Date: 6th October 2008
Title: PacketFront wins prestigious FTTH contract in Dubai

PacketFront's solution behind the extension of FTTH to a further 20,000 households in a new exclusive residential area of Dubai.

PacketFront, the pioneers of open-access broadband networking, has won a contract with the United Arab Emirates' telephone company du which will bring about a rapid expansion of their fiber network for advanced triple-play services. du builds with PacketFront's solution Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH) to households in five different themed residential areas in the newly built Discovery Gardens district - a 400 meter wide and 6 km long area of Dubai.

“We are very pleased with the solution provided by PacketFront,” says du's Vice President Fixed Access Network Planning & Business Solutions, Mustafa Kaddoura. “We now have the largest fiber network in the Middle East. With PacketFront's fully automated solution for FTTH we can offer our subscribers a wide range of services at the same time as running our large network at maximum efficiency.”

The key component of PacketFront's broadband solution is the award-winning control and provisioning system BECSTM. BECS makes it possible for operators to build and run fully-automated broadband networks with self-provisioning functionality “on demand”. This provides end users with the opportunity to increase capacity and choose services themselves, without having to wait for a third party to carry out the changes. PacketFront will also supply Advanced Services Routers in the ASR 4000-series.

PacketFront is responsible for project design, adaptation, implementation and handover of the project, as well as the training of du's staff. The expansion of the 20,000 ports will be completed in the spring. PacketFront has previously supplied equipment for du's FTTH-network which, among other things, covers the fashionable districts of Palm Islands and Jumeirah Beach.

“We are very happy that du also has chosen our solution for Discovery Gardens”, says PacketFront's CEO, Niclas Sonesson. “The 20,000 households in this new residential area will now have access to du's incredible offers within triple play, with, for example, more than 200 IPTV channels.”

About du
du is the United Arab Emirates' telephone company. They provide integrated solutions for e.g. audio, data, video and other services over both fixed and mobile networks, to both households and companies.