Global Crossing has been awarded the contract to support Belgacom International Carrier Services (Belgacom ICS) to consolidate and upgrade its pan-European network. This follows the formation in 2005 of a joint venture between the Belgian and Swiss incumbents, Belgacom SA and Swisscom Fixnet AG, to combine their international carrier businesses. Belgacom ICS is headquartered in Brussels and has offices in Bern, New York, Singapore and Dubai. Under the terms of this field activity contract, Global Crossing will support the consolidation of Belgacom ICS' existing infrastructure in continental Europe and the UK through the provision of network infrastructure, creating the foundation for a 40Gbits/s capable European backbone. Global Crossing will provide 3,000km of dark fibre and associated co-location space connecting 36 major points of presence in the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, France and Germany, as well as wavelengths on routes that are geographically dispersed from Belgacom ICS' network. Global Crossing will also take charge of decommissioning existing optical transmission equipment and manage the installation of Siemens’ 40Gbits/s compatible Surpass 7500 optical add-drop multiplexers (OADM). It is the first European-wide installation of state-of-the-art reconfigurable (R) OADM systems. The contract calls for the support of migration of services from the legacy network to the new Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) backbone and the provision of power supplies, cable preparation, collocation facilities, installation of racks and transmission equipment and overall consultancy and project management.
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