FASTWEB deploying Italy’s first 100G optical network

Milan, Italy – FASTWEB, one of Italy’s largest broadband providers, is deploying the country’s first 100 Gigabit per second (100G) per channel optical fiber network between Milan and Rome. Using Nokia Siemens Networks technology, the network will be capable of simultaneously transmitting up to 40 wavelengths of light, each carrying data at 100G. This will allow a total data transfer speed of up to 4 Terabits per second.

The new 100G link will be operational in the last quarter of 2011. Its deployment will ensure an improved experience for people using the connection, with greater bandwidth and lower latency, or delay, in data transmission. A 2008 report by TABB Group showed that a lower latency advantage of 1 millisecond (ms) is equivalent to more than $100 million in financial transaction revenue per year for NYSE Euronext trading partners*.

“We are witnessing high demand for bandwidth, driven by increased uptake of enterprise applications and rich, bandwidth-intensive smart device applications. The transition to a 100G channel optical transport network will enable us to fulfill the demands of our existing users as well as attract new subscribers by offering differentiated services,” said Mario Mella, chief technology officer, FASTWEB. “We chose Nokia Siemens Networks to offer a cost-effective transition path based on its deep understanding of our network and its proven technological expertise in optical transport networks.”

Nokia Siemens Networks’ Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) solution** comprises the hiT 7300 optical network platform and its network management system for planning and automation. The hiT 7300 platform will ensure cost savings by either adopting no dispersion compensation (DCM-free) techniques on new fiber or simply by utilizing the operator’s installed DWDM network infrastructure. The latter option enables operators to benefit from higher capacity without the costly and time-consuming fiber measurement required by conventional systems***.

Nokia Siemens Networks will also integrate its DWDM equipment into the operator’s existing network infrastructure. In addition, the contract includes delivery of care services, including hardware and software maintenance as well as competence development.

“Operators today have to deal not only with higher data traffic volumes but also with unpredictable traffic patterns. The move to 100G provides the answer; it allows operators to deliver a consistent, high-quality experience by avoiding bandwidth bottlenecks without making costly investments in laying more fiber,” said Francesco Salerni, head of the FASTWEB customer team at Nokia Siemens Networks.

About FASTWEB

FASTWEB, with 1.7 million customers, is one of the main telecommunications providers in Italy. Currently FASTWEB operates in more than 150 Italian cities with a network of more than 32,000 km. FASTWEB uses a unique technological model combining the extensive use of the Internet Protocol (IP) for voice, data and video transmission both via optical fiber and xDSL technology. The company provides customers with a wide range of integrated services (voice – fixed and mobile, data and video) on a single wire. FASTWEB also offers advanced competitive services to all business segments – Public authorities, large companies, small and medium enterprises, professionals, sohos, universities and research institutes. Since 2007 Fastweb is part of the Swisscom Group.

About Nokia Siemens Networks

Nokia Siemens Networks is a leading global enabler of telecommunications services. With its focus on innovation and sustainability, the company provides a complete portfolio of mobile, fixed and converged network technology, as well as professional services including consultancy and systems integration, deployment, maintenance and managed services. It is one of the largest telecommunications hardware, software and professional services companies in the world. Operating in 150 countries, its headquarters are in Espoo, Finland.

www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com

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Notes to the editors:

*The TABB Group report pointed out that the ability to quickly receive, manage and relay order book information is critically important to the competitiveness of stock exchanges and electronic communication networks. The research firm estimated that if an agency-broker’s electronic trading platform was five milliseconds behind the competition, it could lose about $4 million per millisecond, while up to 10 milliseconds of latency could result in a 10% drop in revenues.

Source: www.tabbgroup.com

**Part of the company’s Liquid Transport architecture, Nokia Siemens Networks’ DWDM solution, comprising the multihaul hiT 7300 system and a DWDM planning tool, provides a cost optimized, flexible and automated platform for optical networking, thereby offering a viable answer to excessive traffic demand, reconfiguration and cost pressure issues. The design principle of the hiT 7300 is based on high modularity on a single platform ranging from metro to core. It also provides network operators with a new level of simplicity for commissioning and managing DWDM systems, driving out complexity, while providing complete administrator control. Nokia Siemens Networks’ end-to-end planning tool provides optimal network design, guaranteed performance and automated configuration, resulting in significant OPEX savings as well as reduced outage time and procedural errors along with an exceptionally low TCO.

With over 100 DWDM customers around the world, Nokia Siemens Networks provides a migration path to Terabit Optical Transport, It also provides scaling capacity for channels of 10/40/100 Gbit/s, with its platform being ready for 400Gbit/s and even more. The DWDM transport solution is seamlessly integrated with OTN switching to build a powerful and flexible packet-optical transport network (POTN).

***Using the CP-QPSK (coherent polarization multiplexed quadrature phase shift keying) modulation format, the transponder integrated into hiT 7300 detects not only an optical signal’s amplitude, but also its phase and polarization. Its enhanced detection capability brings superior performance at highest bit-rates, even in presence of transmission impairments.