Datagroup Chooses Ekinops for Deployment of Coherent 100G Across Ukraine

PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ekinops, a leading supplier of next-generation optical equipment, announced that Datagroup, a major Ukrainian telecommunications operator, has chosen Ekinops as its 100G supplier and has deployed Ekinops’ coherent 100G systems across its long-haul Ukrainian network.

“The Ekinops equipment worked exactly as we hoped”

Datagroup was seeking a solution that offered a cost-effective upgrade path to higher capacity and faster network speeds across the thousands of kilometers of fiber that make up its trans-Ukrainian network. Datagroup offers a range of integrated communications services to individuals and businesses, as well as to education and research networks.

100G transport offers Datagroup a massive increase in bandwidth to serve the needs of its diverse customer base. Before deploying, Datagroup performed extensive testing of the Ekinops system to assess its performance and compatibility with its installed base of 10G equipment.

The successful deployment involved transmission of 100G signals over an existing DWDM network for a distance of 820 kilometers between Kiev and Kharkev. The existing DWDM network is transporting many 10G waves and the 100G channels were added without affecting the existing traffic. This was achieved without making any changes to the existing network. The initial deployment is on the route Lviv-Kiev-Kharkiv, connecting western and eastern parts of the country.

Datagroup tested and selected the flagship Ekinops 360 platform and its 100G modules, which can be configured as either transponders for transmission at 100G or as muxponders for aggregation of 10G services into 100G. The modules are highly compact, at only 1RU.

"The Ekinops equipment worked exactly as we hoped," said Aleksandr Danchenko, CEO of Datagroup. "The equipment was easy to install and operate, delivering error-free 100G transmission across our existing network."

"Our solution is ideal both for greenfield deployments and for upgrading existing transport networks," says Didier Bredy, CEO of Ekinops. “Its small form factor and low power consumption allow operators like Datagroup to scale their investment while upgrading their networks to 100G. Ekinops’ long haul 100G solution is unique as it offers superior optical performance in a 1RU design that can be configured as either a 100G transponder or as a muxponder. We’re having great success with this product that has been shipping for a year now.”

Francois Xavier Ollivier, Ekinops' CTO, noted that “Datagroup’s successful deployment is one of many that validate Ekinops' technological leadership at 100G. Our T-Chip (Transport-on-a-Chip) technology allows us to deliver industry-unique capabilities at 100G, just as we have at 10G. Our 100G offering is the industry’s only software programmable transponder and muxponder in one and our leading-edge FEC (forward error correction) allows us to deliver superior distance performance."

About Datagroup

Datagroup, one of the fastest-growing companies in the Ukraine, serves the Ukrainian market with residential and businesses communications services. Datagroup maintains its own fiber-optic network throughout the country, with a total length of 17,000 kilometers. Datagroup owns four optic transition points to Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, and Russia. Total capacity of the backbone network is 800 Gbps in the Europe and Russian direction. For more information, visit http://www.datagroup.ua/.

About Ekinops

Ekinops is a leading supplier of next generation optical transport equipment for telecommunications service providers. The Ekinops 360 addresses Metro, Regional, and Long-Haul applications with a single, highly-integrated platform. Ekinops is a market-leading innovator in 100G transport with its unique all-in-1RU^® approach that truly optimizes optical networks. The Ekinops 360 system relies on the highly-programmable Ekinops T-Chip^® (Transport-on-a-Chip) that enables fast, flexible and cost-effective delivery of new services for high-speed transport. Using the Ekinops 360 carrier-grade system, operators can simply increase capacity of their networks – CWDM, DWDM, Ethernet, ESCON, Fibre Channel, SONET/SDH, and uncompressed video (HD-SDI, SD-SDI, ASI). Ekinops is headquartered in Lannion, France, and Ekinops Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary, is incorporated in the USA. For more information, visit Ekinops at www.ekinops.net.