PRESS RELEASE
24 March 2015
Contact:
Polatis Contact: Matt Burke, matthew.burke@polatis.com, +1 603.315.0618
WWT Contact: Edward Levens, eslevens@propelmg.com, +1 919.346.5531
Polatis and World Wide Technology Partner to Bring Best-in-Class Optical Networking Solutions to Enterprise, Government and Service Provider Customers
First deployment to deliver an ultra-resilient optical network to a top Fortune 100 company.
OFC 2015 – LOS ANGELES – March 24, 2015 -- Polatis, the performance leader in all-optical switching, and
World Wide Technology (WWT), a market-leading Systems Integrator, have entered into a worldwide value
added reseller agreement. Under the agreement, WWT will integrate Polatis’ SDN-enabled optical switching
systems into solutions that provide its customers with high-performance, resilient and dynamic optical
networks.
“WWT has a well-documented history of providing network design, integration, implementation and
support excellence that is unmatched; and we are proud to be a part of that ecosystem,” said Gerald Wesel,
CEO of Polatis. “Working with World Wide enables us to extend the value proposition of our fiber-layer
cross-connects to their customers who trust them to deliver robust and innovative solutions.”
The first deployment using Polatis optical switches will be in a multi-vendor optical network solution, with
Cisco, Polatis and WWT, for a Fortune 100 retailer’s enterprise network. In this application, Polatis is
ensuring high network availability by protecting each service in a 16-slot, Layer 2/3 multiservice
provisioning platform. As a result, the customer can maintain carrier-class service continuity with a
compact, cost-effective and high-performance solution. Polatis optical switches ensure high network
availability by re-routing data along an alternate network path automatically in the event of optical signal
loss caused by physical fiber damage or any other situation that results in optical signal degradation, based
on user-defined thresholds. Polatis Series 6000 optical switches can be configured to automatically switch
to a protection path in less than 30 ms; and automatically revert back to the working line once a stable
signal is detected.
“Increasing demand for bandwidth and high network availability is driving customers to 10G/40G/100G and
beyond at a rapid pace,” said Bob Olwig, vice president of Business Strategy and Innovation at WWT.
“Optical switching is a critical component for high capacity, high availability networks, and Polatis can add
tremendous value as part of our solutions. By providing flexible control of the fiber layer with Polatis SDNenabled
dynamic fiber cross-connects, we can offer our customers innovative and cost-effective ways to
meet their growing needs.”
In addition to optical layer protection, Polatis and WWT are working together to address service provider
video and intelligent cross-connect applications:
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Service Provider Video. To support the demand for IP video on mobile and fixed platforms, more
and more video content delivery sources are located within the metro network, which is
dramatically changing traffic patterns. In this application, Polatis and WWT can increase
performance on the network by bypassing Layer 2/3 equipment with large traffic flows that don’t
need to be handled by higher layer network devices.
(more)
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Intelligent Cross-Connect. To support network operators looking for efficient ways to get more
from their optical infrastructures, dynamic configuration of the fiber layer is critical. In this
application, Polatis and WWT can optimize the network by reconfiguring fiber connections,
automatically and in real-time, as traffic patterns change.
In Software Defined Network (SDN) applications, the underlying fiber infrastructure can be reconfigured
automatically on demand via an SDN control plane using embedded OpenFlow agents on Polatis optical
circuit switches. Polatis is integrated into SDN deployments worldwide including the groundbreaking
software-defined smart city network initiative in Bristol, UK. Integration of Polatis and Cisco equipment
under a common SDN management control plane will be demonstrated at WWT’s Advanced Technology
Center in St. Louis.
“With dynamic control of network resources under one management system, SDN is enabling new
architectures that can better support changing and growing demands on the network. With best-in-class
performance, Polatis brings the critical fiber layer management component under SDN control and opens
up new opportunities for us. We’re looking forward to demonstrating this for our customers in our
Advanced Technology Center,” added Olwig.
WWT brings an innovative and proven approach to how organizations discover, evaluate, architect and
implement technology. The company offers its customers hands-on access to equipment, training and
insight via its Advanced Technology Center (ATC) – a collaborative ecosystem to design, build, educate,
demonstrate and deploy innovative technology products and integrated architectural solutions for
customers, partners and employees around the world. Customers also benefit from WWT’s Integration
Technology Center (ITC), global program management, professional services and award-winning strategic
partnerships.
About Polatis
Polatis delivers the world's lowest loss SDN-enabled all-optical switching solutions for remote fiber-layer
provisioning, protection, monitoring, reconfiguration and test, with over 2 billion port-hours accumulated
in-service. Dependable, field-proven DirectLight™ dark fiber optical matrix switch technology scales from
4x4 to 192x192 ports with typical loss below 1dB, applying class-leading performance to provide dynamic
fiber cross-connects for software-defined telecommunications, data center, government, test and video
networks. For more information, please visit www.polatis.com.
About WWT
World Wide Technology, Inc. (WWT) is a systems integrator with more than $7 billion in annual revenue
that provides innovative technology and supply chain solutions to large public and private organizations.
The company brings to market a powerful blend of knowledge, infrastructure and technology to help its
customers explore, evaluate, architect and implement technology products and solutions. Based in St.
Louis, WWT works closely with industry leaders including Boeing, Dell, Cisco, EMC, HP, AT&T Inc., VMware,
Citrix Systems, Inc., NetApp, Inc., Microsoft and the U.S. Air Force. WWT employs more than 3,000 people
and operates over 2 million square feet of warehousing, distribution and integration space throughout the
world. For more information, please visit www.wwt.com.
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