TELLIUM SHIPS FIRST AURORA OPTICAL SWITCHES TO EXTANT
Extant, Tellium Ready 4Q Launch of Telecommunications
Industry's First Intelligent Optical Switch Network
Oceanport, NJ, September 21 1999, Tellium Inc. announced today it had
shipped the first Aurora 32 optical switches to Extant, Inc., a major milestone in
building the telecommunications industry's first intelligent optical network. The
shipment is part of a $250 million agreement with Tellium to deploy the Aurora
series of optical switches throughout the Extant network starting this year.
"This is a major milestone in the development and launch of our dynamic
intelligent optical switch network," said Larry McLernon, President and CEO of
Extant, Inc, in Aurora, Colorado. "We look forward to our fourth quarter build-out
and the subsequent first quarter launch of our service. Our customers will receive
a new level of service as a result of this unique and heretofore unseen
architecture."
"Not only will Extant customers benefit from our optical switch technology, but so
will the telecommunications industry as a whole," said Richard Barcus, president
of Tellium. "This is the first real market test of a fiber optic network with optical
switches as a cornerstone of the Extant and Tellium Begin Network Build-out
architecture. Our products will help Extant realize significant cost savings,
management flexibility of various data types (data, video, packetized voice, IP,
etc.) and overall network performance."
"We chose Tellium because of their deep experience in optical networking and
their strong software tool suite gives us the competitive advantage we need to
serve our customers," said Mike Sava, Vice President of Network Engineering
and Operations, Extant. "In addition they are the first supplier with a carrier class
product."
Extant has begun by deploying Tellium's Aurora 32 in 8 cities by the end of 1999
and will follow next year with deployment of Tellium's recently announced Super
Switch, the Aurora 512, in 2000. Optical switching improves backbone fiber
network performance and dramatically lowers cost when compared to traditional
methods of operations. Additionally, optical switching allows for a much more
resilient network in case of natural catastrophes.
"The Extant network is the first to use optical switching to cross-connect
high-speed optical signals, bypassing the entire SONET/DCS layer," said Nick
DeVito, Director of Marketing and Product Management, Tellium. "The result is a
more efficient, robust network that restores faster and delivers the highest degree
of flexibility for the user."
Other critical Tellium Aurora features that will be critical to Extant's intelligent
optical switch network include:
Highest initial capacity - 1.28 Terabits
Scalability beyond 400 Terabits
OC-48 and OC-192 interfaces
Fully redundant switch architecture
StarNet ring and mesh restoration software
About Extant
Extant, Inc. is a global facilities-based, neutral third party clearinghouse for
CLECs, ISPs and other Integrated Communications Providers (ICPs) in the
wholesale marketplace. Extant offers service by connecting prospective
communications providers to ports on their national ATM backbone and
simplifying the back office operation through their clearinghouse and settlement
capabilities. A single contract with Extant will provide an instant connectivity
agreement with other local providers in the Extant Community. Extant's corporate
investors include Safeguard Scientifics in Wayne, PA, an information technology
company that places particular emphasis on companies engaged in
eCommerce, network infrastructure activities, and enterprise applications. For
more information about Extant, Inc. and its services, please call 303-256-6100,
visit their web site at extant.net , or send e-mail to info@extant.net.
About Tellium
Tellium is a provider of high capacity optical switches headquartered in a
67,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Oceanport, New Jersey. Corporate
investors include Telcordia, SAIC, Cisco Systems and Ortel Corporation, and
financial investors include Oak Investment Partners, Accel Partners, Worldview
Technology Partners and Blue Rock Capital Investors. Tellium's optical switch,
Aurora 32, was the first-to-market in the telecommunications industry and, along
with the larger Aurora 512, is the cornerstone network element of survivable mesh
and ring optical networks. More information about Tellium can be found on the
Internet at tellium.com . |
