FusionNet exploits Juniper’s all-fiber technology to offer high speed broadband

NEW DELHI: FusionNet Web Services is aiming to shake up the broadband market within India’s National Capital Region (NCR) with an all-fiber service that leverages scalable routing, switching and security from Juniper Networks. The new Internet service provider, which launched their services in October 2015, sees an opportunity to achieve rapid market penetration by offering high-speed Internet access with a strong quality-of-service commitment.

Despite India’s position as a global tech hub and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) leader, overall fixed-broadband penetration across the country remains low, according to a report released by the UN Broadband Commission in September 2015 ranking the country 131 out of 189 in terms of fixed-broadband subscriptions in 2014. According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, this stems from a lack of telecom cable infrastructure, with telcos tending to decommission landlines in favor of mobile investments. This poses a large opportunity for companies like FusionNet, considering the scope of broadband adoption expected in the country in the coming years.

FusionNet is capitalizing on this underserved demand for broadband connectivity in India by leveraging the new multi-service gigabit passive optical network (GPON) infrastructure being aggressively rolled out in fast-growing districts of the NCR by a partner company. This enables FusionNet to provide fiber-to-the-premises Internet access at up to 100 Mbps. By the end of this year, the GPON infrastructure – used to support pre-paid smart meter electricity distribution as well as other services such as cable TV – will be connected to about 150,000 homes and business.

FusionNet’s challenge was to identify and deploy a full Internet service provider infrastructure that could efficiently scale up from hundreds to tens of thousands of customers. After a thorough evaluation, FusionNet selected Juniper Networks’ solution, which scales at both the device and architecture level without increasing operating costs.

Highly reliable Juniper Networks MX480 3D Universal Edge Routers – which support up to 5.76 Tbps of system throughput – have been deployed as centralized broadband network gateways (BNGs) in FusionNet’s operations center, eliminating the expenses associated with distributing BNGs to all of FusionNet’s points-of-presence (PoPs).

FusionNet is further streamlining their PoPs by deploying Juniper Networks  EX4200 Ethernet Switches to provide high density network access ports. As more access ports are required, FusionNet can leverage Juniper Networks’ Virtual Chassis technology, supported by the EX4200s, to add capacity while operating the PoP as a single virtual switch.

Additional EX4200 switches, MX Series routers and a Juniper Networks SRX650 Services Gateway have also been deployed in FusionNet’s operations center. As the entire network infrastructure runs on Junos OS, Juniper Networks’ high-performance network operating system, FusionNet enjoys highly-automated, policy-driven control of the entire network, helping to minimize their operating costs.

“We are committed to proving the same level performance and service as best-in-class broadband ISPs elsewhere in the world and as our customer base grows, I’m very confident of our ability to maintain our service level without compromise, thanks to the quality of the Juniper Networks infrastructure we have in place. The Juniper routing, switching and security devices we’ve deployed provide us with a holistic operating model that is simple and highly effective, which will help us to reach profitability early in the development of our business,” said Pankaj Nagpal, Chief Technical Officer, FusionNet Web Services Pvt Ltd.

“In-line with our vision of being the worldwide leader in networking innovation and our support for Digital India and Smart Cities, we are happy to partner with FusionNet to address this great opportunity of unmet customer demand within the NCR, and potentially elsewhere in the county,” commented Amajit Gupta, Managing Director, India and SAARC, Juniper Networks.