Tuesday Bytes: Vision NET, Ciena, APFN, QTS, Boldyn

Four interesting items, two from across the pond and two from out west:

Vision Net has launched a new 800G ‘Discovery Network’ up in Montana. They have built on Ciena’s WaveLogic technology and 6500 platform to roll out new AI-ready infrastructure for the next generation of growth. It’s a 163-mile digital corridor between Billings and Bozeman that supports 800G waves now with 1.6Tbps in the not-so-far-off future. The company invested some $42M in the project, which was built in partnership with its incumbent RLEC members.

AllPoints Fibre says it now reaches 9.3M more people over in the UK with SoGEA, or Single Order Generic Ethernet Access. That’s how they are reaching places that don’t yet have true fiber capabilities, but need to get off the PSTN by next year regardless. The rollout follows partner trials with Meraki, Triangle, F One Technologies and Nu Fibre. APFN’s aquila network now reaches 32.9M total premises.

QTS plans to invest some $250M in Texas, but it’s not just a new data center project. This time it’s water infrastructure and stewardship, which will support the company’s water-free cooling technology push. It does use water, but in a closed loop rather than continually drawing on local resources. The first steps will be a new water tower in the city of Turkey, Texas in partnership with the city, and $15M over the next 10 years with the Bonneville Environmnental Foundation.

And Boldyn Networks is dipping deeper into the agriculture markets with a project in West Sussex over in the UK. They are helping out with private 5G to support smart livestock monitoring alongside Pneumonitor, which supplies in-pen environmental monitoring devices. That will enable farmers to keep track of conditions inside their facilities and promote quicker responses to changes. It’s an expansion of a project that has been rolling out for a couple years in West Sussex.

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