HARRISBURG, PA – The Keystone Initiative for Network Based Education and Research (KINBER), Pennsylvania’s statewide research, education and community networking organization, has vastly increased its capacity and service capability over its statewide PennREN backbone infrastructure using optical networking equipment from Ekinops.
Harrisburg-based KINBER provides network connectivity and services – including IP, Ethernet, and wavelength services – to more than 80 organizations in Pennsylvania. KINBER owns and operates a more than 1,800-mile fiber network across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania with access points in 47 of the 67 Pennsylvania counties.
To meet increasing demand, KINBER successfully installed two 100G long-haul connections using its Ekinops 360 platform, one span extending 166 miles and the other extending 609 miles of the East Ring of the PennREN Network with a round-trip latency of only 11 milliseconds on the longer route. KINBER’s PennREN network upgrade using Ekinops 360 represents the first availability of 100GE capability across the commonwealth.
Installing the equipment over an existing third-party ROADM (reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer) network, Ekinops was able to provide a cost-efficient solution supporting both 100G and 10G services running on parallel links on the same network.
Key to KINBER’s selection of Ekinops were the ability to deliver the higher bandwidth and improved performance without requiring any upgrade to the existing core network, as well as the ability to deliver an optimal transport solution that eliminated three regeneration sites. For KINBER, this means a major reduction in both capital and operating expenses.
In its decision, KINBER also valued Ekinops’ ability to meet tight delivery timelines, essential to its ability to satisfy its customers.
With the Ekinops 360 platform in place, KINBER now has dual 100G wavelength connectivity, with extremely low latency, across its research and education network. To meet the demands of all its end users, KINBER is now able to provide high-speed services from Scranton to Pittsburgh, Erie to Philadelphia, or any city in-between, throughout the Commonwealth.
“It was critical to us to not only implement a network with far more capacity, but to do it quickly and make sure there would be no interruption in service to our users,” said Mike Carey, Director of Operations of KINBER. “We were very impressed with Ekinops’ ability to deliver on its implementation and performance promises.”
“We’re excited to have KINBER on board as a valued Ekinops partner,” said Kevin Antill, Vice President of Sales, North America. “Research and education networks are heavy bandwidth users and this move to 100G will assure that KINBER can continue to meet its service requirements. This is an ideal application for Ekinops as it demonstrates our ability to deliver solutions that remove cost from the network and provide superior performance while seamlessly integrating with the existing infrastructure.”