Windstream Unwinds 400G Expansion

Windstream‘s Wholesale division unfurled extensive additions to its 400-gigabit (400G) Ethernet fiber footprint, and has plans for more expansion later this year. Windstream‘s Wholesale division unfurled extensive additions to its 400-gigabit (400G) Ethernet fiber footprint, and has plans for more expansion later this year. The optical fiber provider launched new 400 GbE connections between Ashburn, Va., Chicago, Denver, San Jose, and Los Angeles; Atlanta, Dallas, Phoenix, San Jose, and Los Angeles; Seattle, Portland, San Jose, and Los Angeles; and, Chicago, Dallas, and Atlanta. The expansion taps Windstream’s Intelligent Converged Optical Network (ICON), which is its disaggregated networking infrastructure, “enabling wholesale and enterprise technology customers to select unique custom routes, maintain operational insights with Windstream’s Network Intelligence functions, and place their networks closer to the edge to better serve end-users,” the vendor said. Windstream’s management cited growing demand for 400 GbE services tied to increasing cloud adoption. “The bandwidth demands facing large enterprise and hyperscale customers are expanding and evolving rapidly as the transition to cloud services and cloud computing accelerates,” Windstream Chief Revenue Officer Joe Scattareggia noted in a statement. The footprint expansion builds on past work with Everstream Partners that hit the market in mid-2020. That work used equipment from Infinera’s Groove (GX) Series and Juniper’s PTX Series to deliver private-line internet, fiber services, and managed wave, and data center services.  Windstream is taking orders for additional routes expected to come on line the second half of the year. Those routes will include: Chicago, Atlanta, Miami, Newark, and New York; Atlanta, Ashburn, Newark, and New York; and McAllen, Dallas, Memphis, Ashburn, and New York. Scattareggia explained the company’s phased approach of implementation gives “customers time to plan” as they expand 400G services.