Gamma Taps Infinera for UK Dark Fiber Aggregation Network

Infinera, a provider of Intelligent Transport Networks, and Gamma, a technology-based provider of communication services to the United Kingdom (UK) business market, announced that Gamma has deployed Infinera XTM Series for its UK dark fiber aggregation network.

This marks the completion of the first phase of Gamma’s nationwide buildout in London. The Infinera XTM Series and the EMXP packet-optical transport switch enables Gamma to seamlessly integrate its Layer 1 transport and Layer 2 metro Ethernet functionality to gain more control and scale its network within a single platform.

Gamma is a leading supplier of voice, data and mobile products and services in the UK, supplying a broad range of communications to small, medium and large business customers, the public sector and not-for-profit organizations. Gamma’s new dark fiber aggregation network uses dark fiber from a third party to replace previously rented access connections and extends its network beyond existing network locations into metro networks within the UK.

The first phase of Gamma’s London metro network extends the number of access locations by a factor of 10, providing Gamma better control of the growth, manageability and economics of its network in critical growth locations.

The XTM Series provides Gamma with access to 1 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE), 10 GbE and 100 GbE services to power its metro core networks. The XTM Series is a modular and scalable system of pluggable optics, featuring low power and high density and providing efficient delivery of Ethernet services, enabling Gamma to increase services as its network grows.

With the XTM Series, Gamma can interconnect aggregation points closer to its customers, offering services with speed and efficiency. The XTM Series provides an access onramp for all Gamma’s Internet Protocol (IP)/Ethernet-based services such as Layer 2 and Layer 3 virtual private networks (VPNs), voice over IP (VoIP) and direct internet access. The network architecture also utilizes sophisticated packet-optical capabilities such as Ethernet Ring Protection version 2 (ERPv2) with multiple classes of service to provide Gamma with high network resiliency and service differentiation.

“After extensive research and consideration, we selected the Infinera XTM Series platform for our dark fiber aggregation project as it enabled us to dramatically increase capacity and scalability, while offering innovative services to our customers,” said Andy Rawnsely, Chief Architect at Gamma. “Our goal is always to ensure that our customers receive the highest level of service performance with maximum scalability. We are confident that this metro solution, with its low-power and space-saving design, will deliver on our commitment.”

Infinera, in partnership with Xantaro, worked closely with Gamma to select the best network solution to fit its needs.

“This project demonstrates our true value-add, to pull together the right technical solution for the customer. The Infinera XTM Series successfully lowers Gamma’s Ethernet access costs while providing Gamma with increased transport services,” said Gerold Arheilger, Xantaro CTO.

“We are delighted Gamma selected the Infinera XTM Series platform,” said Nick Walden, Senior Vice President, Infinera EMEA. “This deployment demonstrates how our flexible approach to packet-optical networking can help operators grow and develop new business services while they adapt to increasing customer demands. The deployment also shows that the demand for business Ethernet continues to grow and Infinera’s metro portfolio is well-suited to address this demand.”