Brightspeed Launches “Innovation Center” to Test and Launch New Products

Brightspeed, the fifth largest incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) in the U.S., announced the opening of its “innovation facility,” Brightspeed Technology Advancement Center or BTAC, in Kansas City, MO. The facility recreates the company’s network infrastructure providing a “realistic” test environment for voice, DSL, broadband fiber and Wi-Fi hardware and software solutions.

“As we build our future-proof, next generation network, we have a great opportunity to incorporate advanced technologies,” said Brian Bond, Brightspeed’s chief of operations support and innovation. “Working with our vendor partners, we have successfully recreated our network in a secure environment, and we now have the freedom to test cutting-edge technologies, create our own innovations, and assess their effectiveness without disrupting the network or our customers’ services.”

The BTAC contains equipment and infrastructure from the following partners: Calix, Cisco, Ribbon, Adtran, Nokia, RAD, Ciena, DZS, AXON Networks, Fujitsu, VIAVI, Infinera, Corning, Codecom, and Casa Systems. The facility enables testing of new devices, software, and firmware. Additionally, BTAC serves as an “innovation hub” for ideation, process and design improvements, automation, and risk mitigation.

“At its core, Brightspeed encourages the delivery of big ideas and fosters curiosity and optimism,” said Martin Maniche, CEO of AXON Networks. “That’s why it was important for AXON Networks to invest in the BTAC taking that core belief a step further, making it easier to innovate quickly, learn from mistakes and embrace challenges as opportunities for improvement. Now, both companies can innovate in real time.”

The newly launched BTAC is in Kansas City, Missouri and will serve as a hub for Brightspeed employees and vendor partners to work together to develop, test, and launch new products that improve the customer experience, reduce outages, lower repair times, address device and software bugs and reconfigure network deployments for more efficiency.

Photos courtesy of Brightspeed