Lucent Technologies announces three new
products that will add bandwidth while driving
down the cost of local optical networks
FOR RELEASE WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 1999
MURRAY HILL, N.J. - Bringing explosive bandwidth to the local network, Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU) today announced three new optical networking products that will
enable service providers and enterprise customers to build super high-speed local data networks while saving carriers up to 60 percent in equipment costs.
The new additions to Lucent's WaveStar™ optical networking product line are:
The WaveStar MetroPoint™ OLS - a point-to-point, optical networking system that transmits up to 40 gigabits (billion bits) of information per second (Gb/s), while
saving carriers up to 60 percent in start-up costs.
The WaveStar AllSpectra™ OLS - an optical enterprise system that transmits information using lasers that cost 50 percent less than lasers used in traditional long-haul
systems. Time Warner Telecom (NASDAQ: TWTC) has agreed to be first to test this new system.
The WaveStar OpticGate™ series - network cards that enable data vendors to integrate Lucent's high-speed optics with their IP routers and ATM switches, cutting
equipment costs by up to 25 percent. Lucent will integrate the OpticGate products with its NX64000 Multi-Terabit Switch/Router and GX 550 "Smart Core" ATM Switch.
"Unlike long-distance networks, there's no 'one-size-fits-all' solution for local optical networking," said Gerry Butters, president of Lucent's Optical Networking Group. "In the next
two years, we'll see as many as 1,000 new providers of telephone, Internet and wireless services - each with varying requirements. Recognizing that individual carriers have varying
needs and resources, Lucent is addressing the issue of cost while expanding its portfolio to meet the diverse needs of our worldwide customer base."
New DWDM system offers high bandwidth and 60% savings in start-up costs
Lucent's WaveStar MetroPoint OLS is a cost-effective, point-to-point DWDM system, which directly connects two locations within a local network. DWDM, or dense wave division
multiplexing, enables carriers to transmit different wavelengths - or colors - of light on the same fiber strand, thereby increasing the fiber's bandwidth. The new system, which can
transmit up to 16 wavelengths of information - each operating at speeds of up to 2.5 Gb/s - for distances up to 60 kilometers, will enable carriers to save up to 60 percent in start-up
costs. The system is commercially available today.
"While some carriers need the unparalleled flexibility and functionality of Lucent's WaveStar AllMetro™ system, which provides self-healing rings that connect multiple locations in
a local network, others need only a simple point-to-point system to address their local fiber-exhaust," said Butters. "For these customers, MetroPoint provides a huge boost in capacity
at a fraction of the cost."
Optical enterprise system will save 50% in laser costs
Developed by Bell Labs, Lucent's WaveStar AllSpectra OLS will use a technique known as Wide-Spectrum WDM, which spaces wavelengths much farther apart within a fiber than
today's DWDM systems. Later this year, Time Warner Telecom plans to conduct a field test of this technology, which will provide business customers with a cost-effective,
high-speed, optical link - connecting their Local Area Networks with core metropolitan networks.
Wavelengths in traditional DWDM systems are spaced very tightly together and therefore need to be precisely aligned in order to prevent them from drifting into one another.
Enabling wavelengths to be spaced much farther apart, Lucent's new Wide-Spectrum WDM system will transmit data using dramatically less expensive - but equally dependable -
lasers and without incurring the cost of the components used to align traditional DWDM lasers with such precision. The system will offer a 50 percent reduction in laser costs over
traditional DWDM systems.
The WaveStar AllSpectra system will support a ring configuration, providing gigabit ethernet (GbE) access to up to six locations along each ring. The system, which is bit-rate and
format independent, will provide each location with direct access to the optical layer of the network. The system will be available by June 2000 and is being designed to use the full
spectrum of wavelengths that only Lucent's AllWave™ fiber allows.
New network cards combine optical and data networking, cutting costs by 25%
Developed by Bell Labs, new WaveStar OpticGate network cards will enable data vendors to integrate Lucent's high-speed DWDM optics with their IP routers and ATM switches.
Traditionally, carriers have needed to use optical transmitters and receivers to convert the optical signals into electronic signals as they pass through the routers and switches. With
the WaveStar OpticGate cards, vendors now can replace the transmitters and receivers with hand-sized network cards and eliminate the need for signal conversion. This will enable
multiservice, packet-based traffic to travel directly over the optical layer of the network, and could reduce equipment costs by up to 25 percent.
Providing per-wavelength capacities of 2.5Gb/s and 10Gb/s, these products ultimately will provide carriers with more simplified network architecture and lower operational costs as
they evolve toward true optical data networks. Lucent's new WaveStar OpticGate cards are commercially available today.
Lucent will host demos of the OpticGate and MetroPoint systems, as well as its previously announced AllMetro and OpticAir systems at the National Fiber Optics Engineers
Conference (NFOEC) in Chicago, Sept. 27-29.
Building on Bell Labs' optical networking leadership
Lucent's Bell Labs has garnered more than 2,000 patents in optical technology. In 1998, Lucent was first to introduce an 80-channel DWDM system, which can transmit up to 400
Gb/s of information over a single fiber. And in July 1999, Lucent announced the industry's first free-space DWDM system, WaveStar OpticAir, which transmits information directly
through the air via beams of light.
With more than 4,000 systems installed worldwide, Lucent is the global leader in DWDM technology. According to KMI Corp., a leading market research firm, Lucent has the
largest share -- 29 percent -- of the $2.2 billion global DWDM equipment market. For more information about Lucent's Optical Networking Group, please visit its Web site at
lucent-optical.com.
Lucent Technologies designs, builds and delivers a wide range of public and private networks, communications systems and software, data networking systems, business telephone
systems and microelectronics components. Bell Laboratories is the research and development arm of the company. For more information about Lucent Technologies, visit its Web
site at lucent.com. |
