Colorado's FORETHOUGHT.net Selects Ekinops FlexRate™ Solution

Deploys High Speed Link Between Major PoPs in Rural Areas

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May 14, 2019, 02:00 ET

PARIS, May 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Ekinops - (EuronextParis: EKI) (ISIN: FR0011466069), a leading supplier of optical transport equipment and router solutions for service providers and telecom operators, today announces that FORETHOUGHT.net, one of Colorado's largest, independently-owned internet, cloud and communications service providers, has deployed the Ekinops 200G FlexRate™ solution to provide high bit rate connectivity between two of its major points-of-presence (PoP) in Grand Junction and Montrose. FORETHOUGHT provides wide-ranging advanced communication services throughout Colorado, particularly within rural and underserved areas.

Ekinops FlexRate solutions are delivering the advanced coherent transport needed to address FORETHOUGHT's connectivity requirements, while also providing the network economics to support its business case. Ekinops PM 200FRS02 and PM 100G-AGG pluggable modules enable FORETHOUGHT to efficiently aggregate lower speed 10Gbps services onto a single high-speed 200Gbps link, reducing the number of channels needed in the network up to a factor of twenty. Having fewer channels both lowers equipment costs and makes the network simpler and easier to manage. It also provides abundant capacity to accommodate future growth. The performance of the PM 200FRS02 allows FORETHOUGHT to connect the two sites over a distance of 90 kilometers without the need for mid-span amplification, further reducing its network costs.

To ensure robust performance, FORETHOUGHT is using Ekinops Celestis® NMS network management system to manage its new link. Celestis NMS provides the diagnostics and multi-layer management needed to correlate key network information and events with individual services, which helps prevent network outages and minimizes service interruption.

"FORETHOUGHT's mission is to bridge the digital divide that exists between the urban areas like Denver, where there are multiple options for high-speed services, and rural Colorado where those options don't exist at the moment," said Jawaid Bazyar, President of FORETHOUGHT.net. "Ekinops' solutions are allowing us to bring a competitive product to the market at the lowest cost per bit and with the 99.999% reliability we need. The company has a long history and expertise in optical transport, which is why we chose to work with them. We've found the team to be a terrific partner for our business, one which is responsive to our needs and provides first-class support."

"FORETHOUGHT is delivering a true alternative in locations that need it most," said Kevin Antill, Ekinops' Group Vice President of sales for North America. "Rural areas are difficult to reach, and it is an expensive proposition to deliver services to them so having a robust and efficient network is critical to success. We're proud to partner with FORETHOUGHT, our FlexRate solutions are an ideal fit for its operational requirements as well as its business model."

The Ekinops PM 200FRS02 and single fiber PM 200FRS02-SF FlexRate modules have been generally available since mid-2017, while the PM 100G-AGG was introduced in early 2018. These modules have been deployed in networks across the globe to deliver high-performance 100G and 200G services, as well as SDN compatibility.

Learn more about the full range of Ekinops FlexRate solutions here.

For more information visit: www.ekinops.net

About FORETHOUGHT

FORETHOUGHT.net was founded in 1995 to reduce the digital divide caused by slow Internet speeds and get the communities we serve on the map for competitive high-speed Internet, cloud and phone services. We have offices in Denver, Grand Junction and Durango and offer a portfolio of enterprise-level cloud hosting, colocation, Internet, voice and data solutions.

For further media information, or to schedule an interview with Ekinops please contact Beckie Richardson, iseepr on +44(0)113-350-1922, [email protected]

SOURCE Ekinops