Ribbon sees optical solutions win and drives continued progress in sustainability

Real-time communications technology and IP optical networking solutions provider Ribbon Communications has announced a double whammy, with Harrisonville Telephone Company (HTC) in the US selecting its IP Wave Solutions as part of a network upgrade just as it announced the release of its 2022 Sustainability Report, highlighting ongoing progress in executing against its sustainability strategy.

An Illinois-based provider of communications services, HTC is using Ribbon’s IP Wave solutions, including NPT IP Routing and Apollo Optical Transport, to update its network. Architected to enable providers to build and operate multilayer data and optical networks, IP Wave solutions are designed to fuse optimised hardware and automation software within an open architecture, and deliver the agility needed to rapidly create and implement innovative new services.

Ribbon said businesses and end users are demanding access to high-speed internet solutions and HTC is committed to meeting those needs with state-of-the-art solutions. “Ribbon has been a trusted partner for many years, supporting us as we strive to provide our customers with innovative products, fast speeds and state-of-the-art features,” said HTC vice-president of operations Craig Hern.

“We turned to them for an expandable solution that can keep up with our customers’ increasing bandwidth requirements. We also appreciate the quality of their USA-based technical support teams,” he added.

In terms of sustainability, Ribbon regards the subject as a cross-functional effort, aimed at making it a better, more resilient company that is easy for stakeholders to engage with. The company has a target of reducing direct carbon emissions (Scope 1 and Scope 2 CO₂e) by 30% from 2018 levels by 2030, having achieved a 16% reduction in direct carbon emissions in 2022 compared with 2018.

The Ribbon 2022 Sustainability Report is said to highlight ongoing progress in executing against the company’s sustainability strategy, in particular observing that Ribbon was more than halfway to its direct carbon emissions target. In addition, the report showed renewable electricity use was multiplied by six year over year, and now accounts for 11% of Ribbon’s total electricity consumption. The company said it had already converted its entire Bengaluru operation to hydro-generated electricity and would repeat this process in other locations.

Compared with earlier models, the company’s XDR routers are said to deliver an 80% improvement in power consumption in Gigabit per second capacity, helping to reduce the environmental impact of data transmission. It added that a 2022 Silver Sustainability Rating from EcoVadis placed the company in the top 16% of peer companies in the information and communications technology sector.

“We view sustainability as a cross-functional effort, aimed at making us a better, more resilient company that is easy for stakeholders to engage with,” said Patrick Macken, Ribbon executive vice-president and chief legal officer. “I’m proud of our results and of the team’s continued focus on living out our values as we work to address some of today’s critical challenges.”