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Cox Communications Selects Ciena to Support Multiservice Aggregation and Regional Transport of Residential Triple Play and Business Service

CN 4200 FlexSelect Advanced Services Platform deployed in several Cox regions bringing multi-protocol, software-defined flexibility to the MSO’s network evolution

Ciena® Corporation (Nasdaq: CIEN), the network specialist, today announced that Cox Communications, a multiservice broadband company with more than 6.7 million customers, including more than one million triple play customers, has certified Ciena’s CN 4200™ FlexSelect™ Advanced Services Platform for deployment in its metro and regional networks to support the aggregation and transport of residential voice, video and data services, as well as business services. 

Based on the agreement, the CN 4200 has been deployed in several Cox regions to provide initial support for high-speed data and commercial services.

Ciena’s CN 4200 is the flagship product of Ciena’s FlexSelect Architecture, a standards-based, service-oriented approach to building next-generation network infrastructures. The CN 4200 is a multiservice transport and aggregation platform capable of on-demand support for any transport protocol—including SONET/SDH, Ethernet/GbE/10GbE, storage (Fibre Channel, FICON, ESCON) or video—at any speed on any available port using the industry's first universal line card with individual user-programmable ports.

“Part of our on-going strategy is to shift away from service-specific equipment and evolve to a converged, multiservice network that can adapt to the changing demands from residential and business customers over time,” said Darryl Ladd, director of network architecture for Cox Communications. “With the CN 4200, we can reduce our wavelength utilization and have a single line card delivering SONET, Gigabit Ethernet and storage services on different reprogrammable ports – instead of needing three different line cards or network devices – all of which combine to bring a new level of service flexibility and investment protection to our network.”

A number of Cox regions already use optical Ethernet platforms from Ciena for Video on Demand (VOD) services, so Cox is able to leverage its existing investment and expertise with Ciena’s ON-Center® Management System to deploy new services on the CN 4200 FlexSelect Advanced Services Platform.

“Based on the diversity of Cox’s customer base and service portfolio, this deployment showcases the service flexibility and operational efficiencies that the CN 4200 delivers to customers through its multi-protocol, software-defined ports,” said Mike Aquino, vice president, Americas, at Ciena. “In a competitive market, being able to meet customer requests for increased network speeds and new services on-demand from the existing network will be critical to responding to customers before competitors do – and in terms of software-defined, programmable networking, the CN 4200 is the only game in town.”

Ciena is a leader in optical Ethernet switching and transport for cable networks based on multi-system and operator-wide deployments with cable operators worldwide, including Adelphia Communications, ARMSTRONG Cable, Buckeye CableSystem, Cablevision, Cox Communications, J:COM and others. Ciena products are the backbone of networks passing more than 18 million homes and supporting a wide range of advanced services, including VOD, CMTS backhaul, broadcast distribution, commercial services and wireless backhaul.