Allied Telesis Selected as Broadband Access Provider for North Georgia Network Stimulus Project
SAN JOSE, Calif., March 30 - Allied Telesis Inc., a global provider of secure IP/Ethernet switching solutions and an industry leader in the deployment of IP Triple Play networks, announced that its solutions and services will be a major component in the broadband infrastructure of the newly developing North Georgia Network Cooperative (NGN) stimulus project. In 2009, NGN received a grant of $33 million from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), President Obama's principal advisor on telecommunications and information policy. The funding received by NGN was the first grant awarded under this program.
"We are very excited our technology was selected for such an important project," said Todd Trenasty, senior vice president, North America sales at Allied Telesis. "Allied Telesis is playing a key role in delivering the high-value networking infrastructure to serve education, healthcare, video surveillance, government and other local businesses that will bring added value to NGN and the communities it serves. The networking infrastructure will also serve those residents seeking faster Internet connections, particularly in rural communities."
Using the funds from the stimulus grant, along with $9 million in matching funds, NGN is building a 260-mile ultra-high speed transport network from downtown Atlanta to North Carolina as well as several hundred miles of associated middle- and last-mile network. Construction began March 21, 2011. The project is expected to boost the economy in the region and will serve as a cornerstone for the region's economic development plans.
Allied Telesis Fiber to the x (FTTx) and Fiber to the Home (FTTH) equipment and services will deliver residential Triple Play along with Ethernet services to connect community institutions that will be served by the NGN network. Specifically, NGN will deploy Allied Telesis integrated Multiservice Access Platforms (iMAPs) as well as intelligent Multiservice Gateways (iMGs) to deliver fiber-based broadband services.
The Allied Telesis 10 Gigabit iMAP 9810 FTTx solution will provide a 1Gbps pathway over fiber to the premises and connect subscribers to NGN's Terabit WDM optical transport network. The converged IP Triple Play services will be optically delivered to the premise using Allied Telesis iMG 726BD-ON fiber service gateways and the Allied Telesis AlliedView™ Network Management System (NMS) to provide advanced auto-provisioning capabilities for rapid service deployment.
NGN chose Allied Telesis point-to-point active fiber architecture over Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) in order to leverage the capabilities of its backbone network to support ultra-high bandwidth services with a truly scalable high-speed network. Both Blue Ridge and Habersham EMCs, key members of the North Georgia Network Cooperative, have enjoyed great success deploying Allied Telesis active Ethernet FTTx for the past several years.
Allied Telesis also joined with NGN in a marketing partnership to develop new applications and demand for enhanced fiber Ethernet services throughout the region, targeting government, education, healthcare, businesses and other anchor institutions that would benefit from next-generation Ethernet solutions.
"Allied Telesis was selected for this pivotal role because it delivers the right mix of solutions and services to meet our networking needs," noted Bruce Abraham, NGN president and CEO. "We believe that the combination of Allied Telesis technology and professional expertise is the perfect fit to meet the needs of our anchor institutions that will utilize our NGN network."
The North Georgia Network (NGN) is a non-profit company that is building and managing a 260-mile fiber optic transport network to deliver broadband access to thousands of businesses, public and community institutions and households in rural North Georgia. NGN won a $33-million grant in the first round of the federal broadband stimulus program to deploy fiber-optics associated with middle mile and last mile segments. The open access network model will enable independent service providers to interconnect and build out their own fiber-optic services to end users.
The network is part of a regional economic development initiative to lay the foundation for a new, technology-based economy in the North Georgia region which will spur job creation by enabling start-ups, expansions and relocations of technology-reliant businesses.