EKINOPS 360 Optical Equipment Maximizes Return on Investment for a New U.S. Midwest Fiber Route

Vaultas, LLC, headquartered in Alexandria, Minnesota, U.S.A., develops, owns, and manages highly advanced and secure data centers. It completed its installation of the EKINOPS 360 DWDM (dense wave division multiplexing) system in February 2010, which accelerated its return on investment over the originally projected 18 months.

The EKINOPS 360 delivers DWDM and CWDM (coarse WDM) on a single platform that fills the needs of metro, regional, and long-haul transport. Based on the innovative and programmable T-Chip, Transport-on-a-Chip technology, the EKINOPS 360 enables vastly increased transport capacity, highly efficient service aggregation, and market-leading economies of scale.

With the goal of providing cost effective access for Vaultas data centers to the largest “carrier hotel” in the upper Midwest, the company faced the challenge of how to effectively utilize the very limited fiber in a very costly 275-mile fiber route between Minneapolis, Minnesota and Fargo, North Dakota. In order for this to be cost-effective, Vaultas needed a solution that could provide large scalable connectivity and minimize capital costs by eliminating regeneration sites and minimizing amplifier needs. Vaultas plans to locate multiple data centers along the fiber route, and therefore needed as much transport capacity as possible from the existing fiber.

As the company looked for ways to take advantage of the limited fiber capacity, Vaultas weighed several options before deciding to deploy the EKINOPS 360. As John Unger, CEO of Vaultas, explained, “It turned out to be an easy decision for us. EKINOPS provided the best value for our network dollar. The system was installed and commissioned exactly as planned with no issues or need for rework, and EKINOPS provided excellent follow-up and support throughout the sales and installation processes.”

In addition to its planned data centers, Vaultas intended to deliver broadband access to communities along the fiber route. Monticello, Minnesota, is one such community, where Vaultas now provides transport for the city itself and the city-owned fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network. Vaultas wanted to eliminate the need for optical signal regeneration along the route, and the EKINOPS equipment was an ideal solution. The EKINOPS 360 can transmit signals up to hundreds of kilometers without the need for in-line amplification and thousands of kilometers without the need for regeneration.

“The ROI on this network was estimated at 18 months,” Unger noted. ”By using the cost-effective EKINOPS equipment, we were able to add millions of dollars in new revenue to this project.”

“Our T-Chip Technology has once again proven its effectiveness in helping customers deploy transport capability cost-effectively,” said Rob Adams, Vice President of Global Marketing for Ekinops. “With the T-Chip, we can provide industry-leading capability ahead of our competition allowing our customers to achieve quick ROI and stay ahead of their competition.”