Enterprise - Verizon Business has reinforced its POPs for business users and upgraded its links to India

[lightwave] Verizon Business is enhancing its European network infrastructure to help meet data-growth demands of its enterprise customers and prepare for the activation of the Europe India Gateway submarine cable network system later this year.

The company says it is taking several steps to upgrade its infrastructure:

* expanding its ultra-long-haul (ULH) network
* increasing the number of new and diverse MPLS nodes for private IP customers
* adding converged packet architecture sites to help customers move their services onto one common access interface
* making final preparations at the Marseille, France, cable terminal, where customer traffic will move from the 15,000-km Europe India Gateway cable system directly onto the Verizon Business European network.


"We are enhancing the European network capabilities to prepare for the growth of traffic from the Middle East and India that will follow the implementation of new IP and Ethernet nodes as well as the next generation of cable systems currently under construction," said Ihab Tarazi, vice president of Verizon global network planning.

After completing the ULH expansion project throughout France, which will become a critical route to move traffic from the Europe India Gateway (EIG) cable to the Verizon Business European network, the company is focused on a 1,300-km ULH expansion project in the United Kingdom and a new diverse link between Europe and the U.K. The company also is increasing the capability, as needed, of its ULH network, moving from 10 Gbps to 40G and even 100G on the Paris-to-Frankfurt route (see "Verizon plans more 100G and 40G deployments").

"Our multiyear ultra-long-haul program not only is a key factor for increasing our backbone network capacity, but also for what we can deliver to our customers," Tarazi said. "This network enables us to give our customers the higher speeds they need to support video, data and the expansion of data centers and cloud services."

With 214 global Private IP sites available on the Verizon Business network, the company plans to add more than 55 expansion sites within the next two years, including 22 sites in Europe and seven in the Middle East and India.

Verizon Business also is expanding its converged packet architecture (CPA) network in Europe this year, adding locations in Germany (Hamburg and Munich) and in the Netherlands (Rotterdam) to the 127 sites already on the global CPA network.

One of the most significant network enhancements to the European network during 2010 will be the activation of the EIG submarine cable system later this year. With more than 93 percent of the marine installation completed, this undersea optical cable system will link 12 countries/territories and connect Europe, the Middle East, and India, giving Verizon Business customers direct access to the company's European and India networks. Verizon Business is one of 16 companies building this cable.

With a design capacity of up to 3.84 Tbps, the EIG cable will provide Verizon Business a second, diverse connection into the company's Marseille cable terminal. The Southeast Asia-Middle East-West Europe 4 (SEA-ME-WE 4) submarine cable also lands at the Marseille site, and has diverse fiber routes and equipment rooms at the facility. Verizon Business is the only U.S.-based founding member of SEA-ME-WE 4.

Verizon Business enhances European network, plans Europe India Gateway activation