NextLight simplifies management of high-speed network with Smartoptics

30 Jan 2025 10:00 CET

Oslo, Norway - January 30, 2025 - Smartoptics, a leading provider of optical
networking solutions, today announced that NextLight, the award-winning
municipal fiber provider of Longmont, Colorado, USA, has upgraded its high
-capacity fiber network with a Smartoptics solution. The solution is integrated
with Calix broadband access systems and managed with the Smartoptics SoSmart
software suite. This allows NextLight to flexibly scale 100G and 400G
connectivity across its network.

NextLight has been delivering fiber internet to Longmont's residents for ten
years, reaching nearly 70% penetration of fiber-enabled homes. The overwhelming
majority of customers served have access to 1G or higher speeds and the
municipal fiber provider has been recognized as one of the fastest ISPs in the
US by PC Magazine on multiple occasions.

The Smartoptics solution upgrades NextLight's DWDM infrastructure to support
higher transport capacity and bit rates.  Smartoptics muxponders and ROADMs are
integrated with Calix broadband access systems to ensure seamless 100G and 400G
connectivity between data centers in Longmont, Denver, and Fort Collins,
Colorado.

Calix's Intelligent Access® solution and software-defined operating system
(AXOS) enable service providers like NextLight to scale their businesses cost
-effectively as they grow while establishing a strong foundation for delivering
multi-gig broadband and value-added managed services. The Intelligent Access
solution integrates seamlessly with Smartoptics' open optical networking
solutions, creating a fully tested, end-to-end offering that accelerates
deployment for service providers. The two companies have successfully
collaborated on multiple deployments across the United States.

"With Smartoptics, everything is fully open without any licensing fees and with
plenty of room to grow. The overall solution is cost-efficient and the easiest
we have ever set up. We got everything up and running by ourselves in about a
day, without any training. The Smartoptics team is responsive to our feedback,
and we can speak directly with a technical expert for support when needed. Their
flexibility and openness ensure we have everything we need to keep our network
running smoothly," says Juan Garcia, Manager, Network Operations and
Engineering, City of Longmont, Colorado.

The SoSmart software suite of open management and planning tools has also been
deployed by NextLight to manage the ROADMs easily and efficiently. SoSmart
Planner allows NextLight's engineering team to model circuits, input fiber
types, and map fiber routes with ease. All of this significantly reduces the
complexity of network operations.

"True to form as a trendsetter of municipal Gb connectivity, NextLight has been
an early adopter of SoSmart. They value the ease of use of the entire solution,
from plug-and-play network elements to plug-and-play planning and management
software. We're proud to continue supporting their further network expansion,
with coherent 100G transceivers for running cost-efficient IP over DWDM as one
of the planned next steps," says Kevin Robinson, Vice President of Sales
Americas, Smartoptics.

For more information please contact:
Magnus Grenfeldt
CEO
Smartoptics
+46 73-366 88 77
E-mail: magnus.grenfeldt@smartoptics.com

About Smartoptics
Smartoptics provides innovative optical networking solutions and devices for the
new era of open networking. Our customer base includes thousands of enterprises,
governments, cloud providers, Internet exchanges as well as cable and telecom
operators. We have an open networking approach in everything we do which allows
our customers to break unwanted vendor lock-in, remain flexible and minimize
costs. Our solutions are used in metro and regional network applications that
increasingly rely on data center services and specifications. Smartoptics is a
Scandinavian company founded in 2006. We partner with leading technology and
network solution providers such as Brocade, Cisco and Dell and have a global
reach through more than 100 business partners.
For additional information about Smartoptics, please visit
https://www.smartoptics.com/

About NextLight
NextLight is Longmont's community-owned fiber-optic internet service, empowering
a fully-connected Longmont with the resources for life. NextLight has made
Longmont the first "gigabit city" in Colorado and been nationally recognized for
its speed, affordability and quality. To learn more, visit www.mynextlight.com.

More information:
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