Paducah, KY — Quad State Internet (QSI) has announced the expansion of its Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) platform to support full 400 Gbps optical transport across its commercial footprint in Paducah, Kentucky, with Metropolis, Illinois slated to receive the same capability in an upcoming phase. Although QSI has operated DWDM transport for some time, the core capacity for higher-speed optical networking has been in place within the company’s backbone. Today’s announcement marks the first time QSI is offering 400 Gbps wavelengths as a commercial transport service to carriers, enterprises, and regional networks.

This upgrade is a major step forward for the area’s digital infrastructure. QSI designed its fiber backbone with optical spectrum, amplifier power, and route diversity sufficient for next-generation speeds, making the transition to 400G both efficient and scalable. While earlier deployments focused on 100G waves to interconnect facilities and stabilize the backbone, the activation and commercialization of 400G wavelengths brings hyperscale-class transport to Western Kentucky and Southern Illinois. The standard deployment utilizes a 40-channel C-Band DWDM system, giving each path up to 16 terabits per second of total optical capacity.

The availability of 400 Gbps transport in Paducah further strengthens the city’s position as a critical midpoint for connectivity in the central United States. With more than 15 million people living within a 225-mile radius, the region is well suited for content delivery, cloud edge expansion, carrier interconnection, and large-scale streaming infrastructure. By making 400G wavelengths available to customers, QSI is enabling organizations to move workloads closer to end users, reduce latency, streamline interconnection, and modernize their network designs with high-capacity optical paths.

For years, QSI’s own backbone has used DWDM technology to interconnect facilities, support the Paducah Internet Exchange, and maintain resilient transport across Kentucky and Illinois. The platform was designed with enough optical spectrum, amplifier reach, and route diversity to accommodate substantial upgrades without requiring new fiber builds or disruptive maintenance. The company is now opening this expanded capability to the public, allowing other networks to access the same transport foundation that has supported QSI’s internal growth.

The Paducah Internet Exchange stands to benefit considerably from the availability of 400G transport. As more networks peer locally rather than hauling traffic to distant metropolitan hubs, local performance improves and transit dependency decreases. With multi-hundred-gigabit wavelengths now available as a standard service, the exchange can support higher-volume content distribution, lower-latency application delivery, and more cost-efficient interconnection for networks throughout the region.

QSI plans to extend this same optical capability to its Metropolis, Illinois footprint as the next step in its transport expansion. Metropolis plays an essential role in QSI’s cross-river topology and serves as a key node for regional ISPs, enterprise fiber connections, and future backbone routes. Bringing 400G wavelengths to the Metropolis market will align both sides of the river with the same performance standards and add further resilience to the regional transport ecosystem.

With this rollout, Quad State Internet continues its mission of delivering world-class connectivity and carrier-grade reliability to Western Kentucky and Southern Illinois. The company’s decision to make 400 Gbps wavelengths commercially available reflects its long-term commitment to building and maintaining an optical network capable of supporting the region’s technological future.

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