Buckeye CableSystem has teamed with Internet Photonics to build a unified optical network capable of delivering several broadband applications — including video-on-demand (VOD) — to its consumer and commercial customers.

Buckeye, which also operates a CLEC division, will install IP’s line of “LightStack” gear to handle its needs for optical access, switching and transport for a network that delivers services to more than 150,000 subscribers in parts of Ohio and Michigan.

Buckeye is installing the equipment to fulfill a plan for an integrated broadband platform that would free up fiber capacity and create a foundation for multiple services, said Joe Jensen, Buckeye’s chief technology officer. “We’ve now moved in the direction of offering solutions that support our telephone and cable operations,” he said.

But that decision also had to account for backbone enhancements for Buckeye’s business customers and for the support of other bandwidth-intensive services that are emerging. “This network will be able to support all aspects of our transport requirements,” Jensen said.

Buckeye is currently moving its commercial clients to the GigE-based platform, and expects to launch VOD either late this year or in early 2004, offering an on-demand library of between 600 to 1,000 hours, Jensen said.

Instead of offering VOD over multiple Sonet rings on multiple fiber pairs, the MSO will use the “VirtualWire” capabilities of IP’s LightStack platform to map 8 GigE channels on to a single 10-Gig DWDM wavelength, and add wavelengths to the same fiber pairs if more capacity is required.