Atrica's Optical Ethernet Solution Tested by France Telecom R&D [26-03-2001]
Agreement With One of the World's Leading Operators Propels Atrica Towards Quickly Gaining a Foothold on the European Market
Santa Clara, CA. - March 26, 2001 - Atrica Inc, poised to be the leading provider of Optical Ethernet equipment for the $15 billion Metro networking market, today announced that France Telecom has agreed to test Atrica's Optical Ethernet solution.
Two tests began in January of this year at France Telecom's R&D facilities in Issy-Les-Moulineaux and Lannion, France and in an R&D facility in Redwood City, California. France Telecom is evaluating Atrica's Optical Ethernet products as a means to consider new, more cost-effective high-speed services that would be attractive to a new class of business customers who have not previously had access to high-speed networking.
"We're delighted to have signed this beta test agreement with France Telecom R&D," said Francois Tournesac, European director of business development for Atrica. "This partnership demonstrates how far the French market has progressed in adopting new technologies for high-speed services. We anticipate that other European operators will soon follow France Telecom's lead and will begin to seriously consider Optical Ethernet as the basis for their next-generation metro networks," he commented.
Atrica's Optical Ethernet solution is the first to combine standard Ethernet, optical switching, and carrier-class management and traffic engineering capabilities for the Metro network. Atrica's vision is that Optical Ethernet technology will allow carriers to offer high-speed services - from 1Mbps to 10 Gbps - at dramatically lower costs, as compared to lower-capacity services offered today.
"The population density and short distances between countries make Europe a promising market for metropolitan area networks," confirmed Stephane Teral, European Optical Analyst Director, Ryan Hankin Kent (RHK). "This agreement with one of the world's six leading operators gives Atrica good reason to believe that it will quickly gain a foothold on the European market. With the explosion in Internet data traffic and market deregulation, operators very much need a technical solution, which can support high speeds at low cost. Atrica would appear to be well placed to live up to these expectations," added Teral.
Atrica's mission is to deliver the most cost-effective, high-performance Optical Ethernet platforms to the forward-thinking service providers who are building next-generation Metro networks. Atrica is a privately-held company based in Santa Clara, California, with R&D facilities in Israel and business development and sales offices in Paris, France. The company received initial seed funding from 3Com Corporation, a first round of financing led by prominent Silicon Valley venture capital firms Accel Partners and Benchmark Capital, and a second round led by four leading global service providers. For more information, visit Atrica on the Web at www.atrica.com. |
