Looks like all the major trade publications had something unique to say about the DCI inside-the-datacenter development.
Here’s a snippet from LightReading: (http://www.lightreading.com/data-center/data-center-intercon…)
Windstream Communications Inc. (NYSE: WIN) is using the Infinera Corp. (Nasdaq: INFN) technology on specific floors within the Lakeside Technology Center at 350 East Cermak in Chicago, to connect to data center customers. It is the first deployment of transport gear by the company within a data center that it doesn’t own and operate, says Jeff Brown, director of marketing and product management for Windstream.
"We are heavily in the business of providing transport services to other companies," he says. In fact, data center interconnection is a major focus for Windstream of late. In facilities such as 350 E. Cermak, however, Windstream’s demarcation point is its own suite, and if the customers to which it wants to connect are on a different floor or in a different suite, a connection has to be made between the two locations. (See Windstream Picks Up DCI Mantle.)
“It becomes a complicated process,” Brown says, involving negotiations as to who provides what, and potentially increased prices to the customer for the additional connection that can make a bid less competitive. By installing pre-provisioned Cloud Xpress units on floors where it has or expects to have customers, Windstream can make that intra-data center interconnection a faster, more seamless and more efficient process. Kevin: Looks like Windstream will be using “time as a weapon” as a competitive advantage for their services.
“The speed of install and ease of connectivity are very important to us,” Brown says. “We have specific floors where we know we have quite a bit of demand and we have deployed Carrier Ethernet equipment on those floors, and the fiber is lit between them.”
Here’s a snippet from FierceTelecom: (http://www.fiercetelecom.com/story/windstream-plugs-infinera…)
Chris Nein, regional president for Windstream, said in a release that “Cloud Xpress allows us to meet the unique needs of our customers by quickly and incrementally scaling and expanding bandwidth capacity on demand.”
Having expanded service capabilities in key sites like Cermak will make Windstream more valuable with the wholesale vertical segments like cable operators, traditional carriers and content providers that it wants to attract.
Chicago is just one of several markets where Windstream has established its data center interconnect service.
Windstream is also extending its 100G network to NJFX’s carrier-neutral data center in Wall Township, N.J., giving customers a new express route into its 21715 Filigree Court point of presence (POP) in Ashburn, Va. This connection will give both Windstream and NJFX customers’ access to the Ashburn area’s Internet hub, one of the largest and fastest-growing in the world.
The new data center connections in Chicago and Virginia are also supported by a long-haul fiber rout that includes a set of new diverse 500G routes to Miami and from Denver to Chicago and Dallas.
And here’s a snippet from Telecome Ramblings: (http://www.telecomramblings.com/2016/04/windstream-taps-infi…)
Out in Chicago, Windstream has been busy installing some new gear. They’ve deployed Infinera’s Cloud Xpress to provide pre-provisioned connections between two data centers within the key carrier hotel at 350 East Cermak.
Windstream has been steadily rolling out other Infinera gear across its network over the last two years, but this is the first foray they’ve made into the DCI market. The company sold its own data center and cloud business to Tierpoint last year, but that doesn’t mean their network business isn’t focusing in on this growing segment of the bandwidth business. Chicago won’t be the only market they deploy this gear to, as the company continues to expand its capabilities in the wholesale marketplace nationally.
For its part, Infinera’s Cloud Xpress product line should get a significant update sometime in the next year with that new technology the company unveiled last month. The Infinite Capacity Engine is what they’ll be building the next generation on for all their product lines, and will likely boost their DCI capabilities by a bunch. But for now, another terabit with instant activation in 100Gbps chunks should be plenty.
Time as a weapon and Instant Bandwidth. Software control of the optical transport layer. No new cards to configure or add. It’s just there and ready to be activated with the click of a mouse. A perceived, but very real, infinite capacity for network operators. I really think Infinera is on to something. No one else is going to be able to do this. It’s just not in the wheelhouse of any of the other system providers to operate in this way.
Best,
–Kevin