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Omantel launches 400GbE DCI service with Ciena

The new service will connect data centres and support growing digital traffic.
Sohail Qadir, Vice President of Wholesale at Omantel and Virginie Hollebecque, Vice President and Leader of EMEA, Ciena

Oman Telecommunications Company (Omantel) has announced the launch of a 400GbE DCI service utilising Ciena’s Data Center Interconnect solution.

The service is designed to meet the rapidly rising connectivity demands of Omantel’s wholesale, cloud and content provider customers while delivering a superior customer experience through optimised performance.

Omantel’s 400GbE DCI service runs on Ciena’s 6500 Packet-Optical Platform powered by WaveLogic 5 Extreme coherent optics and is managed by the Manage, Control and Plan (MCP) domain controller. The Ciena solution gives Omantel the ability to deploy 100G and, for the first time, 400GbE DCI connectivity over wavelengths up to 800Gb/s to accommodate increasing network traffic.

Speaking about the service, Sohail Qadir, Vice President of Wholesale at Omantel, said: “Our vision is for Oman to be the leading gateway to the region and beyond. We are bringing this mission to life, and a recent example is our new 400GbE data centre interconnect service that we developed with Ciena. At Omantel, considering the numerous benefits on technical, commercial and social levels, we acted upon a clear strategy for data centres by partnering with Equinix, the world’s digital infrastructure company, to launch MC1, the premier carrier-neutral data centre in MENA. We are now taking the next step by introducing an innovative new DCI service, the first of its kind in the region.”

He added: “Crucially, we were able to launch the service sustainably—without deploying additional platforms—doubling wavelength transmission capacity from 400G to 800G and improving overall fiber capacity leveraging our existing footprint. What this means for our customers is faster delivery of on-demand cloud applications and content with the highest quality.”

Virginie Hollebecque, Vice President and Leader of EMEA, Ciena, stated: “With a flexible, scalable network foundation from Ciena, Omantel is able to get ahead of the growing demands on today’s networks and provide its customers with unrivalled connectivity by way of its DCI service.”

Omantel and Ciena continue to work together on various levels to introduce advanced products based on the latest technologies in the industry. The collaboration has resulted in innovative products that reflect the leading role of both companies in the wholesale domain.