Coriant Brings Packet-Optical Service to Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan might be one of the last places most think about when it comes to technological development, but where some might see a vague heap of country, Coriant saw opportunity. That's at least part of why the Ministry of Communications in Turkmenistan recently announced that it had brought out a complete new national backbone network, and had called on Coriant to provide some of the systems therein.

As for the new network, it's got an impressive array of systems. Not only does it come with coherent dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM,) but it also has multiprotocol label switching—transport profile connectivity, a system generally only seen in data networks that use packet switching. Service management systems were also in place, and that—coupled with the previously-noted developments—allowed for a greater ability to scale transport capacity, while also offering better flexibility in provisioning, allowing for edge-to-core systems to be put in place.

The system draws on the Coriant hiT 7300 Multi-Haul Transport Platform, along with the 7090 Packet Transfer Platform. The hiT 7300 comes with a variety of benefits, starting with the better transmission rates with changing bandwidth demands—we all know some times of the day are higher-demand than others—and also offering better and simpler interworking for international operations. The 7090, meanwhile, improves packet transport operations, and allows the flexibility of several different packet transport operations from a wide variety of Ethernet transport options like E-LAN to multi-rate interfaces.

With the new network comes not only improved connectivity and bandwidth services for government operations, but for a large portion of the country as a whole including enterprise users and residential users, including mobile users of all types. This led to remarks from a Ministry of Communications representative who said “Our new state-of-the-art backbone network will play a critical role in meeting the current and future communications needs of all of our citizens, while creating a strong foundation for economic development and regional cooperation. We chose Coriant as a partner for this project because of their demonstrated technical leadership and highly competitive solution offering.”

Improving a network must be job one for any communications authority; without a proper Internet presence, a lot of work today simply can't be done. Many of the conventional channels for work were replaced by the Internet, with cost savings and time savings as part of the package. So the Turkmenistan government has taken a substantial leap forward, bringing value to its users with a high-end network that delivers the bandwidth needed to have a presence on the global stage.

What will come of Turkmenistan's network expansion? There's no way to tell right now, but we could be seeing new products, services, and even entertainment options come out of the country, all thanks to the globally-connected nature of the Internet, and a little help from Coriant.

Edited by Maurice Nagle