Company behind first all-terrestrial fiber network from Alaska to the Lower 48 to incorporate Ciena’s optical and packet technology
MTA Fiber Holdings, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of MTA, Alaska’s best choice for technology and communications products announced today that it will deploy technology from networking systems, services and software company Ciena in the Alaska Canada Overland Network (AlCan ONE), the first and only all-terrestrial fiber network connecting Alaska to the contiguous United States and beyond.
The adoption of Ciena’s 5170 Service Aggregation Switch and its 6500 Packet-Optical platform will make for an adaptive network that is secure, can handle increasing demand and provide faster and more comprehensive protection in the event of a fiber cut or equipment failure.
“We are very proud to have chosen Ciena’s robust, optical and packet platforms to play a vital role in AlCan ONE, making the network best-in-class and exceeding the highest industry standards,” said Michael Burke, CEO of MTA. “Our customers will now receive faster, lower-latency service, and experience quicker recovery times for any possible outages, making this a win for residential, business and governmental users, and ultimately for the state of Alaska as a whole.”
“Ciena is focused on meeting MTA Fiber Holdings’ short- and long-term needs and helping them address any business challenges presented in building a top-of-the-line network,” said Bruce Hembree, Vice President and General Manager of North America Sales, Ciena. “The integration of Ciena’s optical and packet technology into the AlCan ONE network will greatly improve services and bandwidth for customers as well as allow for continued growth moving into the future.”
AlCan ONE will initially have capacity of over 100 terabits per second, which can be expanded and increased in the future as demand grows. The long-haul fiber network will establish a secure and reliable fiber connection to any point in the contiguous United States, connecting Alaska’s data centers to one another and to the rest of the world and providing MTA’s members, as well as Alaska, with a robust internet transport connection for decades to come. Construction of the new terrestrial fiber line has commenced and will continue throughout 2019, with a goal of being completed by the middle of 2020.
More details on the Ciena products being integrated into MTA Fiber Holdings’ network:
- Ciena’s 5170 Service Aggregation Switch enables network operators to scale quickly and securely to meet capacity demands, provides MEF 3.0 compliant services, and delivers packet services over a carrier-class, connection-oriented infrastructure. It also enables energy and footprint efficient 100GbE service delivery and 10GbE service aggregation.
- Ciena’s 6500 Packet-Optical platform, powered by WaveLogic Ai programmable coherent optics, enables operators to address unpredictable bandwidth requirements with the ability to tune capacity from 100G to 400G in 50G increments. In addition, WaveLogic Ai offers new levels of visibility into network performance to help operators improve network efficiencies.
For more information on MTA Fiber Holdings, LLC, please visit www.mtafiber.com, and for more information on Ciena, please visit www.ciena.com.
About MTAEstablished in 1953 as a 100 percent locally owned and operated Alaskan cooperative, MTA is Alaska’s best choice for technology and communications products. As a key player in the economy of Alaska, MTA provides residential and business technology solutions to empower member-owners and patrons to live a connected life. Today, MTA remains as one of the largest technology co-ops in the U.S. For more information, visit https://www.mtasolutions.com/ or connect with MTA on Facebook.
About Ciena
Ciena (NYSE: CIEN) is a network strategy and technology company. We translate best-in-class technology into value through a high-touch, consultative business model – with a relentless drive to create exceptional experiences measured by outcomes. For updates on Ciena, follow us on Twitter @Ciena, LinkedIn, the Ciena Insights blog, or visit www.ciena.com.
Note to Ciena Investors
You are encouraged to review the Investors section of our website, where we routinely post press releases, SEC filings, recent news, financial results, and other announcements. From time to time we exclusively post material information to this website along with other disclosure channels that we use. This press release contains certain forward-looking statements that are based on our current expectations, forecasts, information and assumptions. These statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results or outcomes may differ materially from those stated or implied, because of risks and uncertainties, including those detailed in our most recent annual or quarterly report filed with the SEC. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding our expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies and can be identified by words such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "should," "will," and "would" or similar words. Ciena assumes no obligation to update the information included in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
