Verizon continues to transform its global optical network, setting the stage for the development and delivery of even more powerful and innovative integrated solutions for key industries such as health care, retail and financial services.

The company will build additional control plane technology into its network infrastructure - technology that allows electronic devices on its optical network to more easily communicate with each other, simplifying operations and allowing for near real-time provisioning of specified new circuits.

In addition, Verizon will extend 100G technology into its metro network worldwide to provide the same functionality as 100G long haul. These two key initiatives will allow Verizon to provide greater scalability and functionality while supporting higher access speeds.

"By combining our expanded control plane capabilities with extended 100G technology, Verizon is building the network of the future," said Ihab Tarazi, vice president of global IP and transport planning and technology for Verizon. "It's no longer about miles and scope. It's about leveraging strategies that further enable us to deliver the promise of cloud-based and mobility-enabled industry solutions."

To extend its control plane infrastructure, Verizon has deployed the Ciena 5430 Reconfigurable Switching System. It features advanced Optical Transport Network aggregation and switching software to provide tremendous growth and resiliency for enterprise customers that require high-speed, high-performance transparent wavelength services with higher bit rates and greater availability than what conventional SONET networks provide.

The control plane initiative enables end-to-end optical transport network functionality and global mesh architecture capabilities. Verizon has been a leader in mesh network architecture, beginning deployments in 2006, which gives the company significant flexibility and precision in routing choices. This architecture creates additional paths to quickly and seamlessly reroute traffic in the event of multiple breaks or network disruptions. During a natural or man-made disaster, Verizon can automatically reroute customer traffic to an equivalent available network path without human intervention, thereby increasing service resiliency.

Verizon's extension of 100G coherent technology will provide even broader access coverage for government and large-business customers. The company expects to implement this technology into major metro markets around the world during the first half of 2013.

Cloud applications, video distribution applications and wireless technologies such as LTE are driving the need to deploy 100G - initially in the long-haul network and now in the access network. This deployment will create an end-to-end 100G path, allowing traffic to flow more efficiently and with greater speed, creating opportunities for new integrated industry solutions. For example, Verizon Enterprise Solutions recently introduced a low-latency financial service through its Verizon Financial Network offering that is carried on the company's current 100G route between Chicago and New York City.

"Together, these initiatives support Verizon's strategy to be the leading global provider of secure industry solutions, bringing together cloud, mobility and advanced communications capabilities over a first-class network that offers the best in functionality and speed without compromising performance," said Tarazi.