[July 23, 2008]

Foundry Networks Powers One of the Largest Digital Networks in Italy

By Anil Sharma

TMCnet Contributing Editor

Azienda Bergamasca Multiservizi Information and Communication Technology (ABM ICT) has selected Foundry Networks (News - Alert), Inc. to engineer a next-generation carrier-grade MPLS wide area network (WAN) for the Province of Bergamo in northern Italy.

The Bergamo advanced broadband network is one of Italy's largest and most comprehensive cable networks comprised of more than 250 miles of fiber optics. With approximately100 Foundry NetIron MLX Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) metro routers and the involvement of more than 100 municipalities, Bergamo's network will be able to deliver a variety of next-generation voice, video, data and wireless services to more than 216,000 households and 49,000 businesses through its total infrastructure investment of approximately $24 million.

The Province of Bergamo (Provincia di Bergamo) is a territory in the Lombardy region of Italy with a population of more than one million residents in an area approximately 1,051 square miles.

The Province of Bergamo with a majority of its local economy stimulated by a variety of medium-to-large enterprises required a robust MPLS carrier-class solution to deliver high Quality of Service (QoS) and aggressive Service Level Agreements (SLAs) to its users. The Foundry Networks-based IP MPLS network implemented by BT (News - Alert) ITALIA, the main provider in Italy of communication services and solutions dedicated to the corporate and public sectors, is configured to manage data transfer speed from 10 gigabits per second (Gbps) on a single line to 100Gbps on a trunked connection. Combining Layer 2 connectivity and MPLS versatility throughout its WAN, the Province of Bergamo will be able to provide its customers with flexible levels of triple and quadruple play services requested by enterprises and consumers.

The Foundry Networks solution is based on the NetIron MLX Series metro router platform: these high-performance multi-service routers will also be used by ABM ICT for its Network Operations Center (NOC (News - Alert)) to monitor reliability and performance of the entire broadband network.

“We selected next-generation IP products from Foundry Networks for their high performance and energy efficiency capabilities as well as for their carrier-class reliability and scalability,'' said Laura Capodicasa, managing director of ABM ICT S.p.A, in a statement.

``Because we require stringent levels of service quality to deliver advanced triple-play services throughout the region, we needed a solution that was not only cost-effective reliable, but also efficient from an operational expenditure point-of-view and delivered the highest performance available. Foundry Networks was the only networking provider that could address all our needs.''

“We are glad to have been selected by the Province of Bergamo and ABM ICT for the heart of its network,'' said Ken Cheng, vice president and general manager for the High-End Systems and Service Provider Business Unit.”

`The Province of Bergamo is one of the largest government operated MPLS networks in Italy, having Foundry as the heart of this advanced infrastructure provides residential and enterprise users enhanced broadband services and the Province a highly scalable, reliable and future-ready carrier Ethernet solution.''

Foundry Networks, Inc. is a provider of high-performance enterprise and service provider switching, routing, security and Web traffic management solutions, including Layer 2/3 LAN switches, Layer 3 Backbone switches, Layer 4-7 application switches, wireless LAN and access points, metro and core routers.

Anil Sharma is a TMCnet Contributing Editor.

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