The Challenge
Amplex Internet serves thousands of households across Ohio as both a wireless and a fiber operator, and its footprint takes in a multitude of remote sites. That topology puts equipment cost at the center of every design decision. The team wanted a lower-cost alternative to its incumbent carrier-class vendor with no loss of performance or reliability, plus modern carrier features such as SR-MPLS that had historically shipped only on higher-end routing platforms.
A traditional forklift upgrade was off the table. As Mark Radabaugh, President of Amplex, put it: “Completing a ‘forklift upgrade’ of the network is a long, expensive, and complex process. IP Infusion, UfiSpace, and Edgecore provide a path to a 100GB core and distribution network.”
The Solution
Amplex chose the OcNOS SP Aggregation Router with MPLS to upgrade and future-proof its carrier-class network, and runs it on Edgecore Networks and UfiSpace white-box hardware. Network consultancy IP ArchiTechs built the open networking design template, working alongside distribution partner EPS Global. In production, OcNOS bridges the Amplex customer edge and the netElastic virtual Broadband Network Gateways, and it speaks to the installed Juniper and Ciena gear, so sites convert one at a time.
- OcNOS SP Aggregation Router with MPLS on Edgecore and UfiSpace hardware
- SR-MPLS for modern carrier-class services
- TI-LFA Fast Reroute enabled on multi-link sites for sub 50-millisecond failover
- Interoperability with existing Juniper and Ciena equipment
Outcomes
Hardware is now a choice rather than a constraint. Amplex can qualify aggregation platforms from more than one supplier at the performance and reliability it had before, which keeps a single vendor’s backlog off the critical path and limits what a costly supply chain disruption can do to a build schedule.
TI-LFA Fast Reroute is active on every multi-link site, so a fiber cut or a failed port reroutes in under 50 milliseconds. Voice and video sessions ride through the event and customers never file a ticket. SR-MPLS moves from wish list to running configuration as well, which hands the team traffic engineering and service separation it could not previously justify buying.
Why OcNOS
OcNOS delivered the carrier-class feature set Amplex was shopping for at a price a growing regional ISP can defend, and the open networking model kept both Edgecore and UfiSpace in play. What Amplex gets is a staged, logical climb to 100GB that leaves the business free of any one vendor’s roadmap.