Alcatel Delivers Optical IP Internetworking With 7770
Routing Core Platform; Product Will Outperform
Competition and Enable Profit-Generating 'Qualitative IP
Services' End-To-End
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA--NOVEMBER 8, 2000 - 08:36 EST
Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) today
announced the introduction of the Alcatel 7770 Routing Core
Platform (RCP), a multi-terabit IP core router. Engineered to meet
stringent carrier-class requirements, the 7770 RCP enables service
providers to deliver differentiated IP services by guaranteeing
network performance, a feature critical to the future of wide area
networking.
"France Telecom R&D is particularly interested in being involved
in the definition of the specification of the equipment for the
next generation networks at the earliest possible stage. France
Telecom is involved for this reason in Alcatel's 7770 RCP
partnership program", said Dominique Delisle, France Telecom R&D
IP Program Director. "The 7770 provides high performance terabit
routing and integration with optical transport which will be an
essential requirement in the heart of next generation networks.
The Alcatel 7770 RCP has been delivered to France Telecom R&D.
Testing is commencing and will continue in the framework of the
European Commission project ATRIUM."
The RCP integrates IP routing with optical transport and provides
the basic ingredients for multi-layer restoration, thus providing
the architecture Internet service providers need to grow their
networks into the next generation. In addition, carriers are able
to support premium end-to-end services for their IP customers due
to innovative traffic engineering tools and the ability to support
differentiated services across the core. These features are
available on a true carrier grade product that continues to
deliver full wirespeed routing/forwarding performance and is
supported by award-winning network management tools that
significantly reduce operations cost.
"The ability to offer end-to-end, advanced networking solutions to
IP-centric service providers makes the Alcatel 7770 Routing Core
Platform a leading alternative for deploying next generation
networks," said Michael Kennedy, Network Strategy Partners. "The
technical strengths of the 7770 RCP combined with Alcatel's unique
ability to provide optical integration in a fully managed solution
will make it a strong market contender."
"The introduction of the Alcatel 7770 Routing Core Platform and
the 7420 Edge Services Router,th based upon network processor
technology, will make Alcatel a credible vendor in the service
provider IP router market," said David Passmore, Research
Director, The Burton Group. "We think Alcatel is a player to watch
and expect them to become much more visible in this space."
"The Alcatel 7770 is the future of reliable IP optical
networking," said Dirk Van Den Berghen, Alcatel's executive vice
president of Core Data. "Service level guarantees open a market
for bandwidth provisioning and brokering that will generate the
kind of revenue now seen by TDM and ATM network vendors. With the
7770, bandwidth is no longer a high-speed pipe. Rather, carriers
can provide a specific service, with a contract for guaranteed
performance and the requisite price tag attached - a business
opportunity unique in the current IP world."
Alcatel 7770 Features
The 7770 RCP deploys a 640 Gb/s high capacity switching fabric
that features a built-in ability to scale to 5 Tb/s and 10 Tb/s
through in-service upgrades, with low footprint and no forklifts.
It is unique in its use of IBM's state-of-the-art, PowerNP network
processor and customized application specific integrated circuits
(ASICs), which allow high system scalability, distributed IP
forwarding and wirespeed packet handling.
The product deploys a powerful and reliable Phase 2 routing stack,
and features high density multi-port POS interfaces which support
speeds ranging from OC-3 to OC-192. It has the ability to support
OC-768 in future. The 7770 also supports 10 Gigabit Ethernet and
very short range (VSR) optical interfaces for cost-effective
interconnections to local, optics-based transmission equipment.
Built-in intelligence that enables sophisticated MPLS-guided
traffic engineering, multi-layer restoration, dynamic bandwidth
allocation and IP trunking uniquely qualifies the product as a
"new breed of IP routers" to the industry. The product is
carrier-grade with NEBs L.3 compliance and provides a high level
of system reliability. With comprehensive protection schemes for
all critical components - such as the switching fabric, route
servers, control logic, power feeds and even software residing on
the line cards - the 7770 RCP redefines the meaning of carrier
grade IP transport.
The Alcatel 7770 RCP Release 1 features 1-port OC-192, 4-port
OC-48, 8-port OC-12, 16-port OC-3 and 8-port Giga Ethernet ports.
Volume shipment begins in May 2001. An entry-level fully-redundant
640 Gigabit system starts at US$290K.
About Alcatel IP
Alcatel has extensive design and development expertise in X.25,
TDM, frame relay, ATM and SONET-based equipment. The recently
launched Alcatel 7770 RCP and Alcatel 7420 Edge Services Router,
combined with the existing IP, DWDM and optical product range -
and all managed by a world-leading network and services management
suite - now equips Alcatel to offer advanced networking solutions
to IP-centric service providers.
About Alcatel
Alcatel builds next generation networks, delivering integrated
end-to-end voice and data networking solutions to established and
new carriers, as well as enterprises and consumers worldwide. With
120,000 employees and sales of EURO 23 billion in 1999, Alcatel
operates in more than 130 countries. For more information, visit
Alcatel on the Internet: alcatel.com |
