BSNS WIRE) New Fiber Driver from NBase Communications Eases Management
New Fiber Driver from NBase Communications Eases Management and Doubles
Throughput of Existing Fiber Networks
Business/Technology Editors
CHATSWORTH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 12, 1998--
New family of products provides substantial savings to LAN and
WAN managers with multiprotocol copper and fiber networks
NBase Communications, a division of MRV Communications
(Nasdaq:MRVC), today launched the Fiber Driver product line of high
density, multi-media, multi-protocol, optical media converters and
switches. This product line doubles data throughput, increases
distances up to 110 kilometers over single mode fiber and provides the
industry's first centrally-managed fiber cabling and connectivity
solution targeted at the LAN, MAN (metropolitan area network) and
enterprise markets.
Increasing bandwidth demands from the enterprise to the SOHO
markets requires network managers to increase capacity to stay
competitive. This means adding more fiber cabling and switching
equipment to the network or getting more bandwidth out of the existing
infrastructure. Large enterprises, carriers, CLECs, cable TV
companies, government agencies and schools often have more fiber
available, but face integration issues with copper facilities. NBase's
Fiber Driver provides the interfaces between switches, hubs, routers
and the fiber or copper plant to allow existing fiber to be used more
efficiently, while providing network management across the entire LAN,
MAN or WAN infrastructure.
The Fiber Driver family maximizes the use of existing fiber by
combining transmit and receive signals onto a single fiber strand
freeing up the second strand in a fiber pair for additional data.
Fiber Driver does this for all speeds of Ethernet as well as ATM,
SONET, SDH and FDDI. "This is the Rosetta stone for fiber," commented
Greg Cline, Principal Analyst with Cahners In-Stat.
In addition, the Fiber Driver family increases efficiency through
a Wave Division Multiplexing (WDM) module. As WDM migrates from core
carrier backbone applications to metropolitan networks there will be
increasing need for WDM in the edge network. Fiber Driver's WDM module
combines up to 4 channels of SONET OC-12 or Gigabit Ethernet onto one
fiber pair. WDM modules are also available for OC-3 and Fast Ethernet.
Three WDM modules provide Fiber Driver with the ability to aggregate
up to 12 channels in one chassis. Since the cost of running a mile of
fiber cable can exceed $15,000, the Fiber Driver's ability to use
fiber more efficiently results in significant savings.
The SNMP-based management module facilitates rapid fault
isolation and diagnosis of converters and transceivers, through loop
back and SNMP MIBs. This reduces the time-consuming task of validating
network connections over long distances. It allows customers to
connect via single mode fiber over 110 kilometers and centrally manage
these extended networks.
Media conversion in the Fiber Driver includes unshielded twisted
pair to fiber, multimode fiber to singlemode fiber and Gigabit SX to
Gigabit LX. Fiber Driver supports SONET, SDH, ATM, FDDI and
10/100/1000Mbps Ethernet, with interchangeable modules. It also has
switch modules available for applications where more than conversion
is required.
"With the Fiber Driver, it is now possible to build large
geographic networks using standard LAN protocols," said Mannix
O'Connor, vice president of marketing at NBase Communications.
"Transparent LAN Services, where service providers offer LAN data
ports directly to business customers, is one example of these
applications." With Gigabit Ethernet becoming a significant enterprise
backbone protocol, and by converting short distance Gigabit SX ports
to long distance LX ports, service providers are able to build and
service large networks over greater geographic areas.
"For example, Cable TV companies can aggregate cable modem
signals and transport them to head-end locations via long distance
single mode fiber, using the Fiber Driver to facilitate these
installations. Likewise, a carrier without spare capacity could use
the Fiber Driver to postpone the addition of new fiber on congested
routes by combining transmit and receive signals, thereby doubling the
capacity of existing fiber," added O'Connor.
Product Configuration
The Fiber Driver family of conversion modules can be housed in
one of three chassis: a 16 slot, a 4 slot and a single slot housing.
All three are capable of hosting any converter, switch or WDM module.
A network management module provides remote SNMP access to a central
management platform, such as NBase's Megavision or other standard
systems. To maximize network availability, the Fiber Driver offers
redundant management and power capabilities.
Pricing and Availability
Available today, the Fiber Driver has 51 different modules
supporting Ethernet at 10/100/1000Mbps, FDDI, SONET at OC-3 and 12 as
well as ATM. List prices range from $168 for a copper to multimode
Ethernet module, to $7,000 for a gigabit ethernet module with a 45
kilometers range over a single strand. The SNMP management module
lists at $735 and the one, four and sixteen slot chassis are $75, $500
and $735 respectively. All modules and chassis are currently
available.
NBase Communications is a leading Ethernet switch manufacturer.
They provided the first 10Mbps to 100Mbps switch and also the first
10/100Mbps autosensing switch. As a member of the Gigabit Ethernet
Alliance, they contribute the Packet Bursting technology which became
part of the IEEE Gigabit Ethernet standard.
MRV Communications Inc., is a leading provider of high-speed
optical networks integrating switching, routing, remote access and
fiber optic transmission systems that enhance the performance of
existing telecommunications networks. The company's advanced
networking solutions improve the functionality of LANs and WANs by
reducing network congestion and provide cost-effective migration paths
to next generation Converged Networks with technologies such as
Gigabit Ethernet, Remote Access and Voice over IP. The company's fiber
optic transmission products deliver voice, data and video traffic,
under demanding environmental conditions, to carriers, enterprise
customers and residential networks.
--30--mp/bos*
CONTACT: NBase Communications
Mannix O'Connor, (818) 773-0900x353
moconnor@nbase.com
OR
Copithorne & Bellows
Christine Foster, (617) 450-4300
christine.foster@cbpr.com
KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: COMED COMPUTERS/ELECTRONICS TELECOMMUNICATIONS
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