Ciena works with Smart Com to tap into new markets

Cienas platforms converge TDM, Ethernet and storage services over a nationwide optical network to support HSE&DEMs production and delivery of electricity

Holding Slovenske elektrarne (HSE) and Dravske elektrarne Maribor (DEM) together comprise of HSE&DEM, the Republic of Slovenias largest producer of electricity and governor of eight hydropower plants. Every day millions of people throughout Slovenia rely on HSE&DEM to provide them with their electricity, meaning its IT network needs to be up and running effectively to enable the efficient transportation of its electricity supply.

The distribution of electricity is a mission-critical, multi-step process, monitored and controlled by a variety of IT applications, which must all function properly. This therefore means the performance and availability of HSE&DEMs telecommunications network is vital if service expectations are to be met. To enhance its network, HSE&DEM decided to interconnect its locations nationwide with a resilient network infrastructure to support the IT services used in the delivery of electrical energy to customers, and provide the scalability, performance and next-generation capabilities to deliver new services in the future.

Based on these network requirements, together with the need to support Time Division Multiplexing (TDM), Ethernet and storage extension services, HSE&DEM carried out a careful competitive evaluation process of potential suppliers. HSE&DEM wanted a solution with carrier-grade reliability as well as the flexibility to easily add capacity to new services over time. As a result, HSE&DEM recognised Cienas Adaptive WAN (Wide Area Network) as the superior solution for its demanding utility telecommunications network.

Leveraging more than 12 years of experience designing and deploying Layer 1 and Layer 2 networking platforms for the carrier market place, Ciena brings invaluable carrier-class expertise to HSE&DEMs demanding utility environment. Its Adaptive WAN solution provides a wide area network that optimises and switches traffic at the lowest possible layer, providing maximum throughput, low latency and application transparency.

However, with no physical base in the region, it was down to Smart Com, a certified reseller of Cienas network solutions and provider of integrated communications and IT management services, to help facilitate the sale of Cienas Adaptive WAN solution to HSE&DEM. An expert in data and converged networks, Smart Com, headquartered in Slovenia, was able to draw on its market knowledge in the region to help Ciena tap into the market. The two companies are now working closely together to complete the installation and testing of HSE&DEMs next-generation network. For Ciena, the business win with HSE&DEM represents a significant opportunity to gain exposure in new regions and its relationship with Smart Com will help bring in new business while keeping costs down.

As a result of the Eastern European channel partnership between Ciena and Smart Com, HSE&DEM will now be deploying metro transport and switching solutions from Ciena. The CN 3620 Optical Multiservice Switch and the CN 2100 Passive Optical Multiplexer provides the provisioning, multiplexing and transport of TDM and Ethernet/IP-based services over HSE&DEMs optical infrastructure. These solutions will enable HSE&DEM to deliver a wide array of services while maximising the use of their leased fibre and lowering operational expenses.

HSE&DEM will also deploy Cienas CN 2000 Storage Extension Platform; a leading storage-over-SONET/SDH and LAN extension solution for connecting data centres across distances and reducing recurring bandwidth charges by as much as 70 percent through hardware compression and Dynamic Bandwidth Assignment. HSE&DEM is taking advantage of the CN 2000s flexible support for Fibre Channel, ESCON (Enterprise Systems Connection), FICON (Fibre Connectivity) and Gigabit Ethernet for storage area networking, disaster recovery applications and next-generation SDH transport.

The combined platform solution will enable HSE&DEM to develop a wide array of services, while maximising the use of leased fibre and lowering OPEX costs. Cienas partnership with Smart Com demonstrates the companys ability to combine its network specialist approach to specific customer processes with the market knowledge of local channel partners to move into new markets around the world and serve customers like HSE&DEM. As a network that is always available, never drops packets and delivers deterministic response, Cienas all-round, Adaptive WAN solution means that HSE&DEM is able to move to a scalable and high-performance network that supports time-sensitive, mission-critical business processes that can transport future services as needed.