Great Plains Communications (GPC) announced it has upgraded its carrier backbone and transport networks in Illinois and Indiana in collaboration with networking equipment maker Ciena.
The upgrade leverages Ciena’s coherent routing technology, which combines IP and packet switching with the optical layer to boost bandwidth, automation and network visibility.
The project delivers city-to-city routes, a redundant ring architecture and capacity that scales across 1G, 10G and 100G services.
Key markets touched by the project include Springfield, Champaign, Chicago, South Bend, Terre Haute and Indianapolis, with services aimed at residential, enterprise, fiber-to-the-tower (FTTT), hyperscalers and wholesale customers.
GPC Chief Technology Officer Tony Thakur framed the upgrade as part of an ongoing network evolution strategy to meet emerging demand for next-generation services.
Kevin Sheehan, Ciena Americas CTO and vice president of sales engineering, said the deployment will enable faster speeds, greater reliability and more flexibility for customers. The release also highlights scalability and automation as core benefits of coherent routing, designed to optimize bandwidth and resilience across the region’s transport network.
No timeline or financial terms were disclosed in the release.
AI tools from Noah Wire Services were used to help generate this report.
