Cox Communications is using Alcatel-Lucent routers to support Ethernet-based solutions for business and carrier customers, the companies announced Wednesday.
Terms of the deal weren't disclosed. The cable operator is standardizing on Alcatel-Lucent's 7750 Service Router to provide a common service routing edge infrastructure. Paris-based Alcatel-Lucent also provided integration and testing services and will continue to support Cox Business' Ethernet services, which are carried over either fiber and hybrid fiber coax (HFC).
"Ethernet offers network flexibility and more capabilities at a lower cost, making it the preferred networking technology of many [information-technology] decision makers," Cox Business vice president of product development and management Kristine Faulkner said in a statement.
Cox is currently the fourth-largest provider of business Ethernet services in the U.S. based on customer ports, according to industry research firm Vertical Systems Group. The operator is a member of the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) and has been certified by the MEF for delivery of advanced Ethernet services.
Cox has 250,000 small and regional business customers and provides some 650,000 phone lines to business customers.
