, without skipping a beat.”
Joe Scattareggia, President of Windstream Wholesale, said: “Our latest innovation represents a true game-changer for global connectivity. By partnering with two extraordinary leaders in the industry, we’re enabling unprecedented bandwidth capabilities that are essential for driving AI-powered applications worldwide for our customers. As an optical technology leader, Windstream Wholesale and our partners are establishing 800GbE as the next evolutionary advancement increase for wave services. This collaboration has pushed the boundaries of what’s possible, creating a network solution like no other. Together, we’re not just meeting the demands of the future—we’re shaping it.”
Federico Guillén, President of Network Infrastructure at Nokia, said: “Such an ambitious project — to link two of the world’s most important financial hubs — sets the bar very high for network capacity, speed, security and reliability. This demonstration would simply not have been possible without the commitment of Nokia and our partners to the highest standards of innovation in networking technology. Together, we are redefining the art of the possible for IP and optical networks enabling cross-continental subsea and terrestrial communications.”
Following the successful completion of the trial, the organizations are currently exploring options to bring 800GbE connectivity services to market for global business customers.
Resources and additional information:
Webpage: Nokia PSE-6s
Webpage: Nokia Optical Networks
About Nokia:
As a B2B technology innovation leader, we are pioneering networks that sense, think and act by leveraging our work across mobile, fixed and cloud networks. In addition, we create value with intellectual property and long-term research, led by the award-winning Nokia Bell Labs.
With truly open architectures that seamlessly integrate into any ecosystem, our high-performance networks create new opportunities for monetization and scale. Service providers, enterprises and partners worldwide trust Nokia to deliver secure, reliable and sustainable networks today – and work with us to create the digital services and applications of the future.
About Colt Technology Services:
Colt Technology Services (Colt) is a global digital infrastructure company which creates extraordinary connections to help businesses succeed. Powered by amazing people and like-minded partners, Colt is driven by its purpose: to put the power of the digital universe in the hands of its customers, wherever, whenever and however they choose.
Since 1992, Colt has set itself apart through its deep commitment to its customers, growing from its heritage in the City of London to a global business spanning 40+ countries, with over 6,000 employees and more than 80 offices around the world. Colt’s customers benefit from expansive digital infrastructure connecting 32,000 buildings across 230 cities, more than 50 Metropolitan Area Networks and 250+ Points of Presence across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and North America’s largest business hubs.
Privately owned, Colt is one of the most financially sound companies in the sector. Obsessed with delivering industry-leading customer experience, Colt is guided by its dedication to customer innovation, by its values and its responsibility to its customers, partners, people and the planet.
For more information, please visit www.colt.net
About Windstream Wholesale:
Windstream Wholesale is an innovative optical technology leader that delivers fast, flexible, and customized wavelength and dark fiber solutions to carriers, content providers, and hyperscalers in the U.S. and Canada. Windstream Wholesale is one of three brands managed by Windstream. The company’s quality-first approach connects customers to new opportunities and possibilities by delivering a full suite of advanced communications services. Windstream also offers fiber-based broadband to residential and small business customers in 18 states as well as managed cloud communications and security services to mid-to-large enterprises and government entities across the U.S. Windstream is a privately held company headquartered in Little Rock, Ark. Additional information about Windstream Wholesale is available at windstreamwholesale.com. Follow us on X (Twitter) @Windstream and LinkedIn at @Windstream.
To view the Windstream Wholesale network map, visit https://www.windstreamwholesale.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Windstream-Wholesale-National-Network.pdf
References:
https://standards.ieee.org/beyond-standards/ethernets-next-bar/
AI adoption to accelerate growth in the $215 billion Data Center market
Ethernet Alliance multi-vendor interoperability demo (10GbE to 800GbE) at OFC 2023
Cisco 800G line card for Cisco 8000 Series Routers powered by Silicon One ASIC
Analysis of Windstream’s 2nd quarter results; enhanced SD-WAN solution
2Q-2017 Operating Results:
Windstream Holdings Inc. on August 3rd reported a $68 million 2nd quarter loss and said it would end its quarterly dividend to shareholders as part of a new capital allocation strategy.
The Little Rock, AR telecommunications and cloud service provider reported 2nd quarter revenue of $1.49 billion, which was up 10% from the same quarter last year. Operating income was $107 million, down 31% from $155 million in the same period a year ago. Its $68 million net loss, or a loss of 37 cents per share, compared with net income of $1.5 million, or 1 cent per share, a year ago.
“Windstream delivered solid second quarter results, highlighted by sequential growth in Adjusted OIBDAR,” CEO Tony Thomas said in the previously referenced press release.
“Our unique network assets and cloud-based applications have us well positioned to grow market share. Additionally, we continue to improve our cost structure and have significant opportunities to further drive down costs through reductions in network interconnection costs, upcoming synergies from the EarthLink and Broadview transactions (i.e. acquisitions) and initiatives to advance our organizational effectiveness,” Thomas added.
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Recent Acquisitions:
1. Windstream completed its purchase of EarthLink Holdings Corp. of Atlanta, GA in February. The company has said the $1.1 billion all-stock deal will expand Windstream’s U.S. nationwide fiber footprint and lead to enhanced products and services.
