Northeast Utilities Service Company has deployed ADVA Optical Networking's Fiber Service Platform (FSP) 2000 to support high-bandwidth business and storage services between its corporate headquarters and a new data center.
"Our new data center is a multi-million-dollar investment and the high-capacity WDM (wavelength division multiplexing) layer is the foundation of it all,'' said Peter Roding, manager, IT Telecommunications Engineering, with Northeast Utilities. "We made a big decision when we chose ADVA -- we displaced existing WDM equipment from another vendor. We did so because ADVA's platform delivered the right solution and ease of use with less demand for resources like power and space, thus, lowering our cost of ownership. We were able to build a next-generation network behind ADVA and benefit from its superior support offerings.''
Northeast Utilities operates New England's largest energy-delivery system, serving about two million customers in Connecticut, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. In 2005, the company decided to close its existing data center and open a new facility. It evaluated four providers of WDM platforms to support Enterprise System Connectivity (ESCON), Fibre Channel (FC) and Gigabit Ethernet traffic between the new data center and corporate headquarters - linked by redundant, 39- and 49-km optical-fiber links. Northeast Utilities selected the FSP 2000 because of ADVA's ability to support multiple protocols over the distances and age of existing installed fiber, as well as ADVA's long-standing certifications with Northeast Utilities' storage providers.
Installation of the ADVA solution required only one day in January 2006. Though Northeast Utilities' application services were not ready for changeover to the new data center, ADVA was able to run tests on the gear to prove to Northeast Utilities that all ports would operate properly and channels would transport traffic. When Northeast Utilities switched operations to its new data center in April, there was no interruption in services for network users.
"Northeast Utilities had particular logistical and performance requirements. We worked together to provide an optimum solution to satisfy current traffic requirements and still support substantial future growth,'' said Brian P. McCann, ADVA's chief marketing and strategy officer.
