Cyan Upgrades Mid-Atlantic Broadband's Metro Network to Deliver Next Generation Carrier Ethernet Services

Cyan (NYSE: CYNI), a leading provider of software-defined networking (SDN) and packet-optical solutions for network operators, today announced that Mid-Atlantic Broadband Communities Corporation (MBC), a wholesale fiber-optic open-access network transport provider, selected Cyan’s Blue Planet SDN software along with Cyan’s Z-Series Packet-Optical Platforms for its regional metro network upgrade to better serve the broadband, wholesale, and cloud connectivity needs of Wireless carriers and enterprises in Southern Virginia.

MBC is a non-profit organization that operates an open-access wholesale transport network that enables businesses to work with the communication provider of their choice to secure diverse network access. By delivering reliable high-speed broadband access across underserved communities, MBC enables local businesses across Southern Virginia to increase revenue and grow jobs.

“One of our core mission areas is to provide technology infrastructure that bridges the digital divide and creates opportunities for business growth and expansion,” said Tad Deriso, President and CEO of MBC. “Cyan is helping our region prosper by making sure we have the most advanced network technology available on the market. Not only is the Blue Planet software helping us deliver reliable carrier Ethernet access today, but it’s opening the door to new services that will drive economic growth for years to come.”

To meet the rapidly escalating bandwidth demands for wireless carrier tower sites and cloud connectivity for enterprise, MBC recently embarked on a network transformation project to address certain limitations with the existing regional SONET/TDM transport network. MBC required a solution that could scale with Mobile Backhaul, provide ease of network operations and configuration of 3rd party devices via SDN, and future-proof the network for next-generation Carrier Ethernet services.

Additionally, as an open-access provider, it was important for MBC to onboard a Layer 2 solution that would not expose customer virtual local area network (VLAN) traffic.

MBC deployed Cyan’s Z-Series Packet-Optical Platforms to provide optical scale and Ethernet services across their network. In addition, MBC deployed Blue Planet, an open SDN orchestration platform that enables network operators to simplify, manage and orchestrate multi-vendor networks to achieve end-to-end network control, service automation, and service agility. With Blue Planet, MBC can orchestrate multiple layers across the backhaul link to guarantee predictable packet services performance, high availability, and low latency. Among the first to fully comply with the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) Carrier Ethernet 2.0 (CE 2.0) initiative, Cyan also will help MBC execute on future-looking plans to deliver new metro Ethernet services to customers in the coming years.

“The MBC network upgrade is a perfect example of how technology can be a true enabler of economic development in underserved regions,” said Michael Hatfield, President, Cyan. “Being a part of MBC’s network and seeing how they help deliver critical services to enterprise, wireless carriers, educational institutions, industrial parks, and healthcare facilities really brings to life the power of our software and hardware in collaboration with a carrier partner like MBC.”

About Cyan

Cyan enables network transformation. The company’s software-defined network (SDN) solutions deliver orchestration, agility, and scale to networks, that until now, have been static and hardware driven. Serving carriers, enterprises, governments, and data centers globally, Cyan’s open platforms provide multi-vendor control and visibility to network operators, making service delivery more efficient and profitable. Cyan solutions include Blue Planet SDN software and Z-Series packet-optical transport platforms. For more information, please visit http://www.cyaninc.com or follow Cyan on Twitter at https://twitter.com/CienaBluePlanet.

About MBC

Mid-Atlantic Broadband Communities (MBC) is a non-profit 501(c)(4) organization, committed to providing economic development leadership to southern Virginia. MBC promotes economic development in southern Virginia through the operation of a successful advanced open access fiber optic network, providing wholesale telecommunications transport services, colocation and tower leasing.  Since its inception in 2004 and by offering a state-of-the art fiber optic network, MBC has supported the recruitment of major investments including data centers, call center/operations centers, advanced manufacturing, research and development, and bio-tech industries. For more information, visit http://www.mbc-va.com.