BT inks 5-year deal with Ciena for packet optical platform

Ciena announced a 5-year contract renewal with BT to deploy its 6500 Converged Packet Optical Platform.

Ciena said the deployment of Converged Packet Optical Platform will enable BT to grow its optical services business, building capacity via 100G and nx100G high capacity wavelengths that offer reliable, high speed connectivity services.

The UK-wide deployment, which commenced in summer 2017, is supporting BT in its efforts to further upgrade network capacity.
“With the growth in high bandwidth services, it’s more important than ever that we continue to innovate and provide flexible network solutions to our customers. We’ve built a great relationship with Ciena over the past five years and we’re pleased to continue working with them,” said Neil J McRae, chief architect at BT.
Ciena said its 6500 Converged Packet Optical platform will assist BT, a leading telecom operator in UK, to undertake expansion plans for optical services, connecting high-capacity wavelengths cost effectively on a national scale, whilst playing a key role in uplifting capacity in the overall network.

Ciena’s 6500 Converged Packet Optical Platform offering will support BT to efficiently manage traffic growth.

“With Ciena’s 6500 Converged Packet Optical platform, BT is future-proofing its networks and continuing to offer its UK customers fast and reliable solutions,” Keri Gilder, vice president and general manager, EMEA, Ciena.

Meanwhile, Research and Markets said the global optical switches market is forecasted to grow at 15.59 percent CAGR and reach $8.46 billion by 2020.