At the Packet Optical Network Conference (PONC) in Rome, Cisco announced its role in building the new national backbone of the Internet, which runs across the long road from Iraq to Turkey.
The world’s leading network equipment manufacturer said: “The new network is a joint venture between Earthlink and Symphony, reaching most major Iraqi cities and will be available to the public, as the new official Internet service provider in Iraq. It’s an alternative to existing submarine networks that reached the Middle East from Europe either via the Suez Canal or by a longer route around the Horn of Africa.”

“Creative thinking by the leaders of Symphony and EarthLink will soon be changing the lives of the people of Iraq,” said Mike Weston, vice president, Middle East, Cisco. He added: “The extended reach of the network and its advanced capabilities will lay a solid foundation for achieving the Iraqi development goals. And with this project, Cisco further establishes its leadership with IP and optical networks that require multi-layer restoration, and automation. Plus industry-leading performance in long-haul applications.”

How will the project change the lives of the Iraqi people?

Cisco said the new network would provide higher capacity and less response time for any communication between Europe and the Middle East. The Iraqi national backbone will become one of the longest multi-layer restoration networks in the world. The network was developed by Earthlink and Symphony with one hundred percent Iraqi staff. It cooperated with Cisco to ensure the highest quality standards. And to provide the most extensive available data capacities using DWDM technology.

“I am looking at the big picture for the ICT industry, that is facing several barriers,” said Sarmad H. Ahmed, CEO, and EarthLink Telecommunications Iraq. “We at EarthLink group are tackling those barriers one by one, with the backbone as the most significant obstacle. This project will have positive economic impacts on local businesses, and internet applications. Above all, the project will provide more than enough bandwidth in order to connect every town in Iraq. Regionally, the project will reduce the latency of traffic between Asia, and Europe. And increase route diversity for the GCC region. We went through an intensive vendor selection process for this, comparing many vendors. Cisco provided us with the most compelling, and concise view of the future of cloud-scale networks.”

Who is Cisco?

Cisco is the world’s leading network equipment company, and one of its largest IT companies.  And today, it became a leader in technology around the world. Cisco’s global leadership in the cloud, in networking, video, mobility, and security enables service providers, media and Internet companies around the world to reduce costs. It also helps in speeding up time to market, secure their networks, and achieve profitable growth.

How will Cisco’s expertise contribute to the success of Iraq’s internet backbone network?

Cisco has designed the future network through virtualization, automation, simplification, and programming. The IOS XR operating system powering the Iraqi Backbone network will be capable of supporting advanced operational capabilities. Segment routing, and real-time telemetry, and standards-based programming scalability using NETCONF and YANG are examples. Plus a host of other multi-features.