Exciting things are happening here at LightRiver as we lead the way in the Factory Built Network® design and commissioning of multi-vendor packet optical networks.
This week our sister company, LightRiver Software, Inc., announced that it has acquired Unique Computer Services, Inc., a pioneer and industry leader in the development and support of multi- vendor, transport network systems software, with hundreds of thousands of nodes under management.
Unique’s industry-leading product, netFLEX®, enables transport network operators of all sizes to efficiently provision and manage anything from a few to several hundred thousand network elements, with FCAPS support across a broad range of legacy and next generation vendors and devices. Added to LightRiver’s Transport Lab, Network Factory, preferred access to leading equipment vendors, and ongoing investment in Tier 1 Software Defined Networking integration, this combination will expedite the benefits operators can gain from next generation transport technologies and network orchestration, with Webscale 2.0 elasticity. Additionally, the combination leverages aggregated resources to provide a single entity for design, delivery and management of complex, constantly evolving, software controlled transport networks.
Carrier Grade Network Operators need to continuously improve the flexibility, capability and stability of their networks, while reducing operation costs and service delays. The netFLEX® system provides a L0/L1/L2 Transport Network Controller, either on premises or in a hosted cloud model, for multi-vendor management across a wide range of technology domains.
“LightRiver is the leader in integrating optical solutions for mission-critical transport network operators of every type, so this is a perfect fit,” says Michael Leddy / Co-Founder and President at Unique. “The closer marriage of vendor neutral, hardware and software integration will provide clear and immediate benefits to clients and vendors alike.”
“LightRiver and Unique are committed to serving our customers’ needs,” adds Glenn Johansen, LightRiver CEO. “Simplifying and accelerating migration to next generation packet optical networks, with the added power, flexibility and efficiency that software automation will drive for legacy, current and next generation transport technologies must be our mission.”
Combining multiple functions from multiple vendors into a single, integrated, hardware/software ecosystem provides network operators with a return on investment driven by speed of delivery, improved network operations without vendor lock in, and provides transport vendors a knowledgeable and friendly partner enabling nearer term packet optical migration and SDN instantiation, with access to domain management friendly to legacy network elements, with open interfaces and programmable API’s for the future.