Macomnet brings dark fiber pairs to IXcellerate data center

Macomnet, a joint venture of Moscow Metro and Andrew Corp., says it has delivered 64 dark fiber pairs to IXcellerate, the Russian Alliance Member of the International Data Centre Group. The delivery is part of Phase I construction of IXcellerate’s Moscow 1 Data Center. This phase continues after completion of a temporary “meet-me-room” and steel works.

IXcellerate is a data center project founded by Guy Willner, founder and former CEO of IXEurope and former president Europe for Equinix Inc., and Cliff Gauntlett, former senior vice president of Golden Telecom. The project seeks to build and operate a 6,200-sq-m carrier-neutral data center in Moscow on a 15,000-sq-m campus. The construction process has three phases, with the first 1000-sq-m scheduled to be operational in the fourth quarter of this year.

Macomnet says the dark fibers will provide IXcellerate with the capacity and flexibility to accommodate future growth, as well as improve reliability and performance.

Infonetics: Optical network systems revenue jumps 15% in 2Q12

After a down quarter over the first three months of 2012 (see "Infonetics: Optical network spending slips 23% in 1Q12"), optical network systems manufacturers saw sales increase sequentially by 15% in 2012, according to market research firm Infonetics Research. However, year-on-year, 2Q12 was off 10% Infonetics says in its 2Q12 Optical Network Hardware vendor market share report.

For many companies, future prospects depend on their product mix, says Infonetics

"The optical hardware market outlook looks decidedly different depending on which market you sell into," explains Andrew Schmitt, principal analyst for optical at Infonetics Research. "While spending on WDM is reasonably healthy, SONET/SDH is sailing off a cliff. Vendors who have good WDM products but large exposure to SONET/SDH are struggling to replace lost revenue fast enough to show growth."

For example, North American SONET/SDH spending shrank 45% in the second quarter year-over-year. Those companies with heavy exposure to AT&T suffered in particular, as that carrier has cut its SONET spending significantly. Overall, WDM equipment now accounts for 80% of all optical spending in North America, according to Infonetics.

Huawei extended its market share lead during the quarter, thanks in part to an uptick in spending by carriers in the Asia Pacific sector. Winds from this direction will continue to fill Huawei’s sails as well as boost ZTE, Schmitt believes. "Asia Pacific notched a big increase in the second quarter, with large seasonal gains by Huawei and ZTE,” he says. “Despite tepid growth in the first half of 2012, we expect significant growth in optical spending in China, where ZTE continues to take market share from Huawei."

TWC Inserts 120 Ruckus Wi-Fi APs for DNC

SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- Ruckus Wireless™ announced today that Time Warner Cable has deployed its ZoneFlex™ family of high capacity Smart Wireless LAN (WLAN) systems to deliver high-speed Wi-Fi throughout the 19,000-seat Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina. The deployment by Time Warner Cable of Ruckus Smart Wi-Fi is in place and ready to support all arena patrons, including those attending the 2012 Democratic National Convention, which takes place at Time Warner Cable Arena this week. The new Time Warner Cable Arena Wi-Fi network replaces a legacy Wi-Fi network with 120+ purpose-built, ZoneFlex high-capacity, indoor and outdoor Wi-Fi access points with integrated adaptive antenna arrays that focus signals only where they are needed, steering transmissions around obstacles while mitigating interference.

MRV offers OptiSwitch Carrier Ethernet 2.0 Ethernet demarcation and aggregation

MRV Communications, Inc. (OTCQB: MRVC) (PINKSHEETS: MRVC) has expanded its OptiSwitch Carrier Ethernet Access product line with the introduction of a demarcation-to-aggregation portfolio that comprises the OptiSwitch 906G and OptiSwitch 9244-1210G models.

The OptiSwitch 906G is a Carrier Ethernet 2.0 demarcation platform designed for a wide range of deployment scenarios. It supports a range of Layer 2 to Layer 3 IP services including Layer 2 Carrier Ethernet, Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS), and IPv4/IPv6 routing. The OS906G also offers hardware-based multi-layer operation, administration, and maintenance (OAM) tools and integrated probes for end-to-end proactive speech and video quality and performance measurements.

Meanwhile, the OptiSwitch 9244-1210G is a first-mile, 10-Gigabit Ethernet Carrier Ethernet packet-optical aggregation platform. It offers Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, 2.5-Gbps and 10-Gigabit Ethernet speeds to help offload provider edge router ports. MRV says the OS9244-1210G offers a very high port density to form factor ratio with the lowest relative power consumption in a non-blocking architecture with a total capacity of 200 GB.

Support of 2.5-Gbps enables service providers to offer higher-speed services without the cost of a 10-Gigabit Ethernet port, MRV says. This feature supports new revenue streams without adding additional costs, the company asserts.

The company’s Pro-Vision service provisioning and network management system enables “zero-touch” service creation over the OptiSwitch 906G and OptiSwitch 9244-1210G platforms and offers reporting and service portals for improved real-time monitoring capabilities, MRV adds.

"Service providers are happy that Carrier Ethernet services are one of the fastest-growing market segments today, and in order to meet that demand, they need intelligent, flexible Carrier Ethernet platforms," stated Michael Howard, co-founder and principal analyst at Infonetics Research, via an MRV press release. "MRV's new OptiSwitch models are designed to help service providers create, offer and deliver new service options and higher capacities, including 10GbE backbone transport for aggregated Carrier Ethernet traffic and 10GbE port optimization for the provider edge."

"As service providers worldwide look to deploy an ever growing number of business Ethernet, mobile backhaul and wholesale Ethernet transport services, they need a solution that offers superior intelligence along with efficient, flexible, and scalable bandwidth capacity," said Zeev Draer, vice president of strategic marketing for MRV's OCS division. "Our customers select our field-proven, low-power, high-density OptiSwitch Carrier Ethernet Access solutions including demarcation and aggregation to enable them to meet their capacity need today and to provide migration path for converged layers along anticipated growth in customers and new service offerings in the future."

Zayo Group moves towards full ownership of USCarrier

Zayo Group is once again in acquisition mode, this time announcing that it has agreed to acquire the half of USCarrier Telecom, LLC it doesn’t already own. Zayo will pay $13.5 million in cash to complete the acquisition.

Zayo initially acquired approximately 50% of the company when it bought American Fiber Systems in October 2010 (see "Zayo Group to acquire American Fiber Systems").

USCarrier is a regional fiber-based bandwidth services provider that operates in Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Tennessee. Its 3,700-mile fiber network connects cities such as Atlanta, Jacksonville, Tallahassee, Nashville, and Chattanooga, as well as 40 smaller cities in the Southeast U.S. The company offers Ethernet and wavelength services.

"Extending the reach of Zayo's network with USCarrier's footprint allows us to offer broader solutions to our customers as well as deliver end-to-end national and international connectivity to these markets," says Glenn Russo, executive vice president for corporate strategy and development for Zayo Group. "The transport services that USCarrier provides fit well with Zayo's focus on core high-bandwidth services."