Windstream Wholesale is offering Managed Spectrum on its nationwide Intelligent Converged Optical Network (ICON). The company says that the platform provides customers with the advantages of a dark fiber network without some of the extra work typically involved with dark fiber.
The new service consists of a dedicated block of photonic capacity that is measured in Gigahertz. Customers “procure, install, maintain and monitor the service layer equipment.” Windstream says that this provides the scalability of a conventional dark fiber offering without the operational overhead that comes with building, managing and maintaining a network.
“Exponential end-user traffic growth is requiring carriers to operate with greater agility, automation, cost-optimization and network flexibility,” Windstream Wholesale chief revenue officer Joe Scattareggia said in a press release. “The continuing evolution of Windstream Wholesale’s ICON network meets this need by enabling integration of new technologies. ICON’s innovative architecture makes it possible for us to simultaneously support emerging Spectrum services along with our traditional lit solutions, and that’s a huge advance for the high-bandwidth marketplace.”
The Intelligent Converged Optical Network (ICON) platform has been a big focus for Windstream.
In March 2021, Windstream Wholesale and Colt Technology Services “solidified” their partnership and announced what they said was a successful trial of an optical spectrum solution in which Colt leveraged the Windstream Flex grid on line system to build a 600G wavelength between Chicago and Ashburn.
The platform used Colt’s coherent transmission system and Windstream managed spectrum to deliver multiple 100GE and 400GE services between business hubs that are almost 1,800 kilometers apart.
In today’s announcement, Windstream said that Colt purchased three routes from Windstream Wholesale. They are Chicago to New York City; Secaucus, NJ to Ashburn, VA and Ashburn to Chicago.
In June, Windstream Wholesale made its 400G ICON network available across the country.
The company’s 400 Gbps routes announced at that time were:
- Atlanta to Dallas, Phoenix, San Jose and Los Angeles
- Chicago to Dallas and Atlanta
- Ashburn to Chicago, Denver, San Jose and Los Angeles
- Seattle to Portland, San Jose and Los Angeles
Windstream Wholesale said that four other routes would become available during the second half of the year. They are:
- Chicago to Atlanta and Miami
- Chicago to Newark and New York City
- Atlanta to Ashburn, Newark and New York City
- McAllen, Texas; to Dallas, Memphis, Ashburn and New York City
