Windstream Picks Colt, Aqua Comms to Drive Wave Connectivity

Windstream Wholesale, a provider of advanced optical solutions, has announced the delivery of low latency, ultra-high bandwidth wave connectivity from the United States to Europe through a strategic partnership with Colt and Aqua Comms—yielding roundtrip latency of less than 100ms with no frame loss.

Originating in Chicago on Windstream’s Intelligent Converged Optical Network (ICON), the 100G Waves test traveled to New York and across the Atlantic to London, England, utilizing Aqua Comms’ subsea fiber optic network. The service connected Windstream’s U.S. network to Colt’s European wavelength network and terminated in Frankfurt, Germany.

“Windstream Wholesale is pleased to announce our first trans-Atlantic 100G Wave in cooperation with Colt and Aqua Comms,” said Joe Scattareggia, chief revenue officer for Windstream Wholesale. “We are committed to best-in-class customer experience, and this three-way strategic partnership not only expands the reach of our low-latency, ultra-high Wave network, it also provides our customers with streamlined access with end-to-end connectivity from the U.S. to Europe for faster deployment.”

Jaya Deshmukh, executive vice president of Strategy and Transformation, Colt Technology Services, said, “Businesses, across industries, need access to powerful digital infrastructure to execute on their digital imperatives. From robotic surgery, seamless supply chains to immersive learning, the entire gamut of digital capabilities rely on ultra-fast connectivity across geographies. This requires a strong commitment to partnerships, working together to help customers succeed and fulfil their potential. I am excited by this unique collaboration between Windstream, Aqua Comms and Colt and the potential it delivers for connecting global businesses.”

This successful partnership expands Windstream Wholesale’s available connectivity offerings for global, government, hyper-scale, content, and other large-scale customer providers outside of the company’s nationwide North American network to more than 1,000 data centers and POPs within Europe across various Wave connectivity options, ranging from 10G and 100G currently, and up to 400G in the near future.

Chris Bayly, CCO at Aqua Comms, said, “At Aqua Comms we are pleased to be part of a partnership which is setting the standard for delivering unique end-to-end connectivity solutions between the U.S. and Europe with industry leading deployment times and a strong focus on exceptional customer experience.

Windstream’s Intelligent Converged Optical Network (ICON) provides open and disaggregated networking infrastructure, enabling wholesale and enterprise technology customers to select unique custom routes, maintain operational insights with Windstream’s Network Intelligence functions, and place their networks closer to the edge to better serve end-users.