2. Windstream closed on its $225 million purchase of Broadview Networks Holdings Inc. of Rye Brook, New York last month. The private, cloud-based unified communications services provider to small and medium-sized businesses offers a suite of services under the OfficeSuite UC brand which will now be sold by Windstream’s sales force.
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Comment & Analysis:
Windstream is a leading rural local exchange carrier in the U.S. The company offers broadband Internet, private line, telephony and digital TV services to consumers primarily in rural areas. Windstream also provides advanced network communications such as cloud computing and managed services to enterprise (medium & large business) customers. The company also has business units for: ILEC consumer & small business, CLEC consumer & small business, and wholesale. They have recently entered the SD-WAN market via VeloCloud’s solution (see below).
From Windstream’s most recent SEC 10-K report filing:
Our vision is to provide a best-in-class customer experience through a world-class network. Our “network first” strategy entails leveraging our existing infrastructure and investing in the latest technologies to create significant value for both our customers and our shareholders.
Following the completion of the Merger with EarthLink, our business unit organizational structure will be focused on the following four core customer groups: ILEC Consumer and Small Business, Wholesale, Enterprise, and CLEC Consumer and Small Business, as further defined below. During the third quarter of 2016, we changed the name of our Carrier segment to Wholesale to better reflect our customer base and the products and services we are selling in the marketplace. Historically, we were solely focused on serving telecom companies based in the United States, but over the past year, we have expanded our focus to sell our products and services to nontraditional telecom companies, including content providers, data center operators and international carriers requiring voice and data transport services in the United States. This organizational structure aligns all aspects of the customer relationship (sales, service delivery, and customer service) to improve accountability to the customer and sharpen our operational focus.
Windstream’s local exchange business competitors include: wireless communications providers, cable television companies/MSOs, resellers of local exchange services, inter-exchange carriers, satellite transmission service providers, electric utilities, competitive access service providers.
Windstream has been losing access lines due to pricing pressure and fierce competition. The company is also under pressure with losses in the wholesale business. Being a local exchange carrier (both an ILEC and CLEC), Windstream remains exposed to stringent regulatory measures by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as well as state regulatory bodies and local public utility commissions.
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SD-WAN Offering:
In an earlier press release this month, Windstream touted its previously promoted SD WAN solution which now includes additional broadband flexibility, improved self-service monitoring and control options, and a new SD-WAN Concierge™ managed service that automatically optimizes application performance, lowers costs and simplifies network management. Windstream customers can also combine SD-WAN with Diverse Connect to achieve a 100 percent availability service level agreement (SLA).
“We introduced our SD-WAN service in January, and we have seen tremendous adoption in the first six months as customers find they benefit from a more tailored, flexible and controllable WAN experience,” said Joseph Harding, executive vice president and enterprise chief marketing officer at Windstream. “Following our merger with EarthLink, we are enhancing our SD-WAN solution as we work to integrate our offerings. The result is a powerful new solution that gives customers even greater network agility, scalability and performance, all while also reducing costs and virtually eliminating downtime.”
Windstream’s SD-WAN solution was said to utilize “cutting edge technology” (see Editor’s Note below) coupled with the customer’s application prioritization to dynamically route traffic over a combination of private and public networks to reach multiple locations. Customers maintain control over their network from a convenient centralized location rather than manage various individual routers and firewalls.
Windstream’s enhanced SD-WAN solution is available immediately to businesses in Windstream’s nationwide service area. Over the past six months, Windstream has partnered with customers in the retail, banking, professional services, healthcare, manufacturing and financial services industries, and the company expects demand to remain high for its industry leading solution.
In addition to SD-WAN, Windstream offers a full suite of advanced network communications and technology solutions like UCaaS and Diverse Connect along with voice and data services such as VoIP access, SIP trunking, MPLS, Wavelength, Ethernet and dedicated high-speed Internet. Windstream also offers managed services, cloud services and network security services designed to help businesses increase productivity and improve operational costs. For more information, visit windstreambusiness.com.
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Editor’s Note:
As we’ve repeatedly stated in these techblog posts (and elsewhere), there are no standards for SD-WANs which implies each network provider goes with a single vendor solution which won’t inter-operate with any other SD-WANs from other network providers. Earlier this year, Windstream selected VeloCloud’s SD WAN as the product powering their SD-WAN service.
Earlier this summer, Windstream joined the ONAP open source project (under Linux Foundation). The ONAP Project is focused on creating a harmonized and comprehensive framework for real-time, policy-driven software automation of virtual network functions. ONAP’s primary objective is to enable software, network, IT, and cloud providers and developers to rapidly create new services which can be monetized.
References:
http://abea-43pvyw.client.shareholder.com/investors/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=1035855
http://investor.windstream.com/investors/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=1035354
https://www.windstreambusiness.com/solutions/networking-solutions/sd-wan
https://www.windstreambusiness.com/resources/brochures/sd-wan-solutions
http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/ABEA-43PVYW/4941624088x0xS1282266-17-13/1585644/filing.pdf
https://techblog.comsoc.org/2017/07/01/windstream-joins-onap-open-source-telco-movement/