Case Study: Diamond State Networks Expands Rural Broadband Access with Ciena

Diamond State Networks Middle-Mile Project for Arkansas Enabling high-quality, lightning-fast, resilient broadband to rural communities in Arkansas

Diamond State Networks (DSN), an association of 13 utility cooperatives in Arkansas, set out to close the rural broadband gap across 72 of the state’s 75 counties. The challenge was to deliver affordable, high-capacity middle-mile connectivity to remote communities, since leasing N x 100G capacity from incumbent carriers would be cost-prohibitive and would undermine the broadband business case. DSN also wanted to centralize content caching rather than manage it at each co-op, while maintaining strong resiliency and performance.

Ciena helped DSN build a carrier-grade statewide middle-mile network using its 6500 DWDM optical platforms, WaveLogic™ 5 Extreme, MCP software, and Liquid Spectrum capabilities. The solution delivers scalable capacity up to 800 Gb/s per wavelength today, with an upgrade path to 1.6 Tb/s per wavelength, while improving operations through automation, monitoring, and protection routing. With Ciena, DSN can support open-access broadband for more than 600,000 household passings, expand competition and lower prices, and provide resilient high-speed connectivity to communities, schools, healthcare, public safety, and businesses across Arkansas.

Diamond State Networks